HP:

Am curious about why the HP change? This is a significant drawback for West Coast flyers.

I wonder if CO or HP initiated the change? Maybe there were too many CO elites flying on HP? Certainly CO's lack of a West Coast route system might entail this. A conjecture.

I would infer that HP cannot have any upgrade privileges on CO, other than 2 hrs before departure? Is this a change as well?

This certainly will encroach on my flying HP, other than short hops.


International Upgrades: Elite or miles.

I was hoping for an improvment as well. Would love to have at least one or two system wide upgrades for the Platinums, like those 1ks over at UAL.

Top tier at CO is losing its luster for me. Seems like Gold may be the better value--as was pointed out above.

Even if CO can get all of its employees to vote for OnePass in the Freddie, it won't garner my support to the top spot. Also, see my recent post, why CO isn't the best program.

[This message has been edited by JeffLewis2 (edited 02-03-2000).]

It is interesting that you all commented on the negative aspects of the 2000 program, and nobody commented regarding the Alaska/Horizon change I mentioned above....

All --

My suggestion to "bombard" was actually taken other than as suggested. (Though I would have taken it the same way, and did so when re-reading the post!) I agree; a "canned" note is not the best way to handle this, nor is spamming anyone. I was simply suggesting that we should all be emailing, and not just one or two of us.

steve100: You're right. Isn't it amazing how we pick out the negative, and ignore the positive.

------------------

The only difference between ordinary service and extraordinary service is a little EXTRA.

-- Bob



[This message has been edited by AZ_MISMAN (edited 02-03-2000).]

As an eternal Silver (meaning it looks like I'll end up flying 25K-40K miles per year), I like the enhancement to upgrade policy.

It's good to be able to be put on the standby list at the airport, even if I'm low on the totum pole.

The Service Recovery Assistance doesn't sound like much right now, but it will come in handy when I need it. Yeah, this is similar to what they quietly do today for Elite's, but now it's in writing.

Steve100: The elite bonuses and status miles on Alaska are not a rule change for 2000. They've been in effect since CO announced AS's participation in OnePass.

Enhancements? I certainly can't find any. According to HP's website, FlightFund members can still confirm upgrades on CO. Except in extermely rare instances, I see no benefit to the service hotline. If hotel vouchers, FIMs, etc. need to be filled out and validated, what can the telephone operator do? Besides, the hubs have service counters with a seperate elite/first class line.

I have to say, as someone who flies BOS-PHX quite regularly, I usually spend about 1/2 my time on HP aircraft, and the other 1/2 on CO. Those are the ONLY airlines that I fly. I liked the ability to have double the number of flight options in this market (between the CO flights & HP flights). However, with the upgrade changes, my options have effectively been cut in half. I know I may be in the minority, but I valued the reciprocal upgrade privileges between the airlines. This was a major selling point for me. So, I have to say, the new Elite program is losing points already. But as has been said previously, we do need to make our opinions known to OnePass. Remember UA when they rolled back the Saturday night stay requirements on rewards when their membership spoke up. If there is a significant number of complaints about any aspect of this new elite program, OnePass will take a second look.

Just my two cents,
RChavez

A few observations: It is true that the 2000 program rules somewhat devalue the advantage of Platinum and Gold over Silver. As a Silver member, I'm not unhappy, and the ability to stand by on the day of flight will give CO more of my business for certain.

It seems likely to me that the change regarding upgrades on HP is coming from HP rather than CO. Since CO is a much bigger operation, it stands to reason that there are far more CO elites than HP elites, and HP may have been under pressure from their own very frequent flyers to save more upgrade seats for them. The change announced essentially equalizes all three CO elite levels as regards upgrades on HP, so the opportunities for CO Silver members are actually enhanced, since only the higher HP elite levels will have any meaningful priority.

On Monday, i returned from vegas, connecting thru PHX. When I called the platinum elite desk TWO days out and requested an upgrade. This was no problem, despite the Superbowl.
At the end of my call, the nice lady at the CO Plat elite desk reminded me that I could now upgrade THREE days out.

What gives.

I flew somwhere around twenty to twenty five of my Onepass segments on HP for a more convenient schedule and often better fares. Maybe I'm the exception, but I experienced a one hundred percent upgrade rate.

Along with these upgrades came many delays, nasty food, lost bags and the occasional surly FA.

If this two hour rule sticks, good bye HP.

I will definitely be corresponding with the aformentioned individuals at CO.

I was going to plan some HP trips this year, but I might hold off for a while from the way things sound. I have only flown them one time and the experience was quite nice. After reading this thread I am now thinking I was lucky.

I have to concur with the disappointment in the HP change. For the west coast flyers, our options are very limited with Continental, especially for short hauls.

Part of the plus of flying CO was that I could count on upgrading an HP flight if necessary. Will also write a letter. I sure hope their restricting HP members from upgrading a CO flight, otherwise, why not join Flight Fund instead???

--Ryan

A few thoughts on the changes for 2000.

First, none of know whether the AW upgrade changes were done by Continental or by AW.

It will be interesting to see the changes in the flightfund program. I'd imagine that flightfund elites will lose their confirmed upgrades on CO(If they don't I'm sure will see JAWS, OldGold and NJDavid explode)

The only "improvements" I noticed is the 3 day advanced upgrades for platinums on NW(which is minor) and the addition of the PC10 reward(platinum capacity free to middle east and india) which is about as useless a program feature as onepass has.

Losing the AW confirmed upgrades will probably mean I won't be flying AW this year.
That might be reason CO did it, or it could be AW doesn't want my business.

I'm going to wait to see how things work out on HP before making a judgement, I've always been treated pretty well on America West, even before the advance upgrades started last year.

I noticed that preferred coach seating is available on HP but not NW for OnePass elites....."Most flights operated by Continental or America West"

One thing about the advance upgrades----they don't increase the number of F/C seats available, or reduce the number of frequent flyers in competition for them!

Another interesting observation, when I called OnePass to inquire the agent read me a (new?) rule that gives Infinite elites priority over Platinums for standby upgrades. I hadn't given the agent my OP number or elite status, so they must be using caller ID to identify their members.

[This message has been edited by Old Gold (edited 02-05-2000).]

To me the extra 24 hours Platinum elites can book NW in advance is a wash. Obvioulsy, NW Platinum's will have the same booking frame on CO. I agree with Boomer that we don't know who initiated the downgrade in HP advance upgrades. I wouldn't be surprised if it was HP. As others have said, they may have received a lot of complaints from their elites or they simply may have wanted to hold onto their F inventory a little longer. The downside is that there will be a lot more people clamoring for upgrades at the check-in counters causing backups and possibly more "air-rage". These will not be friendly locations in 2000.
Likewise, I won't be flying HP either this year. I am unwilling to gamble on a last minute upgrade for long distance flying. Apparently, CO, or HP, or both has calculated that, while they may lose OUR frequent flyer business with this change, the financial impact overall won't be that great since the vast majority of non-frequent flyers will still use HP to get standard mileage.
We all still need to let the people that count at CO know our views:
Gordon Bethune- Chairman and CEO
Mark Bergsrud- Vice President, Marketing
Steve Sickel- Director, Marketing Programs

Please try to keep all comments constructive and as unemotional as possible. These are the people who have the power to make changes.

Old Gold said: "they must be using caller ID to identify their members."

Actually, amigo, they must be using ANI, which is used on 800/900/911 calls. "Caller ID" is a different technology. Ever get a credit card with an activation sticker that says "Call from your home phone"?