Originally Posted by tbogart

2 days to go and of course my upgrade has still not materialized...

I like to fly CO. EWR is convenient from me. CO flies a young fleet and I've always felt service onboard is good. In the last couple of years I've taken advantage of their BF promotions to European destinations. The BF concept is very very good. However, I loathe to say that I'm not happy flying CO coast to coast domestically or to Europe - when seated in the back.

I much prefer UA (domestic) where I'm always guaranteed E+ and can easily use upgrade tools provided to frequent flyers, or SK (internationally) where op-ups are common (maybe I've been lucky) or I can fairly often use miles to confirm an upgrade at day of travel.

This is what CO writes on their website, with regards to complimentary upgrades:

Upgrades are processed nightly and confirmed in priority order using the following schedule:

- All Elite members on unrestricted Y fare class -- Beginning 5 calendar days before departure if an upgrade was not confirmed any time after ticketing

- Platinum Elite members on non-Y fare classes -- Beginning 5 calendar days before departure

- Gold Elite members on non-Y fare classes -- Beginning 3 calendar days before departure

- Silver Elite members on non-Y fare classes -- Beginning 1 calendar day before departure

When my upgrade didn't clear on the 5-day mark I called CO and they told me there were six FC seats available. My position is that when posting the above t&c they should honor them. I'm a Plat, there are plenty of seats left and still they didn't upgrade me. In my opinion that's a violation of their published policy.

I surely understand they want to keep these seats and sell them, however, why do they list complimentary upgrades as a FF benefit? That is false advertising and I agree with posters that say they will lose FFs on a long term basis.

Another issue is when I booked my ticket six weeks ago, the FC cabin was wide open. I inquired if I could use my miles to confirm an upgrade. The answer was no, there were no availability. So I'm stuck with hundreds of thousands of miles on CO, with almost no option for using them.