Originally Posted by dlen111
CO 1E, if you are true in your statement, i fear you are in the minority, but hey, if you're flying paid J, and you get elite with miles, why not use St partners if they've got better wine and refreshed J products.
Not so much in the minority. I am still a CO PLAT and have given 95% of my US business to NW and about 5% to DL. I haven't been on CO metal since April and just blew through 100,000 EQMs for the year. I have done all my Int'l on AF or VS. It's easy to do when you are a miles person.
To the point of some of the other posters here, CO is making plenty of money and doesn't need mine, so I think we have reached a nice place. I am in the Onepass program. Just redeemed my miles for a trip to HNL in March. I do all my flying in NW and have a 100% upgrade percentage, usually at the 5-day mark (I am sweating an U/G on Thu though), thanks to my CO PLAT status. I bought a WorldClub membership, but use the PC when I am in cities that have them (even though the WCs in MSP (C-gates, not F/G gates) and DTW put the PCs in EWR and IAH to shame).
I enjoy the New Business Class on AF to Europe, flying out of Dulles and make the single connection to Europe, versus taking the early afternoon flight to EWR to ensure that I am there in plenty of time to not miss my flight. I don't miss not getting upgraded as a Plat and I surely don't miss the barely cushioned seats on CO Y.
One day CO will improve their product to bring back the "can't pay for Y or H fare, because our travel department won't let us", but right now they don't need to and I'm not holding my breath for them to do it.