Forgive the questions but I'm coming out of a difficult medical nightmare and am FINALLY returning to work, and with that comes flights. I've given up trying to figure out the new system where I look for flights and see mostly United flights on CO.com.

I know that CO is merging with United. I didn't think it had started yet but as I am attempting to book a trip, almost every option is a United flight. I'm on CO.com and I'm a Plat, so I know how to book a flight. What's confusing is that the few CO flights offered are more expensive than the United ones. Also, the United flights are through O'Hare mostly as I'm based in Detroit, and they are for less miles than going through IAH. THAT is affecting me greatly. I might lose my Plat status this year b/c eventually I'll have to take the United flights offered from DTW.

I'm not trying to be difficult, I just want to know what I'm looking at. I've read a few threads and am confused. Here are my questions:

IF I am booking on Co.com and it is a United Flight, can I use miles to UG?

If I book on Co.com and it is a United flight, will I be upgraded automatically based on availability, or must I have a United FF number?

If so, how are the UGs doing? Are we upgraded as often as we are on CO?

Does Plat status with CO trump Gold/Silver on United?

Should I be combining my CO account with a United one, or are we not doing that yet?

As a fan of the Direct tv and any IFE, what should I expect from United planes?

Do I earn the same miles on United? I mean, Plat miles?

In all honesty, am I better off status matching with Delta? They fly direct from DTW. I love CO but am worried that the best parts of CO won't be surviving the merger. I don't much care for Delta as they inherited NW's fleet and I hated those planes. I'm also very lucky and haven't flown economy in about 2 years on CO. I did get upgraded at an astonishing rate.

I've got my BF flight to Scotland next month on CO and another flight to Newark, but am wondering if after that, I will be looking at mostly United flights. Already my 2 favorite morning flights to Vegas (through IAH) seem to have disappeared. The flights offered on CO.com are almost all United flights.

I GET that we're merging. I will have to be a big girl about earning less miles per trip. I am guessing my UG rate will drop drastically. I'm just not sure if I'm supposed to switch to a United FF account or just keep booking on CO.com, even with most flights being United from DTW and onward. And I want to know what to expect from United as far as meals and IFE are concerned.

I'm sure there's a way to figure this all out. I went one month w/o flying and suddenly I don't recognize anything. Now I'm back and man, is it confusing!
Thanks for "listening" & hopefully posting some basic help. This IS confusing, and the pain pills I'm taking aren't helping my fuzzy brain!