Greetings,

I guess my feelings can change but for now compared to DL I find CO to be great for my purposes. Seriously it pains me to hear some of these horror stories but I've only encountered an 'Ice Queen' FA on one flight so far. I've been upgraded on el cheapo fares on 20 of 24 segments as a Silver and I know the reason why is because I fly IAH to SLC and not to EWR. (I did get upgraded both ways on my one and only IAH-LAS flight).

I guess each person needs to make an educated and informed decision based on what experiences and history you have had with an airline and what options you have. Speaking for myself I find that:

I am upgraded on very cheap fares at no extra cost.

I've had no problems with flight crews and only 1 Ice Queen to date.

When I've had to call CO reservations the agent was very helpful to me and helped me to avoid a day over in AMS so I could catch my KLM flight and informed me of what I needed to do to insure my luggage was checked through.

I've always been allowed to breeze into the security line and pre-board as designed.

The 3 times I've needed to use reward tickets I've had no problems getting what I wanted when I wanted it. (I know it's not a scientific sample and HNL or OGG was not included in it).

Compared to DL for example I use to have to pay a higher fare and then use points or miles or dollars to upgrade. When buying the higher fare there was no guarantee you would get your upgrade. Nothing like sitting in coach on a more expensive fare feeling stupid about it.

CO gives/gave more bonus miles per elite level at Silver anyway (50% vs 25%).

Living in Houston now of course means going with CO is more convenient for me.

Back to the bad experiences... I'm pretty bummed when I hear about them but as a Director in a transit field I can assure you that it is very difficult to get all front line employees to tow company line and policy. Usually managment can do this by setting the example and creating a good working environment but the Ice Queens of the world will work in all areas so expect the chill sooner or later.

DL did have great front line staff as a whole though. Still I like to read both the negative and the positive from this board because usually I can piece together the stories and come up with an idea of what is unpleasant in general and what is ok in general and make an educated decision regarding my travel choices.

That is what it is all about IMHO!