One more thing - and this is the last I will write about the subject (been talking the talk on being fed up, going to other airlines, etc., now it's time just to walk the walk).

The new EUA penalizes loyal customers like me who are able to plan air travel weeks, sometimes months, in advance, for choosing to fly Continental and in so doing, usually are able to buy T/Q fares. As a principal of my firm, I am able to call many of the shots on what's going on, where, and when, so I have greater flexibility to plan ahead and stick to it. More on this later.

When booking relatively far in advance, there is almost always a great number of competitors from which to choose. My practice has been to just go CO, even if CO's fares are slightly higher (10% is my threshold), and even if the schedule is not as convenient (just as well, additional miles/segments).

Before recently, I was almost assured of a call-in/EUA upgrade. Made me feel good about flying CO, they kept getting my business.

Now, however, CO has taken away the incentive for me to fly them anymore at all. I would not pay anything more than the lowest fare available at the time of booking any more than CO itself would pay one its own vendors X% more for something that is listing for a given price. The carrot of a free domestic upgrade does not justify violating the principle of spending no more than the fair price offered for a service. Last time I looked, that's not what "free" meant.

I mentioned that I am a principal of my firm. Well, I've just taken CO off my company's travel list. Though one of us individually may come far short of providing the revenue that a higher-fare customer may fork over to CO, the aggregate revenue that all of my company's travel done in a year should not be overlooked. And to think that I encouraged many of my co-workers to wait it out, let's see what happens later this year... I guess to be a business owner, you have to be somewhat masochistic to begin with.

CO, you've earned yourself the loss of our business, which consists of a healthy travel budget in the high 6-digit dollar figure that actually increased last year and even after 9-11, as well as our goodwill in recommending you to our clients and vendors. To put it in the words of a colleague, you're missing the forest for its trees.

[This message has been edited by Beef or Chicken? (edited 03-16-2002).]