Are you kidding me? 0 for 7 as a gold.....are you flying hub to hubs or has CO watered down their OP program to the point that only Platts have a chance at upgrades!

Her is my report on my upgrade as 2 gold elites travelling together-s class- 0 for 3- friday lax -iah on co 194 . mon day jan 31 tpa-lax via iah- leaving tampa at 3:50 pm arrving lax at 7:30 pm mor or less those 2 flights struck out too.
i think that gold on continental leaves on little chance of upgrades- platinum on AA which we also are- we are upgraded most of the time even on transcons . Talking to other passengers, another fellow said he was about 0 fo 80 and he was gold. !!!!!! Conitnnetal doesn't even attempt to deliver even occasionally what they promise. i mean, once would have been nice.

As NW silver in 2003 and early 2004 I think I was 3 for 4 on eligible CO flights.

As NW gold in late 2004, I was 1 for 2 on eligible CO flights (and I scored a companion upgrade on that 1).

As NW plat, so far this year I'm 1 for 2 on eligible CO flights (and I scored a companion upgrade on the 1).

None of these were transcons, but all were on very cheap fares. Both ug's with companions were EWR-IAH. The solo upgrades were once each on IAH-LGA, EWR-MDW, and ORD-EWR. The ones I missed were LGA-IAH and 2 IAH-EWRs.

Wow, either you have a run of bad luck or you cheesed someone off in Houston

I just had to fly out LGA=>OAK and back tomorrow, last minute booking for around $300.00. As it stands now I'm 3 for 4 on the FC upgrades on this trip...one of the reasons I'll take CO every time from the NYC area.

P.S. I'm actually 4 for 4, when I turned on my phone on landing in HOU from OAK, I got a text that I was upgraded, that was nice. I guess it's easier to get upgraded on a late Thursday night flight than on a prime time one.. ^

I'm a CO Platinum and it's a tough sleigh ride trying to get an upgrade on a CO transcon.

I am about 70-80% with my Gold Status.... since November 2004

DCA-CHI 4 for 4
DCA-ASE (on NW) 3 for 4
DCA-SAN 2 for 2

Its worth it to me to fly a bit more to keep the status...

Its all about the time of day, day of the week and where from flying from and to..

Tougher times will be between 3 and 7pm - M,T,Thur from a major city/hub - fly from Hub to Hub - good luck! Saturdays, Sunday, Wednesday's I notice are easier. A special event in that city will also lessen your chances...

As a Gold I usually did fairly well on CO upgrades unless it was at peak times going through IAH, transcon, or the direct flight to SFO. I was usually very careful at picking intineraries on CO or NW that I thought had better chances for the upgrade.

Can someone else confirm these recommended dates and times (for predominantly business markets like BOS-IAH or BOS-EWR - you can guess where I live)? Wednesday is better than Tuesday? I would have guessed that Monday morning and Friday afternoon were pretty tough, but is 3-7pm really worse than 6-9am? If you have complete freedom to book a trip in a cheapie fare bucket months in advance for a trip you can take at any time of the week, when do you try to book it? Wednesday at 10am? Saturday at 3pm (when fares are often $10-20 more expensive because of the weekend)?

For example, next Wednesday's three BOS-IAH nonstops are showing:

dep 10:05am: A4 D4 Z4 Y9 H9 K9 N9 B9 V9 U9 Q9 I9 S9 W9 T9 X9
dep 1:05pm: A3 D3 Z3 Y2 H0 K0 N0 B0 V0 U0 Q0 I0 S0 W0 T0 X0
dep 4:20pm: A9 D8 Z8 Y9 H9 K9 N9 B9 V9 U9 Q9 I9 S9 W9 T9 X9

suggesting that the 4:20pm flight is the likeliest to see upgrades, despite my guess that the other two would be less popular.

Checking a random Tuesday in March (3/22):

dep 7:50am: A4 D4 Z4 Y7 H7 K7 N4 B7 V7 U4 Q7 I4 S4 W4 T7 X4
dep 10:23am: A9 D1 Z1 Y9 H9 K9 N9 B9 V9 U9 Q9 I9 S9 W9 T9 X9
dep 1:20pm: A4 D4 Z4 Y7 H7 K7 N4 B7 V7 U4 Q7 I4 S4 W4 T7 X4
dep 4:20pm: A4 D2 Z2 Y7 H7 K7 N4 B7 V7 U4 Q7 I4 S4 W4 T7 X4

which suggests that, as I'd expect, the mid-morning flight is least popular (although yield management is playing games with the D1 Z1 availability this far out).

Which is typical? It would be great to hear some other people's strategies. Is Saturday better still? Or Sunday morning? Thanks for any help?

Can I trade your gold for my platinum? I'm only batting about 60% in recent months...

I've obviously done something to anger the gods in Houston.