SFO-SSA

As a long-time CO Plat who must travel on the lowest fares, I have basically zero expectations any more that I will get an upgrade. And as someone based in San Francisco, United is looking awfully tempting with its E+. This year may be the end of my long-term loyalty to CO.

bocastephen

Same with Delta - but we know, even from Scott's discussions on this issue, that CO has made a conscious decision to entice buy-ups over and above Elite upgrades. They are attempting to sell the seat outright for it's original F-class price. Fee-based segment upgrades are suppose to follow the same rule as UA and DL - no offers unless empty seats after Elite upgrades.

The problem we're seeing here, is either a glitch is offering the wrong buy-up price, offering a fee-upgrade when it shouldn't be, or there is some other nefarious change happening that we're unaware of where CO is trying to tickle even $70 of incremental revenue out of the seat before it lets it go to an Elite for free (nevermind the Elite still waiting might have paid more for their ticket).

Because we're seeing sporadic examples of what we suspect are system-shenanigans (and CO should really know better than to pull a fast one on this audience), and it could be nothing (the prices offered were correct for that customer), a glitch or a deliberate change, we should try and gather specific evidence, post the screenshot photos in a new thread and ask CO to comment on these specific examples.

baccarat_king

actually, hardly the same

with Delta you cannot upgrade LUT fares (the three lowest fare categories), you would need to buy-up to at least a K fare, and then pay the upgrade fee.

A lot different, then the example in the thread I started; where I could upgrade a $82+tax fare from LAS-IAH-BOS.

Delta makes it prohibitively expensive for non-elites on low fares to upgrade.

bubbashow

THIS is the problem with DEQM promotions. Everyone is elite. People B*&^% when there isn't a DEQM promo and then B&^%$ when there are too many elites on the waitlist. You can't have your cake and eat it too. I wish airlines would stop giving elite away and make it what it was - those that deserve it.

channa

But what will that accomplish? The minute they fix this, we'll find another "glitch" that impacts Plats. There's always something with CO and upgrades.

In the past 12 months alone, they fixed the checkin loophole, then broke EUA for periods, allowing call-in upgrades at times, and now this (alleged) buy-up mishandling. Meanwhile, they never bothered to allow waitlisting for unfulfilled instant upgrades, again creating potential for improper ordering (a Silver on a B can trump a Plat on a Y because he called at the right time).

So this (alleged) mishandling is insignifcant, IMO. It's just another inequity, much like the GA shenanigans people get all heated over. That stuff has been going on for years as well. The first time that happened to me was in 2003 or 2004.

It's just the price you pay to fly CO.

bocastephen

Isn't this why we're here and why CO participates in this forum. It's a two-way street, and I don't subscribe to the suggestion that everything at CO is technically broken.

They may or may not be aware of a glitch - but if we're aware of it, it's a low effort on our part to snap a picture with a cell phone or make a screen print and post it here. Either it's a glitch to be fixed (and Scott has been open and forthcoming about getting problems fixed) or we've stumbled onto an 'unpublished' change in how upgrades are handled and we'll be expecting an explanation.

Phudnik

I thought Y-ups were taken from whatever the ordinary F bucket is called these days, and thus if you buy a Y fare you can always upgrade instantly as long as an F seat is available. So the only circumstance in which a Silver on a B could trump a Plat on a Y is if F is sold out and someone cancels (in which case I would think it is unlikely that CO would make that seat available in ZN anyway).

I agree that CO should develop some kind of waitlisting system for B/M-ups that could not be confirmed at time of purchase outside of EUA. I wonder how much this discourages purchases of B/M fares when the instant upgrade is not available.

channa

I'm not saying everything is broken, rather there seem to be continuous problems with respect to CO's technology and upgrades, making this issue is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

If we want to work with CO, we need to steer them towards overhauling their technology with respect to upgrades.




This is true. Though a similar inequity could develop is a Plat bought B and didn't get upgraded, a Silver bought a B later and didn't get upgraded, then the Silver called back the next day to secure the upgrade once space opened up.

Even if they didn't want to build a waitlist for this purpose, they could slap on another a piece of duct tape and run EUA against flights starting much earlier, but only upgrade Y/B and Plats on M.

dagezi

FWIW, when my wife and I were traveling SJC-IAH-CLE-SYR on Jan 14th, at OLCI, I (plat on E) was put on the upgrade standby list and she (non-elite on E) was offered a $150 buy up. (We ended up missing all EUAs on that trip--on the IAH-CLE leg I was 16th on a list of 15 folks upgraded, wife was 17th as plat companion) It seems clear that CO is not in fact processing non-elite buy ups after all elites are dealt with. It is bizarre that I was not even offered the buy up. That must be a bug, no?

I chatted with the gate folks at IAH and they said it's all about fare class now. CO is welcome to do what they want in terms of business plan, but it seems like they are going to alienate a bunch of elites for relatively modest $$. At 6'7", I need an exit row on most planes and with lots of plats being shunted to the back with the new emphasis on buy ups meaning that much more competition for the few good Y seats, I'm thinking about either flying United as a CO plat to sit in E+ (which would be a shame because I moved to CO after years of hating United "service" flying out of SFO) or status matching to Delta -- is redeeming miles on DL really as hard as it's made out to be? Even if it is, it might be worth it for more legroom and reputedly easier upgrades.

Whatever they end up choosing to do, CO should make the whole process more transparent.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

BUT - if you multiply a couple of hundred to a thousand plus bucks per flight times the number of mainline flights, I bet that adds up to a signifcant portion of their profits. It's the last dollars that come in (or don't come in) that make or break a profit.

I'm assuming the chance of free upgrades are going to be vastly dimished going forward. If so, CO ought to open (to elites) a little more inventory at saver pass level for free tickets.

I live in Houston and travel domestically and internationally, so I'm pretty much hitched to CO.

J.Edward

Yes, but that's why the need E+, IMHO -- see:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...w-needs-e.html

bocastephen

No, they need to either fix the broken EUA/upgrade system or come clean about how the algorithm has been changed and who it favors.

I don't want E+ - I want a more predictable, consistent method of getting upgrades without any back-door electronic shenanigans.

I would like a true Premium Economy cabin and service on int'l flights - but I think that has as much chance of happening as domestic E+ unless there is an actual plan to merge.

freeflyin

Unfortunately,I don't think I will be able to maintain both CO Plat and UA 1K after this year. For me there is no question that my emphasis will be on keeping 1K on UA. At least when my upgrades don't clear,I still have E+.

As of right now,CO is not showing that they have any interest in maintaining a great Elite product

saathich

One option is to also write an email to OLSC by email or directly to Rev Mgmt by letter. I'm sure a few hundred letters with specific instances or concerns would at the very least catch attention. And it would be sure to be heard vs. floating in the FT ether where CO Insider may or may not convey (and may or may not be the right person...presume he is in PR?).

First time CO Plat and I've only flown four CO segments since with one M-up and one EUA (two exit row), so not feeling it myself. But as a NY based flyer, United/AA/DL are always waiting in the wings and if CO fails to offer good benefits will happily test out someone else. If CO delivers, will fly them near every time even if more expensive at times.

cova

We have not heard a word from CO since last Fall, when CO Insider indicated that there was an EUA freeze issue when there was a problem reservation. Since then, not a word on the apparent offering of buy ups (not fare differences) when there are plenty of elites standing by.

$150 is too round of a number to be the fare difference - so this is clearly a buy up. CO really needs to announce its current policy and let travelers make a decision on who they want to fly based on any significant changes to the OnePass program.