Originally Posted by
BearX220
A sub-elite who buys a ticket close to departure day in a more expensive fare class is typically consigned to the least desirable seats on the plane and Zone 4 boarding, meaning a high likelihood of no bin space left. Before the CO/UA hookup, when I was only a "general member" on UA, I stopped booking UA trips altogether because of this.
But that would be no different on CO. The seat assignment is a function of what's available at the time of booking.
It is true that CO doesn't have zone boarding, but since CO boards elites first, any non-elite on CO will usually find that overhead space is limited or gone, especially if the non-elite's last-minute ticket lands him or her a seat in the "elite zone" portion of coach, which usually has the highest concentration of elites.