A good gamble when you're 100% on upgrades. I research the route with EF and when things look good I ticket early, sometimes a month or two. Although it's never happened for me, there is the 3 hour standby list which guarantees a seat if one is available.

Apparently he doesn't care, since it's the company's money.

Didn't you just say something about 90%?

Face it, the YBM upgrade restriction on DL is absurd.

And BusinessElite and BusinessFirst are pretty directly comparable. You can quibble over minor points like seat width vs. pitch and the shape of the tableware and who's further along in the conversion to flat beds, but it's basically six of one, half dozen of the other between these two.

1) I agree 100% and that is why we are here

2) I slightly prefer DL, but in general I agree.

Ok i'll post into here and resist the urge to start 'yet another broken eua' thread.
I'm flying tonight. 13 have already been upgraded, and I'm number 3 on the list? I find it hard to believe that 15 people trump my platinum status on this route, at this time of day, on a sunday. No i'm not doing IAH-EWR (i could believe it on that route).
I keep finding myself in this situation...far down the upgrade list on the way to airport, on a plane which isn't even full.

Really wish that I had started flyer program with Delta instead of CO. If next year goes like this year, abandoning my progress towards million miles (halfway there) won't sound so bad. Delta and others have a 'real' first class for international and their elites have a chance to get upgraded into it, the routes i need domestically are almost as good, the routes i need internationally are maybe a bit better.

I am pretty sure that B/M up fares and mileage upgrades show as upgraded on the list - so that would include all elite levels. CO is Plat heavy this year with the double EQM last year.

Somebody up there must be watching. I just got EUA'd for SEA-IAH at the 72-hour mark. That's a first for me this year.

Not for me -- I own my company and watch the travel overhead. And it would be immoral for me to charge that cost bump through to my clients.

DL does?

DP-340: I came over to try CO this year because I thought the products were about the same, my conclusion (previously explained) is they're not. I've flown a lot of different international routes this year and have been able to get Y,B or M fares on Delta and used 8 SWUs thus far. As a whole from the DM line to FAs and even a lot of TAs and GAs have really (in my observations) bent over backwards to be customer friendly. I don't see much of that with CO, even the Presidents Club - the demeanor overall has been indifference.

My main point, on Delta status matters whereas on Continental I really don't think it does. And to be fair I'm just more comfortable with the Delta process. I'm sure in the past CO has been a great airline and I'm certain all airlines go through their ups and downs. At this point in time I believe Delta is having an up year and I'll stick with them as my airline of choice until they prove me different. The writing on the wall will be when I have to use miles to guarantee a domestic upgrade.

Try to OLCI - maybe you'll get the $29 F buy-up and pass the other Plats on the WL with higher fare codes

My last post on this issue...CHecked 5-6 days out for my flights this morning AUS-IAH-EWR. AUS-IAH had 4 of 16 booked. IAH-EWR did not have a lot of availability...maybe 8-9 seats left of 35. AT 5-day mark, no EUA.

On day of flight, AUS-IAH is booked full with 14 of 16 pax in F upgraded. I am #5 on the list that is a total of 46 deep. In other words, the plane that carries 152 pax has at least 60 elites on board and as much as 62 (if the two that bought F are elites also).

On the IAH-EWR leg, F is full at 35 with 19 of them upgraded. I am #13 on the list that is 56 deep. Again, this makes for a minimum of 75 elites and as much as 91 on a plane that seats 235.

If I can't even have hope to catch an upgrade anymore as a Plat, I am out. I will fly the remainder of my trips on CO this year, and I won't spend a minute thinking about upgrades etc since I am not going to get any anyway. I am Plat through Feb 2012, and in 2011, I will make Silver with a trip to Thailand on TG/CO, and that will be all the flying I'm doing on CO next year. As of December, I will be flying AA full-time.

Unless the merger changes the new United's view and execution of loyalty and upgrade benefits, I will not support them financially to feed into this non-sense. It was good flying with you.

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I guess it is all relative. I just got an email this morning for a 5-day EUA on a $120ish transcon r/t. That certainly doesn't happen every time but the inverse - that it never happens - also isn't true.

I'm just curious, what is the fare that takes you r/t transcon for $120ish?

Route-Date-Fare??

I don't remember seeing any 120r/t transcon's lately, and I really don't believe the 5 day EUA.

5 day EUAs still DO occur SOMETIMES (but not consistantly)

There seems to be little rhyme or reason

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Route is DCA-ONT. L fare. Purchased May 25, 2010. I might be a bit off on the fare but it was pretty darn cheap. Yes, I'm flying Saturday morning, but the upgrade absolutely did happen.

Feel free to confirm by looking at co.com at the cleared list for DCA-IAH on Saturday.

Not everyone get every flight upgraded at 5 days out. Even all my EUAs this year haven't come at 5 days out. But it does still happen from time to time, probably more often than folks here on FT are willing to admit.