OK guys: I've read a few threads on here and I want your opinions. I live in northern jersey and fly 95% out of EWR. I've been a faithful AA member since 95 and have been platinum for past couple years now(practically all of my flying is leisure) My dilemma is that the choice for flights out of EWR, esp coast to coast are really awful. I'm looking fora EWR-SEA flight for this month and as usual CO has non-stop. AA has me going thru ORD or STL. I've flown CO couple times in the last few yeards and have had good experiences. Flew them EWR-SEA last year and prefer the 737 to an MD80 anyday. How do you guys feel (especially those in the NYC area) in regards to CO and having status? How is the service in first/business, is it easy to upgrade? IS customer service friendly and responsive?

Thanks in advance

As long as you are fully aware of CO's international upgrade policy (it stinks compared to AA) OR if you don't intend to fly much internationally OR if you do fly internationally, but can handle it in coach, you might find CO fits your needs very nicely.

Non Stop Transcons are tough to get out of EWR for upgrades if you are strictly going to count on the EUA or Elite upgrades.

Even mileage upgrades are tough to get on CO's transcons due to CO's habit of holding back all FC seats from the upgrade bucket until 2 hours prior to flight.

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

Yep, transcon upgrades even for platinums are tough. SEA, PDX, SFO, LAX, SAN...rough routes to get elite upgardes on, so don't count on it even as a platinum member. You'll hear people say "ooh, I've got 95% platinum percentage for upgrades this year." They ain't flyin these transcons. I'm a SFO resident and I regularly transcon, and take it from me, its rough. On SEA EWR routes in past 12 months, I'm about 5 or 6 of 10 segments upgraded. That's as an "infinite platinum" - the highest level.

All of that is assuming you even care about upgrades. If you just want to fly coach and get miles in the CO system, then fly CO. But otherwise, I'd opt for MRTC on AA and a little longer flight time than cramped in coach on CO with possible occasional upgrades once you reach AT LEAST gold. I wouldn't count on more than 5-10% EWR SEA upgrades as a silver.

In defense of CO, you could always fly NW EWR-DTW/MSP-SEA. With NW, you may have a better chance of upgrading because NW has better F/Y ratios. Also, NW doesn't play as many games as CO with holding back F inventory or refusing manual upgrades when your Elite window has passed and F seats are available for upgrade.

And, of course, NW miles and segments count towards OnePass Elite status!

CO customer service features some very nice agents, but on the whole, it is not very responsive. The agents are known to quote you a rule in response to an issue, rather than offer any kind of flexible solution that addresses your individual situation. The issue seems to be that CO agents are not nearly as empowered as agents on other airlines, when dealing with elites.

A big factor is that as an elite, you do not get access to a dedicated elite desk, you simply get a "priority line" so that you can use one number for most of your concerns, and you generally don't have to wait on hold for any significant amount of time.

In response to complaints/letters, etc., to judge from posts on this forum, they take a while, and are inconsistent. Sometimes issues go completely unresolved after multiple letter. Sometimes CO offers compensation that exceeds what was requested. I would guess the former is much more common than the latter.

To add:

I really like the partnership with NW. Upgrades are abundant on NW, even though the F product is clearly inferior to CO's. One nice feature is that as a NW or CO gold or plat, you can get free upgrades on domestic award tickets.

Here's an experience that I think does a good job to characterize the benefits/ drawbacks of the OP (including the benefits of the partnership with NW).

This weekend I just burned 20,000 miles for a spur-of-the-moment trip: LGA-MSP-SLC-MSP-EWR on NW. I called CO to request the award less than three hours before the first flight took off. Next thing I know I'm in F on a free ticket for what is effectively a walk-up. I ended up in F for the first 3 flights. I might have gotten upgraded on the 4th, but when the flight was delayed due to whether, I wanted to switch to another flight... Up until now, everything about this experience is GREAT!

So, when I'm in MSP, they announce that the MSP-EWR flight will be delayed by at least an hour and half--also all flights into JFK and LGA look to be delayed too. However, there is a flight to HPN scheduled to leave at the same time as my flight to EWR. So I run to that gate on the other side of the airport, get there about 20 minutes before departure time to find that there are plenty of empty seats. So, I ask the G/A if I can get on as a standby. She says that she can't let me on since I'm supposed to go into EWR, that the only way would be to call and get myself added to a "standby list." I call CO, and the agent tells me that since there is no award availability on this flight, she can't book me on it--she doesn't care that scheduled flight is going to be 1:30 late AND that there are empty seats on this flight. She then says that if the G/A lets me on this flight, she would be breaking the rules. I then politely ask the G/A to please let me on. She seemed afraid to break the rules, and somewhat uninclined to do the work to change my ticket, but I won her over, and I got her to let me on.

My impression is that if I had been in the same situation with AA, as a plat, they would not hesitate to let me switch to a plane with empty seats to the same metro area if my plane were delayed.

So, I think this story pretty well embodies some of the pros and cons of being a OP member.

[This message has been edited by aparsuites (edited 04-30-2002).]

Just something else to remember. If you are Platinum on AA that is only their mid tier. Platinum on CO is top tier.

AA Gold = CO Silver = CO 25,000 miles
AA Plat = CO Gold = CO 50,000 miles
AA Exp Plat = CO Plat = C0 75,000 miles

If you are trying to get transcon upgrades as a AA Plat/CO Gold --- forget about it. It isn't gonna happen. There are lots of plats sitting in the back on those flights.

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Rachel
CO - Platinum
Hilton - Diamond
SPG - Platinum

You also need 100,000 miles for Exp Plat on AA and only 75,000 miles for Plat on CO.

Which is completely in line with the extra benefits afforded by ExPlat such as VIPOW upgrades etc...

As far as switching from AA to CO, understand what you're getting before you make the switch.

* You'll NEVER be on a widebody for a transcon. CO only runs widebodies on international, and also on domestic positioning flights such as IAH-EWR.

* Domestic upgrades are going to be harder to come by even as a top-tier Plat, and the coach product you'll be in if not in F is inferior to AA.

* Forget about international upgrades... search the board (it won't take much lookin') and you'll see why a lot of us went over to AA. The int'l upgrade policy is pathetic. That said, the actual int'l business product is superior to AAs. The seats are more comfortable, the service is more individual. CO has a **** good J product. I'd place it in between C and F on AA (which is where it's supposed to be).

* You'll get decent food (even in coach... some may disagree) and the FAs overall will have better attitudes and be nicer than AAs. CO does not have a 'prison matron' problem like AA does.

* Expect a MAJOR drop off in customer service level. I've had one or two bad apples at AA but for the most part everyone has *really* shined, even the run of the mill AAdvantage agents. Contrast that to CO where even the Plat 'desk' agents are a crap-shoot.

* The P clubs offer free booze whereas the ACs don't

* Expect a major devaluation in the miles you earn. OnePass miles are easy to earn but the rewards cost a *lot* more. PlanAAhead awards aren't difficult to get, standard level rewards on CO are almost impossible. It's about a 50% devaluation in your mileage.

You probably should be getting a new travel agent. With CO, HP, and NW to choose from, why would a CO Platinum from New Orleans be flying from the East Coast to the West Coast on AA?

You can? On NW? On CO? On HP? Can you point me to the rule(s) that say(s) so? I have never heard of such a thing. Thanks.

I'm on the same side as you, but I think this may go a little too far. There have been some 67's SFO EWR at least as of a few months ago, though they seem to be gone for now. I think there may be some 67's out of LAX right now if I recall the latest flight schedule correctly.

I think you would at least have to say there are occasional 67's at some times of the year and depending on CO's tinkering with their international schedule. But its inconsistent and very sporadic.