I would like to add my support to this question too. The first time I have seen the 20 figure mentioned in my searches. Perhaps you could start a full statement on what exactly we have to do as EU based members to TATL qualify. For example, it is not clear to me if a CO flight number on VS metal counts, or vice versa. The direct routes on my main TATL crossings are VS metal routes.

I expect to do about 30 TATLs next year with some extending down to South America or Central America as well as 12+ Europe to Middle East and I expect to use COPA (both of them) around 25+ times too.

So? A 100-124k flier on CO in 2011 will now have 6 SWUs + 2 regional upgrades, IIRC. A 100-124k flier on AA has 8 SWUs. It's not really any different now. And those folks who are using the SWUs and RUs may very well have been ahead of you in the EUA priority. Some probably would have and some wouldn't have. Unless they're using them entirely for family members. But at the end of the day, I really don't think it's going to have a measurable impact on overall EUAs. The numbers just aren't all that high.

I'm not sure why you are bothering to ask this. Few if any details have been disclosed regarding 2012 or the combined program. In most cases, they just don't know yet. Hold your horses.

Am I missing something? - I have no idea how you got to this conclusion. The upgrade standby list is prioritized first by status and then by fare class, with the exception of Golds/Silvers on YB fares. A Platinum will be ahead of a Gold.

Do these changes have ANY positive impact for CO Gold members who fly on Lufthansa? I have never received any benefit while flying Lufthansa as a CO Gold guy.

Since you will be discontinuing the Presidential Plus CC, and as of Sept. 2011, you can no longer gain admission with AMEX Platinum CC, Will Continental be offering any CC to allow you access to PC, or will we just have to buy membership in club only?

Well, I think the real issue is that there will soon no longer be a Presidents Club program.

The combined airline will create a new brand for its airline lounges (Red President's Club? ) and it's not clear to me if there will be a credit card that would provide access to it.

The general question is this:

Within 24 hours before departure, are Mileage Upgrade Rewards, SWUs, and CR1s sorted first by fare class, or first by elite status, on the upgrade standby list?

Reread CO Insider's recent post carefully, it contains new information:

As of a few months ago, flyers who have waitlisted miles for an upgrade appear on the upgrade standby list ahead of elites waiting for a complimentary upgrade. If these "Reward" flyers clear, they do not get their miles returned.

What no one has specified online, is how this particular cluster of flyers is sorted, within the upgrade standby list, as of a few months ago.

It is of interest to me because on Thursday afternoons EWR to SFO I always waitlist miles for an upgrade. Several times I have been the last person to upgrade, and several times I have been left #1 on the list (e.g. out of 62), not upgraded. If it is worth thousands of dollars to anyone to ever sit in front, then this question is worth thousands of dollars to me. Given that there's a slim chance of a complimentary upgrade on these flights, some might view this as a dilution of elite benefits.

When other upgrade certs (SWUs, CR1s) enter the mix, one can ask the same question. If on many routes, the complimentary upgrade becomes a rare event, then many of us should wonder how much elite status matters.

I was being quite specific in my comparison question ("Platinum Reward" is the internal CO terminology for a Platinum on the upgrade standby list who has waitlisted miles) to keep people from answering a different question instead. I don't believe for a moment that there's any deliberate effort to keep this issue from surfacing; how would one then explain CO Insider's candor? But the Turing Test always comes to mind: How would a systematic campaign to obfuscate this question look any different from the responses I've gotten so far?

Chase/UA currently have a visa card that gives RCC access. I'd expect that something similar will be available as part of the merged credit card offering, unless they found that the cards that include club access were highly unprofitable (I suspect it's ultimately Chase that's buying "features" for a given card from UA).

Love the Red Presidents Club moniker. Maybe they could open one in Moscow?

I can shed some light on this - in May I flew EWR-PDX-EWR, on a cheapo ticket, and had each segment sponsored with miles (neither cleared). At the time I was the equivalent of a GM (non-elite), as there was no UA reciprocity as of yet. Checking in day-of I was #1 on the PDA site list, and there were ~15-20 fliers below me. I refreshed the PDA site all the way til the doors closed. I believe I ended up #1 on the outbound and #2 on the return.

So I was ahead of all the EUAs, and I'm guessing that on the return there must have been an Elite (of some level of status) who was also using miles.

Guess there's no way to know if it was sorted by status, fare code, or any other way though.

As red is no longer a part of the new UA's brand identity (unless there's a greenfield 3rd approach down the road), I highly doubt we will see a Red Prez Club, a red carpet, a red globe, or anything else red.

Something is definitely broken if waitlists within waitlists been to be prioritized for the off chance of an upgrade. Someone needs to get real here: eliminate "complimentary upgrades" for non-Platinums as a published benefit and/or limit the number of upgrades going out and/or increase the number of F seats available for upgrade. There are so many upgrade mechanisms out there now (not even including all the revenue ways to get yourself up front) that it's got to be close to illegal for publishing an upgrade benefit to lower tier elites (definitely silver, maybe gold) that they can't possibly fulfill.

This could go two ways: Either the spokesman becomes Mikhail Gorbachev...or...George Bush (that's another kind of red president...as in the colors of the U.S. electoral map) ;

What will happen to our flexible elite miles going forward and the flexible elite mile program?

how about a red balance sheet when everyone bails on their new CO "enhancements"

I know that's not a complete quote TWA but it has a resonance

The "clubs" are very profitable on their own so no matter the

name there will definitely a club program that's likely to be

more like PC than RC in my prognastication (I hope)

It boggles what's left of my mind to see the new fees

One of the very nicest things Ringling ever did for me

(& there were many) was my charter life w/ spouse

Of course there will be a club...and it will absolutely keep many of the features of the PC. I just hope they find the courage to ramp up the food offerings at least just a hair, because, otherwise, I have found the PC's to be an outstanding place for my diet...