Will Chase live up with their promises? (Part 1)

With no doubt, this is a blog for my travel experience and wisdom in the back seat.

Why will I talk about Chase this time?

Chase, at the least, is the exclusive credit card partner for United and Continental (and some other airlines as well) in the U.S. So experience with Chase do impact your travel experience.

I want to discuss a funny issue that I recently face.
A FTer (member of FlyerTalk) posted a link for the application of United Mileage Plus Explorer Card. Unlike other existing offers, this one is targeted for United Mileage Plus Elite members (because the offer will not properly show until you have login at Mileage Plus).

This offer worth 50000 mile after first purchase (while the existing one for the rest is 25000 miles).

For those who take advantage of credit card promotional offers (App-o-rama) before, they will know that Chase has changed its term for a while before that only first-time cardholders will be eligible for the opening offer. In other words, you can only get the promotional offer once per product.

On August 15, 2011, I have read through the entire bonus terms and conditions and I have copied and pasted the following terms at FlyerTalk:

"This one-time bonus offer is only valid for first-time United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers with new accounts. United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers will only receive one 50,000 bonus miles award if they apply for both the United Explorer Card and the Continental OnePass Plus Card after 7/19/2011."

Literally, it only said that you can get this bonus only if you are first-time MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers. The key is no one ever has this card before, because this card was introduced on July 19, 2011. It only restricted your ability for double-dipping if you apply both  MileagePlus Explorer and OnePass Plus Card (as technically, you are earning the same miles).

Just in case, I pulled the application for Continental OnePass Plus Card and see the way how they address the bonus:

"This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first-time Continental Airlines personal cardmembers with new accounts. Previous and existing Continental Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer."

As you can see, the "Previous and existing XXXXXX Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer" line did not exist in MileagePlus Explorer.

So literally, the one-time only term should not work on this case, right?

On September 19, 2011, I checked the same thing again (to respond a post), and notice the following:

"This one-time bonus offer is only valid for first-time United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers with new accounts. Previous and existing United Airlines cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer. United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers will only receive one 50,000 bonus miles award if they apply for both the United Explorer Card and the Continental OnePass Plus Card after 7/19/2011."

So Chase fixed it, right?

Sure - but how about those people who applied under the old terms?

No one knows.

It is still early to tell (as the bonus sometimes take 6-8 weeks to show up). Based on the date that the link was posted, it is about the right time that the bonus should kick in.

I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

UPDATE - As of today, those miles are pending transfer to MileagePlus. It seems like Chase live up the promise for this time...