FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Continental Elite Platinum Program Emasculated
Old Mar 23, 2009 | 9:14 am
  #12  
SAT Lawyer
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Programs: UA Gold MM; AA Gold MM; WN A-List; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold; Hyatt Explorist
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Originally Posted by pook123
Any other Continental Platinums experience this? You purchase a ticket and start out at #1 on the standby list, only to check a day later and see that your number 1 status is now number 3 or 5, and that 3-4 people have been upgraded and not you? Then, by the time you are at the airport on the day of travel, you are at number 10 or 12, and the 3-5 seats available are gone by the time you board the plane?
What happens is that the Upgrade Standby List is populated as people check in. If you are the only Platinum checked in at the time you check the list, you will be #1 in the pecking order. Later, if other Platinums with higher fare classes check-in, you move down or get bypassed in the list.

CO is a tough upgrade, no doubt about it. As a Platinum, I've been upgraded approximately 50-60% of the time over the last three years on CO. Meanwhile, on NW, my upgrade percentage is 100% over the same period.
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