Leaving CO Due to 2009 Changes? Where to and Why?
Just curious to see who's leaving CO due to the changes, where you're planning on going and why (or what change particular) was a deciding factor.
For myself I plan on continuing my existing strategy of utilizing two airlines, one of whom will be CO and the other will probably be UA. I'm mulling over getting a comp to NW, which really equates to SkyMiles, but am still not sure on that front.
Anyway my reasons for this (beyond being IAH based) is that I've found CO to be quite effective at some things - but not everything - just like UA's got it's own unique factors (or AA, DLNW, US, WN, etc.) and the changes just don't honestly impact me that much.
For my schedule I've enjoyed cheap fares out of IAH/AUS/SAT with both an excellent upgrade and reliability factor from CO. My complaint with CO lies in that Plat's relatively weak compared to other offerings (we have to pay close in reward fees, same-day confirmed fees, etc.) as well as no real upgrade options for international flights beyond miles. SWUs-esq ideas have been discussed ad nausem here but one would like to think some incarnation of the idea for the post 75k flier could be identified and implemented.
Likewise I've enjoyed excellent routings, a very decent Y product (E+), good elite recognition and op-ups on United. On the flip side I've found UA to be far more variable than CO from operations to labor. UA's trend of both filtering *A awards and "award acceleration" seem a bit too close to cooking the golden goose and I hope they're able to maintain an otherwise excellent mileage program (at least for the top tier) despite an increase in both outstanding miles and cost savings pressure. UA has their issues but at the same time they've done a very decent job of giving their top elites more tangible benefits than CO (or at least in my case.)