Why be Platinum
 

I am CO plat with just under 80 K flight miles for the year. I am in a middle of a trip, IAH to BUF routed through CLE.

On the outbound flight I patiently waited to be upgraded, 17 seat available in a 20 seat cabin. 5 days ahead no upgrade, 3 days no upgrade, called Elite Priorty desk no help but they did say there should be no problem as there were at least 12 seats still available.

24 hours adead of the flight no upgrade, I fianlly checked in and see I am 16 on the list for comp upgrade to F. I figured why not suck it up and pay the miles get into F because ther must have been at least 15 Plats on the flight too.

OK I there no big deal until I hear on guy say heck I was #32 on the list and I am Gold dont know how I got up here..

I though heck I just made Plat so maybe it was a "computer error", right.

Today is 2 days ahead of my return trip. again no upgrade. I decide to call the Elite Desk to discuss my challenge where they informed me that though I am Plat that if my fare was low enough a higher fare Gold can advance to F ahead of me.

Go figure, why did I spend the money to remain a loyal CO flyer when someone who pays a bit more and flies a lot less can be rewarded ahead of me.

I asked CO Insider for explaination but he has not responded to my private message.

Maybe someone out there in Flyertalk Land can.

"Frustrated Pltinum Flyer"

A Gold on Y/B can, but that is done instantly. Plat should trump other Golds even from higher fare buckets.

Agreed, that is the source of my frustration.

Agreed. And you can buy into First Class by buying an M fare, where a Gold cannot.

I would also suggest not PMing CO Insider over an issue that isn't even clear on the face is an oversight. Basically, based on something you think you overheard, a Gold at #32 on the U/G list got into F/C ahead of you and 31 others? That's essentially impossible.

As for your initial question, there is a LOT to be gained by being Platinum. Not going to address that here, since you used your first FT entry on a rant, and you don't actually seem to be concerned with what being CO Plat has to offer.

It's not about a "bit" more. It's only on Y/B fares which are typically much more expensive than discounted coach fares. In fact many B fares are about the same as discounted first class fares ("Z" class). As a Platinum you can still jump ahead of these lower elites much of the time by buying an M fare, which is usually quite a bit less expensive.

You also have no idea how much more or less valuable a gold may be vs a platinum. A Gold who does 2 r/ts to HKG for business at $10k a pop is more valuable than a plat who qualifies on $250 transcons. So definitely don't throw around the "I fly more" attitude.

was just thinking as well, this person that made the comment about being gold may have been a newly minted plat due to DEQM(if he was signed up, or or not, just due to flying) and therefore for the upgrade as a plat on a higher bucket fare.

I talked to someone the other day that was already re qualified for plat but signed up for DEQM anyway, and sign up his wife at the same time, she's done a couple HNL routes and she's go from gold to plat just with the DEQM postings alone and no more flying. At the same time she'd have no clue why unless she logged into CO site and saw the reason because he did it for her. there are several possibilities here :)

Since you are new, take some time and read some of the threads here. With the transition to Star Alliance, Continentals systems seem to not be processing upgrades (EUA process) in a timely fashion. Also, some folks have seen delays in mileage postings to OnePass accounts (not specifically your complaint, but another example of things not working as 'normal'). Here are a couple of thread to check out, but there are others:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...d-cle-lax.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...s-posting.html

[QUOTE=Not going to address that here, since you used your first FT entry on a rant, and you don't actually seem to be concerned with what being CO Plat has to offer.[/QUOTE]

I apologize if my post was bad form, not my intention to be disruptive or sound like a complainer. Please forgive my indescrection.

Welcome to FT, victor8!

Your frustration is understandable. Let us know if your upgrade clears on the return.

I will become Platinum after this weekend's flts and I am veryhappy to be. As EWR based I have rec's a lot of UGs. I actually rec'd my UG for my Friday flt to MCO.

I think the fact that we can do reward travel changes and xls with no penalties is huge. I am looking forward to being Platinum

I did not clear on the return trip.

if you can get the m fare plat upgrade- grab it- it is the only way i book now with all these upgrade problems

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

The Y/B fares also process ahead of lower fares during the EUA sweep and at the gate, even if the customer does not get the upgrade in advance.

Beyond that, there are 3 main reasons to be platinum:

1. Fewer fees, especially around reward travel
2. Increased front cabin reward inventory
3. Better upgrade chances

Iv taken advantage of all 3 over the years and am quite happy with them.

Ditto for the last 4 years.

There's free same-day changes, and CO's SDC window is very generous.