[QUOTE=channa;13274266]I switched from UA to CO as primary back in 2001 or so because I found the CO employees friendlier and more accommodating, as well as upgrade rates to be far healthier than what I was getting on UA (was Premier at the time, getting about 20% upgrades with my e500 allocation, and got 70% as CO Silver). I was willing to give up E+ since I was riding in CO F most of the time.

Today, each aspect of the two airlines that drove my decision has flip-flopped, IMO. There are still many great CO employees, but they are tightly constrained in what they can do, and I've found UA to be far more accommodating in getting me going, particularly in IRROPS.




I know this gets a lot of attention on FT, but I'm not sure I'd classify it as "strong limits." In the past 12 months, I've redeemed well over 1 million UA miles on F and C *A partner redemptions, and not run into blocking. This includes LH F, TK F, LH C, OS C, TG C, and NH C.

The last time I ran into it was a couple years ago. So while it definitely sucks if the flight you need is blocked, and I dislike the practice from a principle standpoint, I'm not sure exactly how often it actually impacts someone.


Last year I paid for 3 rt flights from HKG-IAH during DEQM dates, reached 1K, this earned me 100K award miles. UA comped me another 30K award miles due to various reasons, once because thery ran out of headphones on a flight and everybody got a redemption kit. In Nov 2009 I tried to book a rt HKG-KTM for 50K award miles, UA WOULD NOT BOOK THIS TRIP, so I ended using 50K CO miles on TG with no problem.

After my HKG-KTM experience and UA's confession of *Net blocking, I gave up on UA as my main carrier.

I agree with you on your other valid points about UA being just as good as CO if not better in many areas, especially IRROPS.