I've had low 6-figure balances in both programs ever since moving 175K from CO to UA before the door slammed mostly shut, and can say I've been much happier with UA availability so far. They literally saved my summer Asia trip after CO/NW had their solid wall of no-availability. If you've been on the phone much trying to book CO awards (and you still have to use the phone if you want stopovers, open jaws or anything complex), you often might get the impression they're not really trying. They'll say that entire 2- or 3-month blocks are devoid of award seats 5-6 months out (even to multiple airports) but, of course, there's EasyPass. Or, if you'd consulted the "Reward Travel Forecast," you'd see that Atlanta-Cleveland is wide open and you can also get good availability to Bogota.

About all I can say good about CO is that the 25K intra-Asia award is still a good deal, and I'll keep some miles so I can do more of those. Some of the Micronesian destinations and CNS and DPS are good as trips from places like MNL, HKG, TPE and Japan. It's probably because Continental Micronesia is underbooked due to sky-high paid fares on the monopoly routes; if that changes, it'll no doubt pinch award availability.