Hitting turbulence at ShopRite

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Continental Airlines and ShopRite make rewards much more difficult.

This week, I got an e-mail from Continental Airlines about earning frequent-flier miles at ShopRite supermarkets, which many consider the low-price leader in North Jersey.

I am already enrolled in the program, but haven't rolled up any miles since the rules were changed, forcing you to make purchases of $1,000 every three months or forfeit any miles you might have earned. 

Also, before the change, you received 1 mile for each dollar spent; now, you have to spend $2 for each mile. 

Under the former reward program, you could use a credit card that earned 1 mile for every dollar spent to buy food at ShopRite and get a second mile for every dollar spent from the supermarket.

But I never liked using the Continental Airlines frequent-flier program. If you didn't reserve a seat using miles many, many months in advance, you were often out of luck. And if you got a seat, you'd still have to pay security fees and other charges of $50 or more per flight.

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I switched from a credit card that earned miles to one that earned cash rebates.The new program started on Jan 1, 2009, and continues in 2011, according to ShopRite.

In recent years, we have been making more and more of our food purchases at Costco, where prices are low for high-quality items such as wild-caught fish, sliced cheese, organic produce and other items. 

To qualify for ShopRite's airline mile program, I would have to spend an average of $77 a week, according to the store Web site. I haven't done that in a long time, and don't plan to start now.