Flying in and out of DFW alone creates its own problems! Semi-elite - just to clarify a little, you do get some free upgrades on AA (i.e. 4 x 500 mile stickers every 10,000 miles, and additional VIP's at Exec. Plat. level.

Travelcrazy,

That's certainly true! UA also gives you the same 4 x 500 mile certificates for 10,000 miles. But I didn't mention these because they're relatively insignificant.

10,000 miles flying in the back of the plane won't even get you upgraded on a single one way transcon! And since neither afang nor I are top level elites, I didn't think VIP's were relevant.

Top level elites with any airline will be upgraded free of charge most, if not all, of the time. But only CO and its partners will upgrade low and middle elite levels free of charge any significant amount of the time. Well, at least they did until EUA! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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http://www.denycontinentalthefreddie.com/

I've been anxious for the day a res agent says, "Our best fare is $xx, how does that sound??" and I have the nerve to tell him/her "That sounds twice as high as United." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Regarding CO Coach: I have spent most of my travel time on CO or Southwest, and have certain expectations about each of them.

This post concerns CO as compared to other airlines. I recently flew Delta and was very unpleasantly surprised at the coach seat spacing. I am relatively tall, but my knees never hit the back of the seat in front of me in a Continental coach seat. The minute I sat in the Delta coach seat, I could barely move my legs. When the guy in front of me reclined his seat later in the flight, I had to move my laptop onto the armrest (I was in an aisle seat) just to see the screen.

My Continental experience has provided me with certain expectations regarding coach seating on a carrier that is not a cattle car, and Delta did not live up to those expectations.

In addition, only Continental allows carry-ons that will actually hold a week's worth of clothes.

Continental is far from perfect, but there are certainly worse airlines out there.

Yes, and as someone who just changed from DL to CO, CO has more leg room, but not that much more. WN is even better!

It's possible the extra room is due to DL's thicker seat backs. They announced today that they are installing thinner seat backs to give people more room. Of course they aren't spacing the seats out more ...

Hi afang, just an update - on the past 6 segments I have flown this year, I got upgraded on 5. I am a brand new silver. The best was last Thursday on a DC-10. The MD-80 didn't seem that great. I also noticed that another perk of being first class is when you land in a foreign country - you should have seen the lines to immigration (I saw them over my shoulder as I departed to pick up my bags after NO wait .... woo-hoo!) Wishing you luck. (PS - how do you like this one - on the flight back IAH-EWR there were 14 seats in first. Some of these would presumably have been available for we elites ... I got mine, but ... a family of 6 - that is, one adult, FIVE SMALL CHILDREN, aieeeeeeeeee) got first class seats though they were neither elite nor had paid for it. I know this, because the man explained to one of the kids who wanted to know if dad flew first class all the time, that a nice lady did them this favor since they had been waiting for four hours. Unfortunately the family was seated all over the place ... but that's another well-traveled thread.)

I can imagine that being in FC in a foreign country is alot better than Coach. I haven't gotten the previlage of flying transatlantic or transpacific lately. All my travels are bound to the States. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Also, I am kind of saying good bye to CO because of my recent move to DFW.



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Al

FemaleFlyer: A woman able to fit a week's worth of clothes in a carry-on???

If I give you my phone number, can you call my wife and tell her how to do it? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

For a woman with nothing to wear, she needs a lot of suitcases to bring it.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

Jon,

The secret is to make sure every outfit she packs will match the pair of shoes she wears on the plane. No shoes to pack makes it much easier to fit everything else. Oh, and make sure the hotel room has a hairdryer, so she doesn't have to bring that, either!

Hope this increases the marital bliss on your next trip together! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

FF

Great advice. Thanks!

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."