Domestic flights (with the exception of EWR/IAH-Hawaii), NRT-GUM and certain international flights bound for Canada, Central and South America book into First class or International Business class.

How to upgrade online:
How many miles are required:
Waitlists:
Other options:
Upgrades on Partner airlines:

Overview
Eligibility
Miles & Fees
Waitlist
Upgrade priority
Status changes while on the waitlist
Redepositing miles
Why does the waitlist disappear 24 hours before the flight?
Upgrades on Partner airlines:

CO has established a formal process for downgrade compensation. The details can be found in SHARES under GG OVS DOWNGRADE. The gist of it is that you are entitled to a specific TCV comp based on the stage length as well as a refund of miles if used for the upgrade or of cash in the amount of the fare difference between the F ticket you bought and the Y seat that was available at that time. Unfortunately CO management asked that the specific details of this GG be removed from FlyerTalk so we no longer have them explicitly posted here.

Additional information on how CO does downgrades may be found in the following threads:

The following mainline seats lack windows:

B737-800: 8A only

B737-900: 10A only

B757-200: 10A and 10F

B757-300: 17A only

B767-200: 17A and 17L

B777-200: 21A and 21L

The following Continental Connections seats lack windows:

Beech 1900: Row 1

Why?
Where?
When?
What if the shuttle isn't running?

Currently OnePass Gold and Platinum members may upgrade one companion (assuming space) at the airport for any CO or CM (Copa) flight that is not operated as BusinessFirst. The upgrades are not done in advance and are cleared at the gate.

You will have to speak to an agent about ensuring your companion is on the upgrade list as this is not something that is done automatically nor is it something you can do yourself.

Companions are listed with status of the elite sponsor (e.g. if you’re a gold and list you significant other for an upgrade, s/he will be prioritized with the golds). Companions clear after all other non-companion elites within their group have cleared.

For example if a Platinum companion, two golds and one gold companion are standing by for an upgrade and only three seats are vacant, the platinum companion and both the golds will be cleared into F and the gold companion will not clear.

The official rules state that the companion "traveling on the same itinerary" as the elite member is eligible. In reality, this just means on the same flight. You do not need to be on the same PNR (and probably don't want to be, as noted below) and can actually be flying different overall routings. As long as you are on that one flight together you can request the companion upgrade. For example, passenger A travelling DCA-CLE-LAX-CLE-DCA can request that passenger B travelling CLE-LAX-CLE be added as a companion for both the CLE-LAX and LAX-CLE segments.

One final note: having multiple people in a PNR will have a negative affect on EUA's but will not impact airport upgrade chances (aka battlefield upgrades).

In order to have the best chance of getting the companion upgrade ask EVERY GA/TA/PC rep you deal with on your day of travel to add the companion to the list until it is done. This is especially important for downline flights and less of an issue with a flight originating at the station you're talking to the employees at. Basically you do want to be on the list as early as possible - and you will likely see the place in line on the waitlist improve as the agent does their magic. There is no longer a "2 hour" rule that requires you to be within 2 hours of departure to add someone to the list. Nor is there a requirement that you be at the departure airport. It is, however, required that the companion be checked in for the flight.

If the agent gives you gruff about the person being already on the list politely remind them that as a companion the status will be significantly improved (assuming your elite status is higher than your companion's). And if they insist on being an arse about it move on to the next agent.

Review of how to tell if your flight is market as a BF

EUA upgrade hierarchy
Airport upgrade (aka battlefield upgrade) hierarchy

The cost caries based on the direction of travel, originating city and day of week. See the chart below for details:

Elite and all Y-fares may confirm the upgrade 24 hours prior to departure on the first segment of the itinerary that includes the flight to/from HNL through Continental Reservations (or at the airport if you so choose). All other customers on published fares may confirm only within two hours of departure and only at the airport. This includes non-elite customers travelling with elite customers (see here). Travel agents are not able to process these requests.

Only valid on flights operated by CO.

Subject to availability (Z class must be available).

Waitlisting is not permitted.

Not valid with free coach awards, unpublished fares, industry discount rates, unticketed reservations and ER1149/ER1181 tickets (free tickets donated by Continental to charities, sponsorships, travel agencies, etc.).

As noted above, connecting passengers may request the upgrade at T-24 from the first flight on the itinerary for elites and full Y fares. Furthermore, "through passengers," which is the term used in the GG REVUP details for connecting passengers, should be able to confirm upgrades on all segments of the itinerary, subject to the Z inventory availability.

Passengers who upgrade using the REVUP program are NOT shown on the PDA Info Site as upgraded passengers. In this regard the ticket is considered having come from Z inventory, which is not an upgrade bucket so it does not show as such. That being said, one should still expect to only earn the miles/points from the original fare class booked.

If you ever encounter an agent that is unfamiliar with this program, simply have them refer to GG REVUP for more details. If the agent does not want to process the request prior to the 2-hour window (and you are eligible for such as an elite or full Y fare) reference line 60 in the GG REVUP details.

See this post by CO Insider for the original information.

None! Bring your own.

Most planes have been converted to the LiveTV offering described below. Status of the fleet conversion can be tracked here.

As part of a 2009-2010 domestic fleet retrofit these planes will have LiveTV added to them. This will include 9" screens, 80 channels of live TV and up to 4 channels of "other" entertainment, usually movies. The TV service will cost $6 per flight. This will also involve the removal of the free IFE on these planes that is currently shown on the overhead LCD screens. See here for references.

Several of the 738s have power in F through the exit rows. Eventually all 738s will be fitted with power in the above configuration, likely as part of the LiveTV retrofit or delivered as such new from Boeing. Tracking them at this time is somewhat difficult due to the number of 738s CO has flying. You can check to see if you flight will have power using http://pda.continental.com/ or the new flight status interface on www.continental.com.

None of the 737-700 (73G) planes currently have power available. As part of the 2009-2010 domestic fleet renewal these planes will be retrofit with power in F through the exit rows, similar to the 738s. This will happen as the LiveTV install is completed. See here for refernces.

The 737-800s operated by Continental Micronesia will not be undergoing the IFE refit and will maintain their overhead monitors. These are ships #: 201, 227, 228, 232, 235, 236, 240, 246 and 249. Source.

All seats are equipped with a personal AVOD system featuring up to 40 feature films, 35 television shows and 150 audio CD titles, as well as 110V universal power outlets. As of 5 December 2008 all 752s in the Continental fleet have been converted to the AVOD configuration for both BF and Coach. The selections available in-flight can be found in post 54 of this thread.

The 752 uses a relatively older Panasonic eFX system (vs. the Panasonic e2X on 772s).

All planes are equipped with overhead LCD displays spaced every few rows in F/Y.

As part of a 2009-2011 domestic fleet retrofit these planes will have LiveTV and the associated "Internet" service added to them. This will include 9" screens, 80 channels of live TV and up to 4 channels of "other" entertainment, usually movies. The TV service will cost $6 per flight. This will also involve the removal of the free IFE on these planes that is currently shown on the overhead LCD screens. Additionally, these planes will be configured with 110V universal power outlets in F and through the over-wing exit rows. See here for references.

These planes have personal displays for every seat. These are not AVOD systems but rather the movies play on a preset loop running every 2.75 hours.

Starting after the 764 retrofit is completed the 762s might have AVOD installed. Come back here in 2012 for more details.

These planes have personal displays for every seat. These are not AVOD systems but rather the movies play on a preset loop running every 2.75 hours.

Starting after the 772 retrofit is completed the 764s will have AVOD installed. Come back here in 2011 for more details.

The 777-200 planes have completed their retrofit and the fleet is now fully AVOD equipped as of 15 April 2009.

For a review of the AVOD system see the following series of posts here, here and here.

The selections on the 772 include all the selections from the 752 plus many, many more.

None! Bring your own.

Continental has an official representative on Flyertalk. He is CO Insider aka Scott O'Leary, Managing Director of Customer Experience. He joined the forum on June 9, 2006. He also writes the monthly Ask the Insider column in the Continental In-flight magazine. It is unfortunately not available on-line so you will have to read it on the plane. The column features topics very similar to those posted on Flyertalk and has been published since August 2006.

He was featured in a Washington Post article on June 1, 2007 by Del Quentin Wilber, a WP staff writer.

A DO is an informal gathering of Flyertalkers. However, sometimes it can be much more formal and planned. Such is the case when one of Continental's top flyers convinced Continental executives they should open up their operations and themselves to a group of hard-core Continental flyers and Flyertalkers.

The first Continental DO was held on April 1-2, 2005 in Houston, TX, where Continental Airlines is headquartered. It was conceived by cigarman and Larry Kellner and was attended by about 243 Flyertalkers. Follow some of the historic threads here:The second Continental DO was held on January 28-29, 2006 in Houston, TX and attended by about 302 Flyertalkers. Follow some of the historic threads here:The third Continental DO was held on September 28-29, 2007 in Houston, TX. It was the brainchild of cigarman and CO Insider and attended by nearly 400 Flyertalkers. Follow some of the historic threads here:The fourth Continental DO was held on February 6-7, 2009 in Houston, Texas. It was phenomenal.

Group 1: Involuntary stand-by

This group will include anyone standing by due to irregular ops such as missed connections or oversales. This entire group will clear before voluntary stand-bys are processed. There is no fee for involuntary stand-by.

Group 2: Voluntary stand-by

This group includes everyone else (i.e. you want to take an earlier flight because your meeting finished early, etc.).

As of 6/19/08 changes were made to the stand-by policy. There is no longer any free voluntary stand-by. Same-day confirmed changes can be made for $50 ($25 for Gold elites, free for Platinum elites) within 24 hours of your originally scheduled flight. You may change to any flight within 24 hours of the original flight.

Group 3: Pass Riders
These are Continental employees or their eligible dependants that are standing by on a space-available basis. Pass riders are prioritized at the end of the list, and are only given seats after all other standby customers are accommodated.

Customers standing by are ranked by Elite status. Specifically, Continental OnePass and Northwest WorldPerks Platinum Elite members will have the highest priority, followed by Gold Elite members, then Silver Elite members followed by all remaining customers.

If there is a tie between multiple customers having the same Elite status, the type of fare originally purchased will be used to determine priority. In the event there are multiple customers with the same Elite status and fare class, the time of being added to the standby list will be the ultimate tie-breaker.

Qualified pass riders will be cleared after all eligible paying customers have been accommodated.

Most of the text above was lifted directly from the standby details notes from pda.continental.com

It will affect it...for the worse.

If you have more than one person in a reservation, then two things will happen when the computer runs the EUA logic.CO will "split" PNR's/reservations at no charge should you wish to improve your EUA chances. To do this, call your elite line (the number is on the back of your elite card and changes each year) and ask to be "split" off from your group. Your flights will not change in doing so, but for EUA purposes the computer will now see you as a single elite thus maximizing your upgrade chances. In some cases the ability to split PNRs is also available from the My Reservations section of the co.com website.