I live in BWI and regularly fly CO through CLE/IAH/EWR for ~75% of my business travel. The other 20% is on NW as I fly to MSP frequently. Finally, I will do the occasional flight on WN (given it's hub at BWI).

I have scored only ONE upgrade this year so far (on about 30 R/Ts on CO metal, with about 50% in the "economy" fares and 40% on N, B, K and H and 10% on full-fare Y). The one upgrade was at the time of booking with a 'Y' ticket coming off a red-eye on a Sunday morning from IAH-BWI (I did not get te SFO-IAH red-eye upgrade, even with the 'Y' fare). The "good ol' standby" of BWI-IAH or IAH-BWI isn't even clearing anymore, and this is on 800's!

Is it worth it anymore to stay loyal to CO? I can fly WN on the non-stop, earn my free tickets and sit in coach, just like CO. Low-and-behold I can usually score an aisle seat on WN (whereas aisle's are harder to come by, as I don't get to book out more than 7-10 days in advance). Mileage tickets are impossible to use overseas, let alone upgrades (either domestic or int'l).

WN actually gives you a snack box on the planes, vs. CO that will give you essentially the same. "Big Momma's House 2" is hardly IFE and I find that for the longer flights I'm bringing my DVD player anyway.

I have thought about switching to UA and *Alliance, but who wants to deal with ORD and I live too far from IAD to make it an airport of choice.

Anyone else out there live in another hub city, but stay loyal to CO? Thoughts?