Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
Geez, at least SFO777 knows of what he speaks.
How does his ad hominem compare to the CO flyers on this thread so terrified by the UA bogeyman that their ad hominem is largely based on stories and hearsay? Incidents that are blown out of proportion through a healthy imagination and a touch of paranoia perhaps.
Sure, UA has its problems, its rotten employees, its eyebrow raising incidents. But so does every airline. When a poster says that UA loses $500k from peeling paint on its planes one has to realize that this more a statement of the poster's dissatisfaction with CO leaving its current situation and entering into an agreement with UA and *A (UA has a new livery which the carrier has been applying at a rapid pace on its fleet).
The fact is, actually, that UA's fleet is comprised primarily of 777's, 767's, 757's and Airbuses that are comparable in age to the vast majority of CO's fleet. The big difference is that CO has been acquiring new 737's.
There are no DC3's or Ford Trimotors in the UA fleet!
It's also interesting to note that CO is jettisoning its oldest 737's, which is precisely what UA is doing with its 737-old fleet as well...
These are not stories and hearsay, go surf the UA board for awhile - and let me point out that UA's 767s are well over a decade older than CO's. Boeing re-opened its closed 762 line just for CO's order, which is why our 762 interiors look like the 777 and 73NG interiors with the wave ceiling panels.
Most of our 757s are much younger than UA's, and even so, CO takes FAR better care of their aircraft exteriors and interiors than UA.
Look at our 735s and their 735s - ours are pristine, like they were delivered last week. Theirs? Check the condition of their nose areas and the paint around the doors, pitot tubes and static vents.
And no - I'm not unhappy that CO is leaving ST. We have far more (and superior) partner options with *A. I'm looking forward to redeeming on SQ and using AC as a way to get to HNL without fighting for space on UA or CO.
I don't want CO to start modifying its procedures to match UA - it should be the other way around as we have the superior business model and reputation for quality.
The point of my post - CO fliers should brace themselves for what could be a fairly unfriendly experience on UA. Since most of us won't be 1Ks and GS on UA, we should also not expect a lot of help during irregular ops - and claiming that we should be helped because we're CO plats and such, or *G, is likely to result in UA staff having a giggle at us and turning their backs.