Missing Gordon B
 

I read this on the frequent flier crier email i recently received.

"I have been flying Continental Airlines for almost 20 years, and from Houston to Washington Dulles every other week for the past 3 years. As a Platinum Elite, I have enjoyed the fact that I receive 1st class upgrades about 60% of the time.... well, all that has changed.

"The biggest change is that Continental, in an effort to increase the number of seats and thus revenue, have cut down the configuration of their 737-500 plane from 10 seats in 1st class to 6 seats, eliminating the 4 seats in row 3. As such, the chances of an upgrade have been virtually eliminated. I am not an expert of airline financials, but on the flight I take to Washington, and the flight I take home on Friday nights, the planes are always greater than 90% full... and making loyal flyers like myself angry by virtually eliminating the possibility of upgrades does not seem like a very strategic move as I am researching alternative flight and airlines.

"Right now, I am wishing that Gordon Bethune would come back to Continental out of retirement as he seemed to have more respect for airline loyalty." (Perry in Houston, TX)

Is Perry an active flyer talker also?

Did Gordon Start It?
 

Except for a few years in the mid 1990s when CO stopped service to many of my key destinations, I was flying US and DL, and went back to CO because I could get upgraded more, even though they do not have the most convenient connections out of PBI. Otherwise I have been with OnePass since the early 1980s usually at the top elite levels. The upgrades seemed to be drying up since late 2003, and then in Jan 2004 the 12 FC seat 757-300 came. I gave up maintaining my Platinum One Pass because flying out of PBI with too many 757-300s, and lack of upgrades on other flights made it just not worth being Plat or Gold. The decline of the Roman Empire did start under Gordon. With well over one million miles actually flown on CO its tough leaving CO. CO should have done something to keep its almost 25 year million milers.