CONTINENTAL AIRLINES LAUNCHES CO-BRANDED JAPANESE CREDIT CARD

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL and CAL.A) announced Wednesday 8 August, it has entered into a joint marketing agreement with JCB, the largest credit card company in Japan, to launch a co-branded credit card in Asia. The OnePass JCB credit card will be launched in Tokyo on Aug. 21st.

The card allows Continental Airlines customers based in Japan to earn valuable OnePass miles for purchases made with the credit card.

Under the terms of the agreement, cardholders will earn one mile for every 100 yen (approximately one mile per U.S. dollar at the current exchange rate) spent shopping at participating JCB merchants worldwide. As a sign-on bonus for obtaining the card by March 2001, qualifying Gold JCB cardholders will receive 5,000 bonus OnePass miles and Standard cardholders will receive 2,000 bonus OnePass miles. Also, during the promotional period through March 2001, Standard card first-year annual fees will be waived.

JCB CO, Ltd., based in Tokyo, is affiliated with more than 7.2 million merchants in 167 countries, including the U.S. The company operates 30 branches in Japan and 50 service offices internationally, including New York City.