Lets begin first up Continental OnePass

Okay then, now that we have gotten the basics lets try and learn some tricks of the trade. In today's session i will be showing you how to use your continental airline miles to your advantage. Hopefully i will be able to introduce you all to one or two programs a week. These things can get a bit complicated. Well here we go.

So you have finally gathered all those miles. The first question you will ask yourself is how many miles do i need to go to X. Well each airline has different amounts needed to go from point A to B. For example when using Continental mileage you will need 25,000 miles to fly within the Continental United States while if you want to go to Asia you will need 60,000.

Okay we got the basics now lets start. The first thing you will do is go to continental frequent flyer program website called OnePass here . Your going to want to check how many miles you will need to go from point A to B. They actually have a nifty interactive chart here . 

Once you know how many miles you need give them a ring at their OnePass hotline. As of now that number is 1800 621 7467 for reservation within the U.S and 1800 344 1411 for reservations internationally.

Okay so you called and got to wait on hold for who knows how long right?Now one of two thing happen, if your lucky the agent says "yes sir we have seats open from X to Y and  sure. If you have that then i say congratulations and no need to read any further . Have a safe trip...

Now for the 95% of people who don't get that reply here is how it goes. "Well sir we have no seats open the entire month from X to Y have a nice day". Now here's where the tricks come in handy. Continental has many partners that you can use your miles to fly on. That Partial list can be found on my 1st post. Well interestingly enough sometime the reservation agent doesn't know who's these partners are. Here an example you want to fly from Newark,NJ to Hong Kong right? But theres no seats available, you need to get really specific with the reservation agent. Ask her what about your partners? Normally these agents think they are god and will say "sorry they are full" don't take that! Go specific, the best example can be with Korean Air (one of their partners), don't ask me why but their system doesn't show it automatically but if you ask them "hey what about korean air" they can check out. WOW look at that sure you couldn't get the direct flight but instead you get to stopover in Korea. Fine i know you and me may have better things to do but hey much better than spending $$$ on that vacation. The same applies to all their routes. You want to fly to France for that romantic vacation? The direct flight isn't available? Don't take that! Try to ask them, hey can i fly through Italy with your partners Alitalia? what about with KLM through Amsterdam? 

Lastly Continental also has some "affiliate partners". While these partners are not part of the general SkyTeam alliance, you are able to use your miles to get a free seat on these airlines. Some of them include Eva Air (Taiwanese), Qantas (Australian), Hawaiian Air, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates Air. The rest of the other small affiliate airlines can be found at this  link. If you need to make a reservation on Qantas or Eva you have to call another special number which from the U.S is  1800 344 3333. 

If all of these options fail don't worry, asked to be put on the "award waitlist" its a little known secret. Airlines have list so if a seat does open up you can be put on that flight, even if its a free ticket! And last but not least try try again. if on Monday you couldn't find a flight just call on Tuesday. Airlines continuously update their seat reservations system to you never know.

Lets Recap what we learned

• First found out how many miles/points you need
• Call the Continental OnePass Holtine, that's the name of Continental Frequent Flyer program
• Try and get a seat on a direct flight, if you do lucky you if not ask for partner flight
• If you still cant get a flight just try connecting through a different city
• If that doesn't work try getting on a "award waitlist"
• If all else fails try try again. Call tomorrow.
  

Remember you have spent a lot of time and money flying these airlines. Get what you deserve! As always have a safe flight and please leave some comments and let me know what you think.