Privilege packs.... missing upgrades....
 

Got a mailer from CO yesterday for privilege packs. Missing from the list was the six upgrades. ???

The website still lists them but the mailers do not.

http://onepass.continental.com/Asp/a...privilegepacks

If you call the onepass service center 713-952-1630 They should be able to answer this one.

The last person I know ordered one about 4 months ago and they did recieve the upgrade coupons.

I too just recieved a letter about purchasing a prestige pack and the perks do not include any upgrade certificates. They probably changed it.

[This message has been edited by nikbruno (edited 07-27-2001).]

I just received a prestige pack (after 14 years of OnePass membership!) and the upgrade certs are present. I ordered about 3 weeks ago.

BTW the 7500 miles appeared in my account within an hour of the phone call to OPSC.

Does anyone know if the Privilege Pack upgrades are transferrable?

dgolds;

They are not. My father received a pack and when my mother went away she took the certs with her. She was in the PC in the process of being upgraded when the agent saw my father's name on the cert and terminated the transaction.

Unless that was just one, under-informed, vicious agent-- the certs from the PPacks are not transferable.

dgolds, I have experienced different results than JonNYC's Mother. It may have made a difference that I was always in attendance when redeeming them on others. By the way, one time I was not even flying with the upgraded person!

I have had instances where agents did not take the time to read the fine print or they knowingly decided to allow utilization by interpreting the rules very generously and allowed me to upgrade associates. There have been times agents have allowed these Space Available certs to be used at check-in and immediately confirmed an upgrade. I've even had agents treat these Priority Pack upgrades as if they were Positive Space upgrades! Worth a try, I feel.

[This message has been edited by MRLIMO (edited 07-28-2001).]

Indeed very much worth I try-- I guess I forgot a big YMMV at the end of my post.

And I would imagine if the cert's "owner" was present-- and if he/she was Elite that would indeed make the odds a little better. But still, you'll need an agent who's willing to ignore the language on the upgrade cert.

Offically they non-transferable. That doesn't mean a friendly or careless ticket agent will not let you transfer them.

Again, your mileage may vary http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Re: upgrade certs in the Prestige Pack...

My wife just received her OnePass welcome letter, and it mentioned the Prestige Pack which includes "valuable upgrades". She ordered the Pack last week, so it should arrive in a couple more weeks. Hopefully the upgrade certificates will be in there!

I think the trick on using upgrades is this:

1. Avoid EWR and IAH. Hub city personnel know the rules better. Try to upgrade from your Origin on any segment that connects in EWR or IAH.

2. When checking in just ask if they have any F/C seats available for upgrades. Don't tell them you're using Prestige Pack upgrades. I said I was using upgrade certificates.


My wife an I went DFW-IAH-BOS this past Fri and sure enough the DFW agent booked both of us in First on thi IAH-BOS segment without looking at the certs.

Yesterday on the return BOS-EWR-DFW the BOS agent did them same on the EWR-DFW segments.

So with 6 upgrade certificates in my Prestige pack I'm batting 4 for 4.

My wife's Prestige Pack arrived this morning, and there are no upgrade certificates that I can see. The welcome letter is again included, and it says:
So it doesn't look like the offer was changed. I'll have her call and ask why the upgrade certs weren't included...

Well I guess the question to be is asked is which is accurate, the written brochure or the website?

My mother received a privilege pack brochure so I got a chance to see it first-hand. Neither the Executive Pack nor the Prestige Pack have upgrades listed as part of the pack.

I called the OnePass center and they informed me that they eliminated the upgrades feature because countless people didn't understand that they were only on a space-available basis. Apparently there was so much anger that Continental was concerned that the whole promotion was backfiring and giving the airline a sour taste among these new flyers so they dropped it in its entirety. Apparently it was a marketing disaster in that the marketing people did not foresee this kind of confusion resulting in bitterness toward Continental.

When I asked why the website didn't reflect this major change the lady said that it takes a while for any change to be implemented on the website. She said that this slowness in updating the website is making her job a lot more difficult.

Moreover, she said that it made everyone in her center furious that these new flyers wanted to use upgrades only and did not care for the other parts of the pack. She said that it made the airline feel 'violated and used'.

I guess she needed to vent.

In other words; now they know how we feel: enhanced.

Very interesting stories and it confirms the many rumors I have been hearing lately. I heard the CO Marketing Dept whizzos are coming out with a brand new newbie program. Get ready for the BRAND NEW Enhanced Privilege Pack Program (EPP) attractively priced at $199.00 and eliminating these tired unexciting unwanted undesired features of the old PP program such as:

- Six One-Segment Continental Space-Available Upgrades, valid with any published adult fare

- One $99 Companion Ticket certificate

- Two complimentary visits to a Presidents Club location for you and a guest

- Hotel upgrades, car rental discounts and more

The only EPP feature will be two (2) HoKeY Certs (O/W) for the "HoKeY FaReS" upgrade-lottery. Tell the CO reservation expert you will be using a HoKeY Cert and book your intl flight (incl HI) with a H, K or Y fare. Have them deduct 40,000 ff miles from your account immediately (hey newbies, the CO Marketing Dept wrote the rules). Anxiously await a B/F confirmation but remember the 30 day rule and the 72 hr rule still apply.

If you get a B/F seat, well it was just a few dollas (and ff miles) extra. Hey, no big deal for a B/F seat sez the CO Marketing Dept. If you dont get the B/F upgrade, you only blew $400-$1200, but you had a really good time (hey, just like Vegas, right?) and they will give you a couple of ff miles to add to your account and play again. Any questions?

MisterNice