To set this up, allow me to state that I flew CO exclusively from Jan through mid-July AUS-EWR-AUS, during which time I flew 126,168 EQMs and 70 paid segments with an upgrade percentage of 48.5%. From August through the end of the year, I have been flying AA. I will finish the year with 80 segments and about 144,000 EQMs. Almost all my tickets are Economy and Discount Economy booked well in advance.

Around July, my work schedule changed and I decided to fly AA again because I thought their ExecPlat program was a better fit for me than OnePass.

Below, I am going to explore some of the comparative issues and some recent developments of both programs/airlines.

Service:
I might be wrong, but I don't think there's better on-board service on Co than AA or vice versa. Seems very close to me. Most FAs I meet are nice enough and try to help when they can. There are the obvious exceptions, but for the most part, this doesn't seem like a differentiator.

Airplane cleanliness/maintenance:
I think in this department, CO wins by a landslide as the MD80s that I fly are not as clean and not as new as the 73Gs that CO mostly flies on the route. The AA planes also seem a tad dirtier than the CO planes.

At the Airport:
To me, again, not a big difference. Printing boarding passes at the kiosks is a breeze with both airlines and security lanes in each terminal in EWR are equally slow.

Lounges:
Again...push for me...I don't drink alcohol while on the road, so PresClub provides no real advantage. Nice to have bagels rather than mini-muffins, but not that big a deal to me.

Routes:
It's nice to fly direct flights when possible since it reduces my flying time by 1.5 to 2 hours on average. So CO is great in that regard for my weekly travel. On the whole though, I find COs network lacking. If I fly connections for example, CO doesn't run nearly as often between IAH and AUS as AA does, so often times, I can scoot on an earlier flight in DFW where I would have to wait for 2 hours at IAH.

Standby Ops:
If I connect in IAH or DFW, flying AA is a treat relative to CO. Since I don't pay to standby on AA, I can often get on an earlier flight by walking up right before the plane leaves, and standing by. I'm usually number 1 on the list and get right on even when time is tight. CO on the other hand is a pain...for revenue enhancement, they have to process a cc and have a 30 minute cutoff for standbys.

One week earlier in the year, I got to IAH and was at the counter more than 45 minutes before the earlier flight I wanted to get on left. There were a number of people in the line in front of me and I did not get to the GA until 25 minutes from dep with the plane having plenty of seats left. I was flatly sent away for missing the 30 minute cutoff. The GA said she couldn't process me in time.

A few weeks later in a similar situation, the GA lied and said the plane was full. I went online and saw that the plane was half empty. I went to the PC and asked them if they could see empty seats and they said the plane was only half full. I went back to the GA and told her that I knew that the plane was half full and that I wanted to give her an opportunity to reconsider her earlier claim that it was booked full. With her bluff called, she processed me and I got on.

All this comes to show that the time consuming and archaic rules at CO often put GAs and pax in a weird position.

Upgrades:
This is where AA wins hands down, a well. My upgrade percentage as ExP is 100%, with CO it's 48% in 2009 before August. I just flew AUS-EWR-AUS this week. In the past, if I wasn't upgraded, I was at least fairly close to the top of the list. This past week, not only was I not on the top of the list, but I was #16 and #12 (on a 12F 73G / after F was full and people had already been upgraded) for an upgrade on a W fare. This shows a remarkable departure from the upgrade situation even 6 months ago. My hypothesis is that the DEQM periods have flooded the Elite Ranks, including Platinum, and combined with the M-ups and OLCI/airport buy-ups, have strongly impacted upgrade chances for the negative. I expect upgrade percentages to now be around 10%-20% with the latter being an exception.

Award availability:
AA used to be way ahead of CO in this department but things have really changed. While award inventory, even for EXPs has tightened considerably relative to the past, it's still pretty good on AA as long as you are not trying to get to Europe. Availability to Europe in the Summer months (May through Sep) is atrocious. Co on the other hand has gone the other direction it seems. With its entry into Star, finding flights on UA, LH, TG etc has been remarkable easy. This is possibly the greatest enhancement for OnePass members that I have personally experienced.

FF Service Desk:
The CO service desk is truly pathetic (although I hope the Presidential Platinum desk will be top notch), while AA shines with its highly trained and extremely helpful EXP desk agents.

Bottom line:
For me, flying AA is far more comfortable, but keeping status on CO is important. That said, I think Platinum is no longer a big difference from Gold (since getting upgraded is nearly impossible), so for next year, I'll fly AA as much as possible and fly just enough on CO to make Gold.

Just a small note Continental Platinum now can be confirmed in Coach for no charge within 24 hours of the original flight and you do not need the GA you can call in or do it at a kiosk or continental.com.

I assume you mean "My upgrade percentage as ExP is 100% with AA" not CO.

Correct. Confusingly written by myself for sure. Apologies.

As long as AA can get you there, fine, enjoy....AA left me hanging too often

Thanks for the review!

Similar experience at DTW when they had irrops 2 weekends ago. I asked the GA to get the earlier flight and was told that it "was full." I explained that the PDA site showed seats available and the agent went into a seminar on how we "have too much information with that site" and it's "not good." She also said it's not 100% accurate, so I never got a seat on the flight. The seat map showed 17 seats open!

I guess you never asked your AA FA for a glass of orange juice

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...deral-law.html

Thanks for your detailed post. I would generally agree with your key conclusions -- I think CO is a slightly better airline than AA, but the EXP program kicks butt, particularly with the vast majority of EXPs here reporting 95%+ upgrade percentages. Network issues are of course a function of where you live; I find CO better than AA in the New York area (except for a few key routes like JFK-LAX/LHR).

Yeah as EXP, the only "major downside" from CLT is East Coast access on AA as backtracking through ORD or flying through MIA does not make life easy. CO give plenty of easy East Coast access with EWR and CLE.

Safe Travels

But you got more miles and can reach EXP easier.

Are in-seat power ports more widely available on CO than they were in 2003 (he last year I was a CO Plat)? Availability of power ports (even in Y) was part of what made me change to AA.

OP, i think you hitted it right on the spot. My uncle is SAT based, flies a couple of meeting a yr to SAN and BWI. And his choice was AA or CO. And he stuck with CO because as you said AA maintainence seems to break down easily, and he doesn't care for the upgrades. He hates flying and wants to be flying minimal time.

Very much yes, and it is getting better. Currently the entire 777 and 752 fleets are A/C outlet equipped and the 767s have emPower in part of the plane (all of BF and part of Y. The 73Es are equipped nose-to-tail and as the other 738s, 739s, 753s and 73Gs are converted to the LiveTV system they will also be adding outlets from at least the rear exit row forward.