bdraco

I believe some people here are upset because feel as if they have been deceived into believing that their FEQM would have value in the future.

Please consider a reasonable compromise of allowing us to redeem the FEQM earned before the rules change on Jan 1st under the current rules (up to 100k/yr & counts towards lifetime, swu, cr1).

Thank you for your consideration.

robyng

I started a new thread on the new terms of the CO One Pass Card - and I was asked to follow this discussion on the Presidential Plus card. Even though a lot of the discussion is irrelevant when it comes to the OP card.

Just thought I would note that with the OP card - you will get 10k bonus miles for $25k+ annual spend - guest privileges from LHR - 2 club passes a year - no mileage expiration (CO will otherwise go to 18 month mile expiration) - primary auto rental collision damage coverage - first bag checked free for 2 people - priority boarding - booking any available seat at Easypass (not Saverpass) reward levels - reward seat upgrades for elites - double miles when you buy a flight.

This card cost $95 last year (don't know if that fee will go up).

For me - the most important perk (and it's new) is the ability to book any available seat - no capacity controls. YMMV.

I was thinking of dumping this card - but may keep it for another year to see how it works in practice. Note that as of today - my primary card is an AMEX Membership Rewards Premier card - secondary is Chase Sapphire Preferred. Robyn

SunLover

I am already a LTPC member, so I got the PP card for the 25% RDM bonus. Flying 100,000 miles a year means accruing 25,000 RDM miles for $100, which works out to less than a half cent per mile.

Without the 25% RDM feature I will be dropping the card when my renewal is up, since I really don’t charge enough personally to rack up a significant amount of Flex EQMs.


SunLover

beltway

IMO there are reasonable compromises they could implement going forward as well. Instead of hard 75K cap (past which FEQM cannot be applied under any circumstances), above 75K they could cap FEQM as a fraction -- say, 10% -- of EQM. That way, somebody with 91K EQM could still make 1K using FEQM, but the guy with 53K EQM and a big pot of FEQM couldn't buy up to 1K.

bdraco

I'd really like to know how they plan on implementing this limit so I know if I should stop spending on the card or not.

Xyzzy

It's already been posted. There will be two EQM counters, one for flight EQM earned and one for other EQM applied. FEQM will be able to be applied up to 75k per program year. For earning Platinum (or equivalent) and below the two buckets will be added. nly flight EQM will count toward the 100k level.

IMHO the two types of EQM are a [i]huge mistake -- if only because it is going to make things way too complicated for many people to understand. There are quite a number of people who still dn't understand the difference between RDM and EQM.

bdraco

So now we have Real EQM aka REQM, and Faux EQM aka FEQM.

The only question I'm really interested in is do the FEQM count towards additional CR1s and SWUs (past 100k)? While its not completely spelled out, I am going to assume the answer is no as everything is pointing that way.

RNE

Worse, there are three types to keep track of:
1. BIS EQMs
2. XFEQMs (Expiring FEQMs)
3. NXFEQMs (Non-Expiring FEQMs)

SS255

Face it: If you are a Platinum or a 1K, this card is not for you.....at least not if you want a card you can use for spending. If you are using the card for the other benefits, great......but unless something changes, beginning in 2012 I'll be putting my real money on a card that actually gives me rewards for what I spend.

bdraco

I guess I'm going to miss having to explain where the magnetic strip is.

bdraco

Any thoughts on what is the best replacement for this group?

ctownflyer

Can't believe CO/UA signed off one this. How is a non-FT'er supposed to understand/keep track of that!

RNE

How indeed! And if three are not apocalyptic enough, just wait until the airline creates a fourth category with a capricious decision to limit purchased EQMs!

RNE, adding, "Only when talking about Jeff Smisek does one get the opportunity to use 'apocalyptic' and 'capricious' in one sentence.

UA-NYC

Unfortunately, either one of the legacy cards that you can't get anymore, or maybe a new/re-done card that doesn't exist yet

dsweet

One of the most attractive benefits of the card is the opportunity to upgrade when using reward tickets. However, Continental's systems do not readily handle this, and if my recent experiences are any indication, the airline needs to do more work in this area.

Over this weekend, I had a full miles award DCA-IAH-SNA with an SNA-EWR return. The award was purchased about a week before the flights, and the cheapest fare would have been over $1K. Upgrade was not available at purchase for any segment, nor did any upgrades clear prior to 24 hours pre-flight.

I checked in 24 hours pre-flight for the outbound, and was offered a $109 upgrade for the IAH-SNA segments. I accepted, but the system refused the upgrade during processing. However, when I returned to the home page, the reservation showed upgrade to first on the IAH-SNA segment, in R. The upgrade on the reward ticket for that segment had cleared without payment or additional miles.

That was the good news. The bad news was that I was not on the standby upgrade list for DCA-IAH, so I called Presidential Platinum, After trying various techniques for ten minutes, the representative gave up, and told me that I could be added to the list at the airport.

At DCA, in the Presidents Club, I asked that this be done. But the agent there, Joe, informed me that the system was said that I was on the list, but that for some reason it did not show up, but that he would work on it. Ten minutes later, I checked back with him (no one had entered the club during that time and he was in no way busy), and he provided the misinformation that as this was not a paid ticket, I would be at the bottom of the list, and that because the only additional thing that he could try would be to check me out and check me back in, there was a likelihood that I would lose my exit row aisle if he tried.

After decades on the road, I have found that in these situations, it never helps to confront the agent, so I thanked him, left the club a bit early, and asked again a the gate. Unfortunately, being a small station, the gate agent called Joe, who gave him the same misinformation.

I told the gate agent to go ahead and re-check me in, and he did so, which resulted in my placement at the top of the list. Joe must have seen this, because he called and instructed the gate agent to manually place me at the bottom of the list, which he did. I was pretty unhappy at that point, but First Class then checked in full, and no one was upgraded, so there was no sense in complaining. Still, Joe definitely represents a training opportunity for Continental.

I checked in for SNA-EWR, and am again not on the standby upgrade list. Guess I will try again at the airport.

I have no idea why one segment would clear automatically, while the other two sections require some type of very difficult intervention, but if Continental offers a benefit like this, they should deliver it. Still, one segment of three is probably the same odds as a paid ticket.

However,