fsfsfsfs

Hi COers,

I'm flying Continental metal (with ticket purchased through CO.com) for the first time this weekend. This is not a complaint -- just a question about your experiences as a Continental elite.

My itinerary takes me from DFW to ORD via IAH first thing Monday morning. I received an upgrade notification on the DFW-IAH segment about 5 days ahead of time (I was happy, of course), but silence prevailed on the IAH-ORD flight.

I checked the Upgrade Standby List every day since T-5 days and watched it slowly build up. Of course, now F is full with capacity 24 (cleared list include 20, so I assume 4 purchased bizfirst seats). There are also 14 pax on the Upgrade Standby List (I am not one of them because CO.com is not letting me check in online).

I am wondering whether it's "normal" for someone at the CO Plat level not to get upgraded on a 757, or if perhaps there was a kink in the new system with UA that prevented me from clearing. Again, I understand that this depends on the route, scheduling, etc., etc. Just wanted to use this to help me make a decision on flying CO metal in the near future. Of course, I understand you all would love to keep the UAers away for as long as possible

Thanks for your help. Sorry about the long post.

channa

The upgrade list you see online is for airport upgrades only. It's not applicable to advance upgrades. You won't be on the list until you check in and get added.

fsfsfsfs

Yeah, I see that the list is only for people who have checked in, so that makes sense. My question is more about whether it's normal for upgrades on 757s to get completely filled out prior to the "1K" level, wherever that may be. Channa, since you're elite on both CO and UA, what's been your experience with CO 757's?

channa

People on this board usually think that my being Elite on both CO and UA detracts from my credibility because I don't drink the COol-Aid.

But since you asked, it really does vary by market. Living in SFO, which is a tough market, I do substantially better on UA than I do on CO. I'm not surprised for a hub-to-partner hub flight like that to be tough like that, especially since UA 1Ks are prioritized under CO Plats.

reinballe

It depends a lot on the route, day of the week etc...

From what I have read on this forum... I figure that plats get upgraded more than 80% of the times - on average.

On some routes, such as SFO-EWR, the competition for an upgrade is fierce. I tend to get upgraded about 50% of the times on SFO-EWR.

The likely implication is that 1Ks have close to zero chance of an upgrade on such routes, since they have lower priority than plats.

Regarding the 753, then the ratio of Y-to-F seats is decent, but many of CO planes have better ratios.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ml#post6719534

njcommodore

I've been on a IAH-EWR as a plat on a high fare and didn't clear. It's not automatic, especially on a busy biz travel day.

usa18dca

Then again I did clear a 767 IAH-EWR on a Monday once...

njcommodore

25 or 35 seats on a 767 vs. 16 on a 757.

reinballe

The 757 mentioned by OP is the 753 with 24 seats... slightly better ratio than the 752.

prncess674

IAH-ORD on CO on a Monday morning is packed to the gills with elites. Many times the waitlist at the airport will have 20 plus Plats on the list. I used to take this flight weekly a few years a go and frequently the GA would announce that practically everyone was elite so they were going to just board by row. Did you buy a cheap advance purchase fare? Realize you will be behind ever Plat who bought a higher fare.

reinballe

Will OP as a 1K not be behind every plat... regardless of fare?

prncess674

I think that is a question that is not clear. I think expecting an upgrade, even as CO Plat, on this route is a lofty goal considering it is packed to the gills every Monday AM with the same weekly flyers.

sbm12

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/5.0.0.591 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Sortof. Y/B/M fares still get to do instant upgrades and hold priority but a 1K on an H fare will be behind a PLT on a W fare.

fsfsfsfs

Thanks for the responses, all. Especially prncess674 with her (?) experience on this route in the past. Looks like it's just a super-elite route, not a glitch with the new system, which is exactly what I wanted to make sure of.

prncess674, did you relocate from one of those towns to DC? Why would you want to move to a swamp?

prncess674

Former IAH (via MSY) gal who now lives in DC. Still have family in IAH so I still fly out of IAH on Monday AM occasionally when visiting the family. With the CO/UA merger I can only imagine that the number of elites jockeying for the elusive ugrade, your chances are pretty slim on that route if you aren't on a high fare bucket ticket.