My EUA % is 17/21 81 %

My actual upgrade % is 20/21 95.2 %

(Already have EUA's for the next flight (3/18 -@ Five Day Window Q Fare) which will make me 18/22 [82 %] EUA and 21/22 [95.5 %] upgraded)

Of the four non-EUA's One Coach, Two immediately upon check in and one rescue from the back of the plane.

Let's see what happens tommorow when the five day window opens for my 3/22/02 Q fare flight.

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"A Southwest line never gets longer, It only gets wider"

There are some really well-reasoned, thoughtful-- and most importantly-- relatively polite arguments in this thread. Really cool. I'm done with CO, haven't flown 'em in 2002, very happy at AA-- but I still can't help but reading this thread with utter fascination. I hope what's being discussed isn't the case-- or at least that it's a work in progress.

One can't help but acknowledge the "logic" (from a CO beancounter's point of view, only,) of the idea. Then again some said that about HoKey to those of us who thought HoKey was an affront to all of us who had been devout COholics for many years.

I don't disagree that this would be a completely valid way of running your business. However, it completely flies in the face of what the published elite benefits are. Flat out, my T fare should get the upgrade before a gold elite's K fare.

I'm perfectly ok with a platinum's K fare getting the upgrade over my T fare regardless of time of booking, but that's within elite class.

I'm still waiting for more evidence that CO has really changed the rules on us. I suspect it's much more an issue of a broken IT system than a major rules change, but frankly, I don't think any of us really know the answer yet.

In the meantime, I'll probably just fly lots of NW segments until CO can get it sorted out.

I guess the bean counters better have the FA's removes this from the handbook "We know you have a choice of carriers...." Don't wanna give the PAZ any ideas...LOL

Literally, they are still consistent with the published elite benefits even if fare status was considered above all else. We have all just believed one possible interpretation of it, that is all. You can even make a case that it was the intended spirit of the published story. However, the published benefits do not prevent the use of the fare basis as the primary factor.

The 5-day, 3-day and 2-day still run except if the seats are not released, they just land up doing nothing and the elite status gets no benefit. One could argue that this is one reason why the seats are not being released. The EUA guideline says they take the status (S), fare (F) and time (T) of booking into account and we have assumed it is in that order but nowhere have they made that claim. The order could be (F, S, T) or (S, F, T) or even (F, T, S) and still be consistent with the published statement.

I agree with you that we do not know if this is intentional or a glitch.

I can just see Gordon's next book, to be in a bookstore near you soon...

"Who Knew Worst To First Could Be Round Trip?"



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Welcome to Domestic HoKeY. Enjoy your flight!

Just as a note:
Reward Desk Agents (usually located in Salt Lake) are different from OnePass Agents, all of whom are located in Houston. Reward Desk agents are RES agents who can book OnePass reward travel. OnePass agents (the NON-toll-free number) help with missing mileage credits, address changes, name changes, enrollments, and all other "non-reservation" issues.

The reason I switched to CO (away from American) is that, 4 years ago, I bought a Y ticket and was immediatedly upgraded to first class. (This was also right after AA really royally botched a trip). I was not even silver. Upgrading Y's is nothing new. As for what happened recently, remember the double elite miles late last year? I suspect there are many more Platinums this year than in the past. Also, CO's number of flights are still down since Sept 11, and flights seem to be starting to fill up again, and prices are rising. From Sep 11 until Mar 1, I got an EUA on each of the 23 segments I've flown. The only one in which I didn't get an EUA was on an ERJ. This week I'm traveling MSY to PHL, and looks like I will not get one this time. Oh well. The way I see it, at least CO's business is picking up, which means they will stay healthy, which means I will not lose all my miles due to bankruptcy or merger anytime soon. I'm sticking with CO.

Regards,

Patton22, platinum elite for three years.

I wanted to check on an earlier comment, before posting again. On any multi-segment ticket, CO does break down the cost for each segment. So if they do use fare basis for upgrading, they do have the data to see who gets the priority for each segment - doesn't matter if the trip is multi-segment or one leg. I certainly hope this isn't happening, since most of my trips are booked well in advance.

Zip: since these alleged changes are very recent, I only have (2) itineraries to go on here, hardly statistically significant.

When you say multi-segment, I'm not sure if you mean connections or circle trips, etc. I had a (6) segement itinerary two-weeks ago and received EUA for 3/6 flights (all Q/T).

But, from my experiences, your chances of getting the upgrade are more hindered by checking in for your flights than anything else.

Again, based upon what little info I have, I never recevied an "automatic" upgrade on the day of travel on a connecting flight for which I already checked in.

So, for the 3/6 which I didn't receive an 5-day EUA upgrade, I also did not get 3hr EUA. Then the next week on a connecting itinerary for which I did not receive the 5-day EUA, I also did not get the 3hr EUA.

On all of those flights, the A to F conversion happened when I was in the air, so I never had a chance.

[This message has been edited by EWR-COflyer (edited 03-17-2002).]

I dont know...I was on a AMR flight out of SFO on a full Y and wasnt allowed to get within 10 feet of the list for first class...despite plenty of availability. That turned me off of that airline forever. They seemed appaled that I even asked.

I used to feel that way about CO as my upgrade % was never as high as those who posted in here (though always solid). But lately, it has actually improved substantially. I am not sure why, but my experiences seem to be the opposite of many in here. Perhaps most in here arent high yield passengers?

That's exactly and precisely what's being postulated in these threads-- are low fares somehow being excluded from EUA-- something that would represent a HUGE change from the way things were and the way things are described in OP elite materials. An "earthquake" if you will.

But I think you just wanted to "get it on the record" that you are a high-yield pax, as opposed to the cheapskate low-lifes who do all the complaining here on the CO forum. Did I misunderstand your message?

Yes, you did misunderstand. I have no idea why you would think anyone would want to prop one's self up in an anonymous message board...especially since it doesn’t imply that one is wealthy since I have already stated in previous posts that I often do not pay for my tix.

Moving away from my personal history (which people are far too interested in for some reason), if it is true that the sample of the flying public in this board are lower-yielding passengers, then it probably explains a large percentage of the negativity. Nonetheless, the upgrade domestic upgrade system does seem to be confusing many passengers..."cheapskate" (using Jon's term) or not.

I agree with others in this thread that say it makes sense for those who are high yield get more benefits for their dollars.

I also agree with almost everyone that a policy should be communicated clearly so we all can make informed decisions of what airline we fly based on our particular needs.

>Driving Rain

My wife (Plat) is on an $1,800 H ticket EWR-SAN this Wednesday and still has not cleared. We are still at A5 F0. It will be interesting to see if her H fare is of any relevance.

I started a similar link on the NWA site and "Beef or Chicken" was kind enough to provide this link.

This is absolutley happening on both NWA and Continental and I believe it is even worse that indicated on these posts.
My sources tell me that a minimum of 50% of all FC will be held until day of departure regardless of fare paid. Also, in FLL last week, the President's club check-in desk told me that Silver's were getting upgrades before PLAT's because they were arriving at the airport earlier. Are Continental and NWA crazy? Is a SIlve who buys 3 full fare tickets a year more important than a PLAT who buys 30 tickets at $1,000/each? Where is the reward for being a PLAT? If the 5 day upgrades really don't exist anywhere than where is the perk? They can't think the 125% mileage credit is such a good perk by itself can they?

Last week on a $2,500 multi-leg ticket I did not even receive an advance upgrade on the Y portion of my flights and get this...on a 24 seat (FC) 757 with 22 open seats remaining one day prior to the flight there were still no seats released for an upgrade until check-in.
Today is my 5 day window for a NWA flight from SMF and I have never in 4 years not received an upgrade on this flight at the 5 day window..guess what no upgrade and 9 open FC seats.

If this continues I am out of both CO and NWA and I have earned over 1 million miles with them.

Also, where is our notification of a change to the terms and conditions? Those Bast... thought they could sneak this by us and no one would notice?

Circle the wagons everyone...and quick look over there..just trying to distract you while a quickly fax in to UA and AA for comp Plat status before the fax line is busy from everyone else.