See also, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...2xx-range.html

You nailed it -- CO employees are now effectively operating some United Express flights.

The fact that CO pilots' contracts don't allow big planes like CRJ-700s to take over mainline routes has made things a little tricky -- among the cool startup problems that were reported on the CO board with a small number of these flights:

* it's hard for people to figure out how to get upgraded and whether they need to use their CO or UA elite cards
* seat maps might be in flux / seating might be assigned entirely at the gate
* ground crew aren't familiar with the equipment, possibly causing what are effectively mechanical delays
* because some published versions of these flights were withdrawn from the CO system, inventory management might not have done a good job of selling every seat on the plane, so 1) the flight could be massively undersold and 2) CO agents might have trouble "seeing" the flight if you call to ask about your reservation