I just got off the phone with CO and i'm pretty excited so i just HAD TO tell somebody! (no live beings near me at the moment so FT will have to do)

There was an earlier thread on a few people who had successfully beaten HoKeY in the first week following 10/1, but I had tried then with two other flights with no success.

Thinking that it never hurts to try, I called to inquire about available upgrades. Upon going through the entire mileage upgrade process without being stopped on my non-HoKeY fare, I felt like I had won the lottert when she said "you're all set." Now my 11 hour EWR-HNL flight that I bought on a amazing $379 B fare should be less torturous. On my first call no less!

Was I just lucky or is CO now quietly "de-enhancing" its ill-timed HoKeY rule change in hopes to keep/attract FF'ers? Anyone else beat HoKeY recently?

*I just checked the seal selector and it shows me up front.*

[This message has been edited by Mileage Schemer (edited 10-17-2001).]

I struck out this weekend trying to upgrade a non HoKeY fare LAX-HNL. The CSR was friendly but after trying she said she could not upgrade my fare.

As I pointed out in this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/003396.html

it can and does happen that some agents make this mistake. I would love to think it is a de-facto de-enhancementization-- but at this moment I think it is just under-trained phone agents-- god bless 'em.

It appears everyone there has a different story on things. I spoke with a supervisor to upgrade my EWR-HNL segment before purchasing. The supervisor said I would have to purchase a H fare at $1700 because that was the lowest upgradeable fare.

When I told him that K was upgradeable as well, I held the line for a while and then received a "We looked it up and you're right...It'll be $682".

I really think I got more friendly and more knowledgeable reps before the CO lay offs. But there are still those very few employees which go the extra mile for you. Of course it's best to give CO a call / letter to let them know about a particular staff member, so they are rewarded for their good doings.

Then, next time you need help you try and get the persons extension for future flights

[The thing is; in order to get a "miracle upgrade" (non-HoKeY fare) what you really need is a less knowledgeable agent-- one who will make the mistake of upgrading a non H,K,Y fare.

And, if an agent does upgrade a non-HoKeY fare, there's no sense in sending a an attaboy letter since they will receive a training-memo (bad thing) once the CO computer picks up the agent's mistake.

But of course if an agent won't allow an available upgrade on a K or H fare, you should hang up and start over with a new agent.

I am jealous.

MisterNice

Congratulations Mileage Schemer! That is a big break on a great fare. You are making out very nicely on that trip.

Got a question -- when you called for the upgrade, did you call the usual OPSC number or did you call the elite number?

anthonyanthony- I went through the elite line.

.....

What made me suspect that CO was easing up on HoKeY was that a friend was also able to make a non-HoKeY upgrade today. Thought it was somewhat unlikely that we could both get upgraded on our first attempts, with different reps, on the same day. But I guess even a low probability IS a probability...

Has anybody else tried recently (like today)?

I tried yesterday and struck out. They couldnt do one to NRT for less than $1000....on NW metal no less and she had the speech down pat... "only fares booked in H..K..Y class are allowable to upgrade"

My favorite part of the speech is when they force out "...which makes it so much easier for you and for us." It's so obvious they are programmed to spew this sort of abject nonsense anytime someone asks "aren't there any cheaper upgradeable fares?"

With the exception of the mistakes noted above, the HoKeY thing has proven to be worse than I ever thought it would be. It really, really STINKS.

On the other hand, I think $1000 to NRT isn't actually that bad-- I would imagine the lowest available fare isn't much less than that?

I inquired about 3 different reservations yesterday-- GRU (actually FLN) in late December, CDG and FCO in the next couple of weeks.

I got the HoKeY shuffle from all three agents on each reservation. I made a point of articulating (with the requisite amount of mock-shock) "Oh my god! The fare is less than half of that on CO.com!"

That's when I got the "it's much easier this way" speech.

Just as a reminder, if you get the HoKeY speech to Asian destinations, and you really want (need) to go business class, have the agent check out fares to your destination on a WHOLELY NW ticket (NOT A CO CODESHARE). Most NW tickets are upgradeable at substantially lower prices than CO. For instance, a short trip JFK to HKG is $1,000(JFK-BKK upgradeable is also $1,000) upgradeable on NW but $1800 on CO.
All NW upgrades to Asia, except HKG, require M class or higher ($1,000 RT to BKK). HKG is special and requires the next highest above M, I believe B, but am not sure, and this works out to about $1000 as well.
In the situation where you are buying a ticket and upgradeing with miles from your OnePass account, CO WILL sell you a wholey NW ticket upgraded on the spot. I am holing two of them right now.

[This message has been edited by Vulcan (edited 10-18-2001).]

When checking out a ticket to Asia recently, the lowest available fare was $574.48 r/t (including all taxes) on Northwest. The Continental agent quoted a fare in excess of $1,900 for a Northwest fare that could be upgraded with OnePass miles.

So, my choices are:

1) Sit in coach on a paid ticket. Earn about 40,000 miles and pay $574.48.

2) Sit in business on a paid coach ticket. Earn about 40,000 miles and pay $1900.00 plus 50,000 miles.

3) Sit in business on a free ticket. Earn 0 miles and pay about $50 plus 80,000 miles.

I'm sure the Continental lurkers are having a real good laugh reading this thread...

[This message has been edited by TransWorldOne (edited 10-18-2001).]

Jon -

sounds more like the HoKeY Pokey!

You put your money in
they take the mileage out
You put more money in
and they shake it all about
You do the HoKeY pokey and you turn yourself around
And that's what it's all about....

ROFLMAO Excellent Jetsetter

[This message has been edited by iwantanupgrade (edited 10-18-2001).]