I would have to disagree with CO's assertion that MRTC has failed. I believe that they removed it from only 100 or so planes out of 600+ planes. Still, 80% of their aircraft have MRTC and it beats the heck out of CO's 735's from IAH-BOS (4 hour flight). Give me a MRTC MD-80 anytime.

I also disagree with CO's MRTC comments. MRTC hasn't exactly 'failed', but it did not do for AA as much as they expected. This had far more to do with AA's dismal marketing campaign for MRTC and its inability to properly communicate its distinction and value to the market. They didn't market it properly, they didn't create a sense of value, and after statements that the product should command a small price premium, they never charged it. Most people didn't even know it existed, and if they heard the buzzword for it, they did not understand what it meant or what it offered them.

Poor planning and marketing on the part of AA should not translate into an assumption by CO that the market itself would never pay for added comfort. If the concept was properly communicated and the benefit was easy to understand, I am sure there are many customers who would consider a small premium worthwhile. The interesting part of this is CO constantly suggesting that its product is superior and we should pay a premium (and feel honored to do so) to fly it - yet they offer us absolutely nothing of value in coach that any intelligent customer would consider worthy of a premium. A snack/meal, movie, or pillow/blanket might seem like alot of benefit to Gordon, but I think customers would be happier with more comfortable seats and more space - they can bring their own food, pillows and blankets with them. At least that's my opinion.

I wouldn't say so automatically-- but there may be something to that way of looking at it. CO silver is a good deal since you get at least a shot at free upgrades. The difference, IMHO, has more to do with international travel, as in the more international travel you have, the better AA's program is for you.

If someone flies exclusively domestic, and can in fact get CO silver for 25,000 flown miles, then I'd agree that CO silver is as good or better than AA Gold (bottom tier.) Leaving aside the middle ground, CO Gold vs. AA Plat, I certainly think that AA Exec Plat is demonstrably better than CO Plat in every single way.

And, if the 50% EQM thing is permanent than 100,000 miles flown all on cheap(ish) fares might = CO Gold, vs. the same yielding AA EXP. Obviously AA EXP is leaps and bounds better than CO Gold for the vast majority of people, with some exceptions, obviously. Free domestic upgrades and 8 systemwide upgrades, international first-class lounge access, fantastic dedicated phone reps... the list is pretty long.

But, again, if you're a domestic-only flyer the differences might be negligible and/or very case-specific (home airport, frequency of service, etc.) for bottom-tier elites.

Co grass is greener for me ..
 

Continental's Grass is greener for me ... why ? I live and work in Northern NJ... EWR ROCKS... Continental's Global Gateway is fabulous and seeing as its easy for me to get too ... It's easy for them to be greener to me :p

On a more serious note... I have loyally flown Continental for years fromt he bad to the better to the good to the best to now the best of what we got right now ... I may have a 31" seat pitch, but I still feel I'm getting the best value for what I want, need, and spend. The reality is ... it doesn't matter who is the best, it matters is you feel you're getting your value out of it... People looked at me funny when I was younger (12ish-14ish) and said Continental will plan out one day ... I think I've maxamized the value of them today .. hence i prefer them over anyone else...


-Vincent

That reminds me that I need to go see 'Garden State'! :D

Continental's "Global Gateway" ain't in the Garbage State, it's at IAH, thats where that swarm of Jungle Jets heads off to "More International Destinations" south of the border. :D

I'm with Vincom on this one... as also one who lives in NJ, travels lots domestically & internationally, has been top tier at CO for the past 7 years-- I too, don't see any advantage to switching to AA. I haven't rode in the 'back of the bus' in years, always try to take advantage of CO's BF sale fares but more importantly like taking non stops overseas and within the US-- something I'd not be able to do as easily on AA. Sure I could move my business to AA, but then I'd have to waste a year in the lower ranks, take connections to cities CO flys nonstop from EWR (and JFK or LGA is NOT an option), just to have the chance to use (when I finallly get to acquire them) upgrade certs on 4 flights overseas???? No thank you-- I'll stick with CO, where so far this year at 87,410 actual flight miles-- I've never sat in coach.

Mauld, as a NJ resident I understand the barrier you speak of but I did it and don't miss it having done enough trips to acquire top status in both AA and UA.

But one needs to be pissed of about CO sufficiently to do it. If I was paying for BF on CO all the time, I might not miss it so much. You do appear to do a lot of paid BF travel. I couldn't afford to do the amount of travel I do in BF especially when it is personal travel. So the choice is to travel once in BF or take several trips on UA/AA. I like many short trips and for that CO is very expensive and a bad value for the money. This is where the AA certs come in handy. 8 upgrades to use on any flight when I cannot justify BC tickets and easy miles upgrade redemptions to compliment. Combine that with lounge privileges as I jump through 5 different European cities on a choice of airlines and sticking to CO becomes unthinkable.

The other was destination choice. UA is hard to beat for Asia while AA and CO are very poor in that direction. To Europe, any of these airline are fine and I understand your concern of having to connect elsewhere on UA/AA or fly via JFK. But then if I am not paying for BF for a particular trip, then that option is way better than CO coach or trying to upgrade with CO. What finally drove me off of CO was a flight from MXP where I had a confirmed upgrade and they made me fly in coach with empty BF seats while admitting it was their error! There is that matter of principles too.

Switching in terms of status was easy. I got comped to UA middle tier and AA comped that to their midle tier. Not challenges even. But if you do paid business class trips, then just one trip would be sufficient to get that status. These are sufficient to get lounge privileges to get you enjoying them right away. With AA, I just kept using all the miles I was building up (easy when you do International flights) to upgrade and so almost never flew coach unless I wanted to and reaching EXP was easy.

Note that AA/UA have competitive fares most of the time in business class so you don't need to wait for a BF sale.

So I do understand your reasoning from your travel profile, but it really isn't that much of a barrier and there are sufficient benefits to justify it if one were to do it.

yeah its nice but there are always way too many delays out of there!!!

Wait
 

Did you happen to forgot? Continental (through Continental Micronesia) serves more destinations to Japan than any other US carrier (YES INCLUDING UNITED), aswell as a decent array of destinations throughout Micronesia and Asia...
-Vincent

this is technically true, but in order to get to Japan via CO (CO Mike), you need to connect in HNL and GUM first - not a practical way to travel to Japan when NW and UA serve more cities in Japan nonstop from the continental US.

<d e l e t e d>

even better, check out NW's partner route map within Japan...after landing at NRT, there isn't a city, town, or prefecture that doesn't have a JAS line drawn to it. That is a much easier way to get around Japan than taking CO via HNL/GUM....however, I will add that taking the island hopper as part of a vacation adventure would be alot of fun - just not the ideal way for most customers to get there.

All this info is lovely, but it's straying quite far from the topic. Please stay on the topic of OnePass changes for 2005. If you feel strongly about any other topic related to CO/OnePass feel free to start a new topic for it!

Xyzzy
CO forum moderator

I respect your opinion 100% and basically agree, but couldn't it be argued that;
OP changes for 2005-> might make some consider leaving CO-> have to consider relative pluses and minuses of the other carriers?

But you're certainly right, in a perfect world there could be a big thread that was just "CO vs. AA or UA for Asia." (and/or Europe, etc.) and that would be an entirely separate discussion. But I do think a bit of "bleed-through" is inevitable as people search for alternatives.