I didn't do anything particularly special other than ask at the outset to be granted the Premier tier that would be commensurate to my demonstrated flight activity and revenue potential as an employee-owner and travel-policy decision-maker of my firm. I did send in my award-winning Continental Airlines(R) OnePass(R) youngest-fleet-jet-flying-in-the-industry fast-facts statement along with this year's 1st quarter air travel budget excerpt. I won't complain about the way UA played the ball when I put it in their court.

One of the sentiments echoed very loudly about CO is that CO does not walk-the-walk when it comes to responding to the needs of the golden-egg layer frequent flyers, whereas it's said that airlines like UA do. I feel that. In fact, I feel my back, knees, neck, and ... (plus teeth - no HOKEY to gnash over) feeling much better from being in J right behind the nosecone bulkhead of a UA747 rather than the coach partition looking at empty seats in BusinessFirst. Come to think of it, who is the genius at CO who approved putting in EmPower laptop power ports on coach rows 16-22 when you can't open the laptop lid when the seat in front of you is reclined? Like the way OnePass Elite has become, who needs the bells-and-whistles if you can't get any part of them?

Fly the Friendly Skies. Try it. Sick of 737's transcon? 9C on UA 757's is a veritable patio - and I'm already in 9C on UA on the itineraries I've got booked through the end of this year (neener, neener, neener!). To boot, 9B gets blocked off by virtue of a Premier butt going into it (it's convention in E+ to have the seat blocked off next to yours - ask a CO agent to block the seat next to yours, and they'll look at you like you've got a third eye on your forehead).

Internationally, you can either get "B-F'ed" trying to get into BF on CO, or you can burn a SWU (SYSTEM-wide upgrade - that means "international") that is comped 6 at a time when you're 1K on UA. At the very worst you can have 34"/35" inches of pitch in Economy+, in a more spacious 747 (yes, even on domestic routes) which affords at the least the glint of a possibility of getting kicked upstairs in an op upgrade scenario, whereas CO is trying to sell their 747's on eBay or something.

I've been very conscious about not speaking up about this here until I got a decent number of flights in on UA that would validate my impressions beyond halo effect or grass-is-greener. I think there is really something to not only UA being a much better choice for international flying, but potentially a better choice (with Economy+) even for domestic flying in light of the joke that EUA has become and cramped conditions in domestic first on CO nowadays. Who the hell isn't elite on CO anymore?

Like I said, my biggest regret is not having made the move sooner. The grief saved in travelling more comfortably might as well be your own. May I humbly suggest to the wackjobs at CO's marketing department who approve those blue ads with those catchphrases to include, "We've changed to keep up with your needs. So should you."

[This message has been edited by Beef or Chicken? (edited 05-09-2002).]