Originally Posted by
channa
Having flown both extensively, I'm not sure what makes CO a "higher quality outfit."
Most of the differentiators are gone these days. Free drinks in the club are nice. BF catering is better than UA's biz catering. DTV is cool, but you gotta pay for it. Am I missing something?
Policy-wise, the SDC window is wide. CO has some more favorable mileage redemption policies for partners (changes, mix/match, etc.).
But overall, there are still a lot of problems: upgrade delivery, Y seat pitch, Y seat comfort, IRROPS handling, agent empowerment, no pillows in first, WE CARE, etc.
I've flown them both, extensively (as well as a bit of DL). That's part of why my posts are often so critical of CO. Where is this "CO is better" perception coming from? Serious question. CO is fine, but I've never found them to be leaps and bounds ahead of their competition.
This, from a 7-year Plat who really doesn't see it (when compared to equivalent Elite status at CO's peers).
FWIW, Channa's perspective of being PE on CO and living in the SF Bay Area accurately reflects mine. The relative abundance of EUA's in markets other than SFO to any CO hub I think makes those elite customers in other markets more tolerant of CO's problems. If you can't pay for F/J all the time and you're not getting EUA's, you're then concentrating on the bone crushing Y seats, the horrific ATC/IRROPS problems at EWR, and the relative dearth of OP benefits compared to other programs (although they've improved recently).
I think the overall opinion of CO being a great airline comes from the fact that if you are an "ordinary" traveler (no elite status, etc.) who needs access to a network carrier, you can have a fairly nice traveling experience. I haven't been on UA in a while, but I don't think UA gets the same opinion rating among ordinary travelers. Much of this is actually the reason why I think that the Continental brand should be kept and United scrapped regardless of who's running the show. A lot fewer people will cringe at the thought of an enormous CO than an enormous UA, IMHO.