I will not name names, but suffice it to say:

1. 3x Different WE-CARE2 agents (You know, the "hang up and call until you hear want you want to hear routine." Well, after the third time, I realized I was probably NOT going to hear what I wanted to hear).

2. 2x "Elite Priority Line" (if there really is such a thing) agents.

3. 1x "Elite Priority Line" supervisor

4. 1x Regional Sales Manager. Convinced yet?

Look, though my post count may be low and my registration recent, I've been around FT for a while. I'm *not* in the mode to foment "sky is falling" or wolf-crying. Give these guys a call yourself - the only other answer you'll be assured of receiving is a, "Huh? I haven't heard nothing about not no fare-basis criterion for automated upgrades..."

As I pointed out earlier, all of the people you spoke with are not really "in the know." I have no doubt that fare basis is a criteria used in the EUA process, however I have serious doubts as to whether it is the first criteria applied. Where do I think it is applied? 1. Any person on a Y fare trumps anyone on a discounted fare, after which upgrades are processed by elite level. Otherwise, elite level is the first criteria used, followed by fare basis. Of course, we know that EUA does not always behave as it is intended, so it is possible that other things are occurring. I find it highly improbable, however, that CO has intentionally decided to completely ditch platinum, gold, silver as the primary prioritization for elite upgrades.

More likely, what we are seeing is:

1. A lot of confusion caused by a lack of reliability and transparancy in the upgrade system.
2. Customer facing personal that are un-, under-, or mis- informed about how the process works.
3. Those personnel may not be completely adept at communicating what they do know or think they know to the customer.
4. Customers who misunderstand what has been told to them by said personnel.

The fact that elite agents corroborated your story probably discredits it more than it helps your case. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Anyway, Continental has always said that fare basis was involved in EUAs -- look at the Onepass guide. If that means Y vs discount or each individual fare class, I don't know; it's certainly subject to interpretation and it depends on the context of the documentation.

The idea that a Silver Y is higher than a Platinum Q or something just doesn't make sense. It's contrary to the entire structure of the Onepass system. Even if this was the case, it wouldn't work with the documented system since a Platinum (by theory) gets his upgrade 5 days out. Why have the 5 day rule but then give a silver priority within the day? Why not just have every upgraded 5 days out? And why make an undocumented, major change without even notifying users of the enhancement that make upgrades easier? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

FWIW, the Onepass rules still say that Platinum Y > Platinum > Gold Y > Gold > Silver Y > Silver for stand-by upgrades.

Please don't take this personally -- I'm not trying to insult you and I respect your opinion and thoughts. However, I think that the idea of EUAs ranking upgrades based on fare class instead of elite level doesn't seem all that logical.

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daniel baker -- [email protected]
Reliable, fast, and unmoderated forums at ITYT.

They say denial is the first stage. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Put both of those scenarios together, and perhaps we have the real explination.

1) When there are seats in F at the 5-day window, then yes a Plat gets the upgrade, irrespective of fare basis. But, since they hold the seats in A straight thru to day of departure that is irrelevant.

2) The EUA at 3hrs seems to be based upon fare basis.

Therefore, both arguements could be correct. The OPSC will state that they have not reduced benefits, simply because they don't know what RevMgt is doing w/ the seats.

They'll say that "Plats still get the 5-day upgrades" and that the 3hr EUA is based upon fares, but that does not affect Elite status since you would have already received your upgrade in their fictional A9 F9 world.

Does that make sense? One hand not talking to the other?

I'm prolly second only to NJDavid, duxfan, and JonNYC in my anti-CO vitriole! Yet, I would think we should hold back before making a judgement that CO is going to a 100% fare-based EUA.

Someone reported that there was a meeting about EUA bugs, and Larry Kellner wanted the bugs taken out. Well, first of all, I'm anything but a Larry Kellner fan! He's the ultimate bean counter.

Nevertheless, there have been some egregious EUA screw-ups! Let's see if CO straightens them out, or if cheap ticket Plats continue to get aced out by high-rev Silvers! If so, then, speaking for myself, I'm CO history!!! Domestic upgrades are the only reason to stick with CO since they've trashed their intl. upgrade policy!

OTOH, we know CO's computers have never screwed up...right??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif So, let's see if this crap continues!

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"Read my lips! No more benefit cuts!"...Gordon Bethune

This was the spirit with which the EUA program started. And it worked during the time seats were released to F class 5 days out. The fact that they are not doing this anymore for most flights already makes the elite status based upgrade schedule meaningless.

Where exactly does it say that explicitly? In fact the above is incorrect. For example, in the upgrade rules on co.com it says

So more than 5 days out, Gold Y trumps Plat. Inside 2 days, it is not clear if Silver Y trumps Plat, the description is ambiguous.

CO logical? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Another thing that might explain Silvers getting upgrades before Plats on the waiting list may be due to the following feature that appears to be different and complementary to the EUA

.

So if a Silver checks in before a Plat when a F seat is available (or becomes available before the Plat checks in) in the two hour window , the Silver will get the upgrade on check-in because this appears to be done whenever the seat becomes available. If the elite status based 5-3-1 day window worked (seats released to F early) then the above may not have been a factor in most days since Elites may have taken up all the seats by then. But with the FC hoarding going on, looks like everyone is going through the two-hour space-available upgrades which as some have been told is on a different waiting list than the one used for EUA. Status here matters only only for people on the waiting list. If a Silver checks in early before a Plat and a seat is available, the Silver is upgraded.

No offense but your support for the argument against stupidity on CO'a part is entrirely based on saying they can't possibly be stupid. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The old (and maybe still current) system of processing EUA was:

1) Elite Level
1A) Full fare vs. discount

2) Date of ticket purchased

Is CO replacing date of ticket purchased with fare basis code? Is it no longer relevant when you purchased your ticket?

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EWR CO Platinum

I was thinking all week of posting this, but now that it's come up.....

Something is DEFINITELY up with EUA since Mar 1. And, for once, it's to Mr Fish's benefit.. As most of you know, he is Plat, last minute, high revenue. CO has been slipping in a lot of last minute, non-restricted fares just SLIGHTLY lower than Y, and that is what he has mostly been flying on (and full Y). And, most of you know, he has had an ABYSMAL upgrade record (since EUA began, worse in 2002). Suddenly, since Mar 1, he has been EUA'd like crazy. And not at the 5 day mark.. These are coming one or two days prior. Very odd. I can't believe that status no longer matters, but there has definitely been a change...

Robin

Uh-oh, hate to say I that I saw this coming, but....

I SAW THIS COMING!!!!!!

Those of you who were not concerned when CO started restricting Int'l upgrades and other dilutions of the value of OnePass miles allowed this to happen.

When you said "I don't fly Int'l, so it doesn't matter to me", you allowed this to happen.

When you said "It's no big deal to eliminate off peak awards", you allowed this to happen.

When you said "It's okay if Gordon Lies", you allowed this to happen.

Now they've started diluting the value of what matters to YOU. Domestic upgrades are suddenly harder to get, or not processed in the manner you thought they would. Suddenly it matters, huh?

Did you really think that if CO was able to dilute the Int'l side of the program, they wouldn't try to do it to the domestic side?

Get ready for domestic HoKeY and TurQey fares, my friends. You allowed it to happen. I suggest that you all start letting CO know how unhappy you are with the system. See if you can get someone in Houston to put in WRITING what the current upgrade priority is.

And BTW, while I cannot speak for all of us who no longer fly CO domestic, I know I'll be happy to join in and support your complaints. I'll bet NYCJon and NJDavid will as well. But it's up to all of you who allowed this to happen to make it go away. Are you up to the challenge?

In the meantime, I'll be enjoying MRTC over at AA. Good luck!

Oh yeah, don't forget, today is the last day to cast your Freddie ballot!

Happy for Mr. Fish-- but this is starting to sound very ominous.

Quote:

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Oh yeah, don't forget, today is the last day to cast your Freddie ballot!

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I'd love to see the look on CO's face when HP gets Best FF program! Ha!

I called OnePass this morning, after about 10 minutes on hold hearing about how wonderful OnePass is and about all the awards it's won I was connected to a nice agent. I asked her if it was true that they had changed the criteria for awarding "unlimited free upgrades" to One Pass elites. I reminded her that "you know who" lied to us all about not reducing benefits to OnePass. She assured me that everything was still wonderful, and that upgrades (when available) would be awarded on the basis of Elite status, Full Y fares would be upgraded first, then it would be all other fares based on date of ticket purchase. She sounded so nice and sincere and comforting, I said that I didn't know who I can trust anymore after "you know who" said you know what.

I get so confused sometimes, you just don't know who you can trust anymore. I think I'll fly HP, they won't have much trouble meeting my expectations.

Now I have a headache after reading all this stuff and have 3 R/T's ticketed to the East Coast in the next couple of months.
It was fun flying last year to qualify for Plat on CO and Silver on NW.

Wish AA and UA didn't have such a bad 2000 summer with cancellations and such. I would have been a million miler with AA.

Thanks for all the information on CO upgrades, and deductive reasoning.

I think!?
Oh it is all so confusing. I remember when flying and miles were a lot more fun a year or two ago.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Does the computer just look at O&D or segment by segment? How can it determine who gets an upgrade if Ms. Silver buys a $600 roundtrip fare from LAX to MSP via IAH, but Mr. Plat buys a $500 one-way fare from LAX to IAH? Does it upgrade based solely on the dollar value of the entire ticket, or is it sophisticated enough to look at the total fare and further determine that in fact Mr Plat's fare is actually of greater value because it is one way and one segment?

All these questions and more are running through my mind and I'd be surprised if their EUA system is that advanced.

I could understand a Plat with an expensive fare being upgraded before a Plat with a discounted fare, but not a Silver on an expensive fare beating out a Plat on a less expensive fare.

[This message has been edited by PARSpro (edited 03-16-2002).]