Vulcan, This is one of the situations that worries me.. Mr Fish (like your wife???) is required to purchase the lowest fare available at time of purchase, and it is very often H instead of Y. Of course, this places them $$wise just slightly below the Y fare, but much farther down benefit-wise as Plats with little chances of upgrade.. His recent upswing in upgrades on Y and H fares has been phenomenal, but he hasn't done a CO transcon since Mar.1. And the worst has begun to happen (for a CO loyal): CO has overpriced themselves this week in the EWR-SFO market (between pricing and aggreements with his travel company), and now he has no choice but to fly UA (for about $500 less).. He even considered paying the difference from his own pocket, but there was no A avail (from Y) on his outbound anyway, so there is absolutely NO reason to retain his loyalty on this trip.. (And if he was on a CO H fare, there would be no doubt he would remain in back). This is becoming more common lately (both DL and UA seems to be pricing much lower than CO on the many routes). Similar is the CO/AA situation EWR-DFW; same Y fare, but no A avail.. (AA has a better flight schedule besides). If he's probably going to sit in coach, why not choose MRTC? He has actually been making a lot of comparisons lately in CO-F vs. AA-MRTC, and they aren't too far off. He has, in fact, stopped using stickers on most flights, as he finds AA MRTC very comfortable (he's 6 ft, very long legged, and uses his laptop through every flight).. Neither airline/FF program is perfect, but CO is certainly no longer superior for him... I am hoping that Ms. Vulcan has better luck with the "new" way EUAs seem to be running.. Mr Fish's Y and H EUAs have been coming in very close to flight date (1,2,3 days off), so there is still hope!! Let us know what happens...