I've been a CO Elite for 20+ years - just made the million miler club. Count me in on any efforts to keep CO Elite-friendly.

Of course, there's a channel for employees to seek a remedy for a loss of benefits--through the collective bargaining process.

One of the reasons there are such things as unions and collective bargaining is that it turns out that when very large corporate entities bargain with employees who are not organized, things usually turn out badly for the employees.

You might think of this thread as the first birthing pains of a collective bargaining effort by high-value CO/UA customers who are trying to realize the same protections and improvements of conditions by facing the company with a unified front that employees are able to achieve through their unions.

i moved out of IAH because of the merger, too late for me i have moved on to better things.

welcome back ;) missed you

my guess is that they will try and monetize e+ even for elites :td:

+1 (unfortunately) - not sure how $misek justifies keeping it otherwise

Count me in. I didn't even do MR for Plat this year, remaining gold until I see If I'm switching. Selling upgrade seats shows just how greedy Smisek is. Its all about him. The whole merger was just so Smarmy could be head of the largest airline in the world.

Count me in. I already have one foot out the door.

I don't think CO is listening any longer.:td:

I think this is an excellent initiative, and I am happy to sign on, along with offering my two cents here (or maybe three or four).

For me, the focus should lie squarely on the drastic change in the upgrade policy. ELR seats are nice, but they're not that different from regular Y seats -- they don't recline more than normal, you can't sleep comfortably in them on a red-eye, you have to pay for drinks and TV, you're treated poorly, and some of the ELR seats are actually worse than normal (like don't have normal armrests). The F seats and service are much nicer, and much more different from ELR seats than ELR seats are from Y seats. Of course we all know that flying domestic first class isn't such a romantic thing -- the food is still crap, FAs are still sometimes curt -- but when you fly so much, as so many of us do, little things like a smile, a cocktail, a coat hanger, seats that actually recline, and a basic level of respect for your personal space can have a big difference in making the "up in the air" lifestyle more tolerable.

On this thread and others, there has been an interesting, sophisticated discussion of the exact reasons for the change in the EUA policy (from a reasonable expectation that often cleared in advance to something that happens only at the last minute), and a less complete discussion of the equally problematic decreased supply of POS M-ups for Plats such that they're often no longer available, even in planes without a single seat sold in F.

The other issue that hasn't been discussed here as much, especially lately, but I think is equally troubling, is that as CO metal has been replaced with UA codeshares on many routes -- especially in and out of SFO, LAX, and anything in the mountain states -- has created the bizarre situation that for all of 2011, as a west-coast-dwelling CO FF like me, with 125,000 EQMs in 2010, is now two levels of upgrade priority below a UA FF with 100,000 EQMs, and one level below a UA FF with 75,000 -- on almost all of the flights I can book on Continental.com to or from LA, San Francisco, and just about anywhere else in the western third of the US. I didn't used to mind the quick changes at IAH when I was going somewhere in middle America; I was in F on both segments, and sometimes I'd enjoy the stop for a quick meal at the Terminal E Pappadeaux.

Nowadays, in many cases, the Houston connections on CO metal from the west coast to other parts of America don't even show up anymore, and my only option is codeshares through Denver or Chicago on UA metal, in which I'll inevitably end up in Y. In short, I am now five levels down in the upgrade hierarchy (below GS/PPlat/1K/PE) for just about any flight leaving California that I can book on the Continental website. To me, that is simply not keeping Continental's end of the bargain, which is that we were supposed to get upgrades in exchange for our loyalty. If the merged company wants to be called "United," then before it switches out even one more CO route for a UA codeshare, the company should offer, at a minimum, 1K status on UA to CO Plats who flew more than 100,000 miles in 2010 -- not in mid-2012, not in early 2012, but immediately. At least that would give us a fighting chance of getting upgrades on our regular routes that used to be served by CO. Otherwise basically we're looking at nothing but coach for all of 2011.

In the end, all of this is really pointing in the same direction. Does it really matter, in the end, what the reasons are for the fact that CO Plats don't get upgraded much on discounted fares anymore? Whether it was Smisek, the UA merger, upgrades being sold to non-elites, ex-Enron traders conniving at the finance department in Houston, or whatever? What matters, it seems to me, is the central fact that, while most of us haven't changed our spending and flying habits that much, we've uniformly seen our FC upgrade benefits decimated to such an extent as to render the central promises of the OnePass program virtually empty -- and, in my case at least, to frustrate the very purpose of our loyalty to this carrier. In my case, my upgrade rate went from a consistent 80-90% in the 12 months leading up to August, to 10-20% post-August, flying the exact same routes with the same frequency at the same fares. Does it really matter how they've done it? Do we really need to know? What's clear is that they've taken what was once a common benefit -- the central benefit of the elite program, one might argue -- and made it into a rare and unexpected treat. Whatever they've done, they know what it is, they know how to fix it, and they could if they wanted to.

Perhaps simply compiling a big spreadsheet detailing each of our upgrade statistics and the way they've changed in the past few months -- especially with respect to clearing at the 5-day window -- might be powerful enough evidence, on the petition or whatever, to prove that something big has been taken from us -- something that was part of the bargain when we loyally spent our tens of thousands of dollars with Continental over the course of 2009 and 2010 -- and that they will lose us (as they've lost me) if they don't give at least some of it back.

Although I still lurk on this board, I no longer technically belong to that group. Since I've switched to DL three weeks ago and they matched my status with PM, I'm 4/5 in EUAs -- more upgrades than I've gotten in my last 20 or so flights as a CO plat -- and the one upgrade I didn't get was a rebook on a flight I'd missed. DL, it seems, is an airline that still honors its commitment to upgrade elites. Still, I am sad to leave CO and *A, especially on international routes, and I would switch back in a minute if I thought the EUA benefit would come back.

I would be happy to donate money to a group effort to buy one big billboard ad for a few days at IAH or EWR, perhaps parodying all those minimalist CO blue ads, that says something like this:

WE'VE HAD SOME COOL TIMES, BUT WE'LL BE UNITED IN LEAVING YOU...
...if you don't bring back "complimentary upgrades" by February 1, 2011. You know, the ones you promised us when we spent all that money on you. Because we don't like double-speak, and we just can't be with someone we don't trust. This is one big world, and there are other fish in the sea, other teams in the sky...with WiFi, too. Sincerely, your most loyal customers.

I agree with you. Although I would modify your statement slightly. Although my upgrade rates went from 90% to 35% in the last year or two, I don't begrudge CO for wanting to sell F seats, even at a discount. They are in business to make money and I have no issues with them doing so.

That said, I find their continued marketing of this "benefit" in the face of overwhelming evidence that it has been significantly watered down (especially for folks flying hub-to-hub and anywhere in and out of EWR), along with sometimes seemingly deliberate misrepresentation of the benefit (PPlats will have highest upgrade priority), to be shameful.

All I ask is that CO be upfront about marketing the benefit at this point. Now, I tend to believe that in the long run, selling F seats at discount and moving the same elites that used to fly F regularly in the Y cabin, will backfire as a business strategy unless the rest of the industry moves in the same direction. Only time will tell the story on that one.

For now, I think the Smisek team don't give a hoot about you, me, or any other Elite with a gripe (whether justified or not), so moving your business is the smart and right thing to do. I think that this, more than anything, will change the game, if the game will change at all. Talking and protesting probably won't achieve anything.

One thing I am still thinking about is to write a letter to the AG of Texas to voice my opinion on the potentially misleading marketing of a benefit (i.e. PPlat upgrade priority) that is not being followed up on. Under the Texas DCPA, I think the AG's office may be willing to look into it.

Count me in!

Firstly, talking and protesting is exactly what Saveskymiles did to bring change to Delta. It took time, effort, money (yes, we'd need to raise money), and the SSM team were actually told by Delta senior management that they were wrong, and the data proved it. Undeterred, the SSM crew stepped up the marketing campaign, brought customers and employees together and delivered a final death blow at the annual Delta stockholder meeting where a truck with a SSM ad paraded in front of the Plaza Hotel where the meeting was being held - and Mullin had a meltdown over it. His fate was sealed from that point.

So, you're probably right - neither Smisek nor his core team probably give a hoot about our complaints and likely think we're a bunch of entitled whiners. Of course since we represent the essential core of Continental's long term revenues, never wavered or tempted by a $50 savings on a competitor, he ignores our loyalty, concerns and inputs at his peril. Many of us have been loyal customers of this company for 10+ years, some 20+ years and stuck through the worst of times.

Delta is moving to monetize the F cabin more efficiently. Of course the DL forum is up in arms over it with 80% of poll respondents stating it will alter their loyalty. Of course they will wait to see the impact of these changes. The Delta implementation will be key for us as well - if Delta can create monetization opportunities that do not slash Medallion upgrade rates, we will have data points to bring up with CO, as well as an option to move our business if CO continues to ignore our input and rolls out more benefit-reducing initiatives, such as the ELR-for-sale-before-OLCI change.

If DL just copies the CO model and Medallion upgrades start tanking, it will leave AA as the sole bastion of stable upgrades for top tiers elites - and it will be up to them to either embrace the throngs of unhappy CO|UA and DL elites jumping ship, or begin monetizing their F cabin and deliver a final death blow to the former cornerstone benefit of everyone's FFP. I believe if that happens, most domestic frequent fliers who have little need for alliances will give more business to VX, B6 and WN - declining premium loyalty benefits for better pricing, more nonstop flights and a comfortable, stable and predictable Y class product.

Finally, I am in full agreement that we've seen the Complimentary Upgrade program move from 'most of the time' to 'rarely' without a commensurate change in marketing-speak. I believe we have sufficient data points from a variety of forum members and their contacts to support the assertion that program marketing needs to change and more accurately reflect participant experiences and expectations. Upgrades are no longer the corner-stone of the OP program - the reduction/waiver of fees is the only corner-stone benefit I can see with the recent loss of exclusive access to the best seats on the aircraft.

The entire CO "product" has been degraded without a change in marketing. They're still tooting their horn about how much better they are than other airlines. (though they no longer have any of the benefits and creature comforts they used to brag about)