I fly on CO about twice a month but only recently signed up for OnePass.

Since I usually decide to fly at the last minute, I often end up buying A or D fares and did not think I would benefit from the unlimited upgrades that seem to be OnePass' principal benefit. After considering the other benefits that OP offers, and the fact that I was throwing away miles that I could use for those rare planned flights, I decided to join.

With CO's triple segments offer, it now appears that I can easily exceed the requirements for Platinum with just two or three months activity. However, in reading the fine print on the triple segments offer it appears that only flights on CO aircraft, and not NW codeshares, counts for this bonus. Has anyone checked into this?

Also, the offer states that triple segments are valid only on fares with a one way value of greater than $400. On CO flights within TX, where I spend a lot of time, the typical RT D fare is $744. Would I garner triple segments on this fare?

Any advice would be appreciated. BTW, I would be interested in knowing what other poster's experiences are as a CO elite.

So far, after about three or four weeks of OP, it seems like the agents are markedly *less* courteous to me.

Thanks.

I'm still picking myself up off the floor from the fact that you just signed up for one pass

I never signed up because I didn't think that I would redeem the miles or be able to take advantage of the upgrades. Like many loyalty programs, it seemed that by joining OP I would be supplying marketers with a great deal of personal information about myself.

As a matter of fact, I always decline to join loyalty programs(Barnes and Noble Card, Kash N'Karry, Randalls, etc.) The only FF programs that I have ever belonged to were TWA Aviators and Conquest Airlines, and in both cases the airline went belly up and stopped flying to my area soon after I joined. In the case of TWA, I joined after a telephone reservation agent twisted my arm . With Conquest, a travel agent signed me up.

That's the CO's ENHANCED service for loyal customers.

You seem to be the type of "high-yield" type of person that Continental drools over.

Especially since you are in TX, have you considered flying WN or AA?? AA's miles have great value. CO onepass miles are constantly being devalued. I would conservatively value 2 CO miles = 1 AA mile. This is because CO gave out tons of bonus miles in the last 2 years cause a surplus of miles. They have subsequently made it a lot harder to redeem the miles for a decent seat (most of the flights only show Easypass availability).

Doesn't this "promo" require you to spend at least $400 EACH WAY? If so, a $744 fare won't do you much good.

As SgoPal pointed out, why are you not looking at WN for your "flights within TX"? WN's max Y fare is $299 each way, but I doubt you'd come close to that on an "intra-TX" fare. Book 4 trips online, and you'll have a free ticket anywhere they fly. You'll probably be able to do that for less than the cost of one of those $744 CO fares you've been buying.

Often it's easiest to use your OnePass miles for last-minute travel, since yield management often releases reward seats during the last week for undersold flights.

I've been able to save friends/relatives thousands of dollars when in need of emergency last minute air travel.

Thanks for the advice.

I suspected that the $744 D fare wouldn't make it under the promotion, but I thought it was worth a shot. It still isn't clear to me how the minimum one way rule affects the promotion. I know that my direct TPA-EWR A roundtrip will qualify at $1600(800 each segment), but can't figure out if my $806 D rt TPA-AUS through IAH would qualify.
Likewise, I don't know how a multi-city trip will work out. I suppose that I will have to call CO to find out.

Still does, anybody know whether codeshares on NW count toward the promotion? Since most of the NW codeshares involve an extra leg or so, I could really rack up the segments if I had a few extra hours to spare each way.

For what it is worth, I prefer to use CO over AA. In the bad old days I preferred AA, but now I find that CO is a better experience. For one, the FC seat on the Fokker 100 that AA uses in most of the smaller markets is only about an inch wider than coach. Why would anyone want to pay for that? They also charge for liquor or sparkling water at the AC, which is tacky. Finally, connections on AA often require going through DFW, which I don't like.

As far as WN goes, I try to avoid using them because they don't have FC and their coach tickets are often only $50 or so less than CO in TX. Considering that you have to make more connections at out of the way airports(and get no miles for going out of the way), and that WN does not have assigned seating(you have to fight for your seat) and no airport clubs, WN isn't that much of a better value. The employees are enthusiastic, but that is about it.

(Of course there is something to be said for enthusiasm. Yesterday I had to fly from Islip, so I took WN. The captain walked the aisle before the flight, thanking every passenger for flying with him and giving them a handwritten letter expressing his appreciation. The passengers then gave him a round of applause, at which point many people on the flight started to cry. It was unbelievable).

Welcome aboard, Jared!

I hate to show my ignorance, but as a CO Silver, I was not aware of any triple segment offers. Can somebody please fill me in on this offer. Is it just for new One Pass members?

Homer -

It was in my last statement. I glanced at it, then tossed it. If you travel on a full Y fare of at least $400 in airfare each way, on CO or CO Exp operated flights ONLY (IE no NW operated flights), you'll get triple segment credit. I'm sure you can find it on the award winning website!

Over the years, this has become the near exclusive reason for which I am redeeming my OP miles. The other reason is for the occasional domestic upgrade I would like to confirm in advance.

Anything beyond that, CO is merciless.