So far so good (touching wood)....however the route/day/time thing is a major factor. For the past couple years, I have received either my Plat EUA, gate upgrade or battlefield promo on every mainline jet flight except 1, however I am aware that if I changed my schedule even slightly, my EUA success rate could dive by 50% or more. Since I know what works for me, I stick with the predictable flights that I take week by week...anything else is a crapshoot. If I was a transcon flyer, I know that CO would not work for me and I would change to NWA or AA, if I was unable to pay for Z fares.

Yesterday the DCA-EWR flights were a wreck due to wind-induced ground stops at EWR...I was able to switch flights, was placed on the u/g list, and although I didnt expect it, I got the u/g call just as boarding commenced. Another lady got a battlefield promo. The agent who was there did not seem to have any plan to clear the list before boarding and it was the red coat who showed up at the last minute and cleared it while the regular agent stood to the side seemingly clueless about what was going on or why.

I just got my UG with 6 FC seats (737-500) for my EWR - ORD flight on this Fri. so maybe the EUA still works.

all transcon and segments the last six months upgraded.. I just keep flying nw and using my continental one-pass #...(I fly a ton to HKG via NRT).

SFO - DTW is ok for me.. CO "F" is a nicer product, but frankly, flying a 320 or 757 on NW with the bigger seats is just fine with me...

so my advice, fly NW.. get upgrades all the time (and I use nwa.com).

Regards,

Well, I was lucky. I ended up getting upgraded on all 3 legs of my trip from hell today.... 2 EUA and 1 Battlefield.

Thats 3-3 today, still have 3 more segments to go... Not bad at all

No they don't. CO is striving to maximize the number of pax/plane and is just as willing as anyone else to sell $203 fares. By removing F seats from a 753, they are most likely getting 18 new $203 paying pax at the cost of 12 $500 V-fare pax because the excess Y inventory will sell in the low fare buckets. CO has got to be kidding itself if it thinks those 18 new Y seats will sell at H or Y prices. If anything these approaches discourage H/Y fare pax who will get tons more bang for their buck in terms of seat pitch and IFE at a LCC.