Actually Steve is right - albeit in a roundabout way

Upgrades on the daily CO Scottish transatlantic services, EDI-EWR and GLA-EWR, are all but impossible if using KL miles. Senior sales staff at CO have told me award availability is extremely restricted; even to CO elite members it is available only by special request to inventory management. KL elite members haven't got a hope. "Very unlikely" says CO. KL can make all the requests in the world on behalf of its members - it won't make any difference.

There is a fantastic opportunity for SkyTeam to soak up the lucrative Scottish central belt market by offering an attractive, frequent European service through at least three European hubs (from EDI: 3x daily to CDG, 5x daily to AMS and 2x daily to PRG) and a meaningful service to the Americas through one well-placed hub (from EDI: daily to EWR). But if customer service is poor, published elite benefits impossible to obtain and frequency to hubs inadequate then SkyTeam will p1ss away the huge advantage it has over LHR-hubbed rivals. Where are the SkyTeam promotions and advertising in this area? EDI and GLA could be among the most lucrative west European markets for SkyTeam. Where is the joint ground handling? Where are the properly handled reciprocal benefits? Where is the decent shared lounge? (CO, quite sensibly, uses the BD lounge at EDI). Where are the adverts promoting the newer routes? Where is the SkyTeam ticket desk?

Only SkyTeam could make connecting through LHR seem attractive