Per what Old Gold mentioned above, it would seem to follow: indeed, it could be that America West has been irked by the lack of upgrade availability for its members on CO (due to CO's restrictions on F via A seats), while HP offers a wide open F option.

Ultimately I could see that CO is culpable for the HP change. The new HP policy might seem to put things on par in the mind of HP.

I wouldn't doubt that NW and CO have gone a round or two about the restriction of F seats via A seats on CO (NW opens most, if not all, the F seats for upgrades of all types--easy, no A seats with which to hassle).

I'll bet that NW will finally upgrade its first class product, and use this as justification for a more restrictive policy on F seats.

Perhaps NW can get CO to mitigate its restrictiveness on some of CO's routes: e.g., EWR to LAX, often no F seats will be available at all for elites, none released prior to day of departure, and all of the A seats sell out--sure CO should make the money, but on such routes elite upgrades are tantamount to "if we don't think we can sell the seat." Would be nice if CO would open up just a few F seats for upgrade, no matter the route. One of my top picks for a change to OnePass/CO, just behind the inane 30-day-maybe upgrade for international flights.



[This message has been edited by JeffLewis2 (edited 02-22-2000).]