My wife and I have been platinum for some time. Naturally we purchase in a way to maximize EQM where possible. Twice in the last two months we have been victimized by what I would consider Bait & Switch tactics on the part of CO's website.

Our itinerary involved a stop in Frankfurt. We had a choice of returning either on a Continental-operated or a Lufthansa codeshare, The LH flight was marginally more convenient so that is what we booked on continental.com.

Continental.com stated, and the written receipt verifies, that the class of service was L, and that the EQM was 100%. I now know to my sorrow that L class in fact is 50% EQM--but continental.com, and the receipt, both state otherwise. Consequently, each of us is getting around 2,000 EQM less than continental.com promised.

I have just been on the phone with a CSR and her supervisor at the OnePass center for almost an hour. They absolutely refuse to budge. They say they are not responsible for what continental.com says or what the receipt says. It was my responsibility to go to Lufthansa's site and research the actual rules before buying the ticket.

They point also to a disclaimer at the bottom of the receipt, which says that the second carrier may change my class of service, in which case EQM may vary. But this did not apply. The ticket was purchased in L class, we flew in L class, the receipt says L class--100% EQM but as awarded it says L class--50%.

I obviously would never have purchased the ticket under these conditions and I reject the idea that I need to go to Lufthansa's site to verify that what continental.com is saying is true. It is Continental's responsibility IMHO to know what its agreements with Lufthansa are. Again, this is not a misunderstanding or a flight change--the ticket receipt clearly states, as did continental.com, 100% EQM for flying L class on a Lufthansa-operated CO codeshare.

To fight this further I see only the options of going to CO corporate or of filling a dispute to the ticket charge with the credit card company on the grounds of material misrepresentation. With my receipt in hand I think I would almost certainly prevail.

I'm almost up to a million miles on CO and have never had to fight city hall like this before. Is it worth it?