Chairman's Preferred: Good post, and tough questions.

>>I have read on the DL board that upgrading as a gold is easy. What about upgrading as a platinum/gold on CO?

Domestic: I have had no problems getting upgrades as CO Platinum. As a DL gold a few years ago, I almost never got upgrades. But maybe that's changed now, or maybe the flights I was trying to upgrade on (usually SFO-ATL) were particularly difficult.

International: With CO, you can only upgrade certain fare categories; the lowest discounted fares are not upgradeable. I'm not sure how DL's policies compare.

>>Delta has a CRC in Tampa. I'm not sure if this is a major factor or not. CO's airside is brand new and is always quiet, so a club may not be neccessary.

That would be a big deal for me. My hometown CO President's Club is "the place where everybody knows my name." They've helped me out on many occasions and definitely make my life better on the road. I personally wouldn't want to be a frequent flyer on an airline that didn't have a club room in my home base.

>>Will either comp me? This is probably the biggest point. Generally I do not like the concept of comping. But I'm not going to fly 50K without elite status this year if I could fly US as an elite (ie in First Class).

CO will comp you. You might find it interesting to read the threads on the Northwest forum started by Carberry last week. Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum35/HTML/000338.html

>>I have heard the CO has outstanding service. Better than DL?

I haven't flown DL enough internationally to make a fair comparison, but having flown about 300K miles on CO and its partners in the last 3 years now, I will tell you I am one very satisfied customer.

Other points to consider:

With CO, you can earn status miles on Alitalia code shares, and accrue miles on any AZ flight. You can also earn status miles on NW and HP.

Consider what your connecting hubs are going to be, and how difficult they might make your life.

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 01-07-2000).]