2003 Onepass Changes

Initial thoughts...

Mileage Cap on Q/T fares

So US backs off and CO potentially goes off the cliff. Who knows what the "mileage cap" means, but if it affects my ability to earn status miles, I'm gone (or at least off to NW on all personal travel).

No Mileage upgrades on Q/T

Fair enough

Charge for last minute reward travel

Hope this just applies to agent calls. It makes much less sense for online reward bookings.

I'm sorry, is there an official press release somewhere? I cannot seem to find it.

dsimon:
There was a blub on FT that an internal memo went out at CO last week detailing anticipated 2003 changes. I'm assuming that this is that memo. It took us a few days to get hold of it . Sometimes we get it before the CO folks get it

Right, that I had seen. I was just curious as to know whether something official was out in writing. The reason I had asked is because the link to dbaker's website has a thread that starts out with Breaking news..., which outside of a press release, is not.

I appreciate you clarifying, though.

This is very bad news. This means:
On a domestic "T" transcon, instead of 5,000 miles + 6,250 bonus (Total 11,500), I now get 500 RT (?). And how many miles applies towards 2004 status (500 miles?). On a domestic "T", I can't use any of the 750K miles in my account to upgrade, so I have to sit in the back (EUA's are already virtually non-existent on these routes).

Now, assuming that NW does NOT match these (admittedly a big assumption), it virtually forces my wife and me (231,000 miles flown on CO metal last year) to switch to NW. A major impediment to switching WAS the fact that we would not be getting the 125% bonus miles on NW until we got to the 25K/50K/75K levels on NW and acheived status there. These C0 changes have removed that impediment and in fact, makes it costly in terms of miles and 2004 status to stay with CO.
Any other comments?

dsimon:
I would postulate that the listing is probably accurate as, in typical CO fashion, it raises more questions than it answers. I showed it to my wife, who could not understand it, and her comment was "Who writes these things? Don't they proof it and check it for completeness?" The obvious answer was that the monkey that wrote it hadn't been fed yet.

The thing I object to the most is that this is so confusing. I reviewed my itineraries for the past year and only once did I fly in T class (an EWR-LGW) weekend trip that was purely a mileage run.

However, most of my travel is booked online, I have almost no idea what class I'm buying until I've actually bought it. Until Continental makes it possible to compare prices and buy on various classes, this is really an unfair change.

I would not disagree with that.

Absolutely true. There will need to be a way to select "Non TurQey" fares on the CO website, like you can select "Y Only". Otherwise, there will be a flood of calls to reservations to find these fares. What a mess this will create.

It is not clear to me, but if they limit the number of status miles earned on "T' and "Q" fares to something like the 500 (250 each way, which are essentially the types of fares that I purchase) that you alluded to, that would certainly make me think twice about which carrier I fly. That, and the inability to upgrade those "T' and "Q" trans-cons with miles would push me into the direction of AA which has superior economy product.

Look, I speak for myself and I believe thousands of others, and the reality is stark:

The more CO pushes me and other elite flyers into coach, the more it won't be their coach. They've done nothing to improve the pitch / comfort / service of that trip and other airlines have.

Already with EUA and comp Platinum for a pulse and A125 F0 CO has reduced my ability to upgrade - and done so in the face of telling me they were "improving" and "enhancing"...So already I'm beginning to fly an airline that has dedicated elite agents on the phone, gives me an enhanced economy seat, etc, etc.

CO is not just cutting off it's nose but it's whole head. The good news is I'm no longer just one guy holding a candle to the wind with a dinky little website asking for an award to be denied. CO is not fooling anyone anymore. Joe Brancatelli does an excellent job here of detailing how Gordo the liar is not fooling anyone anymore, how his financial house is a house of cards, and Continental will probably be the first airline to go in these times, mostly because they're working the hardest at killing themselves by abandoning their customers.

CO cutting elite benefits again? So what's new. See you on UA and AA (and NW unless they pull a lemming).

Agreed. An note that it mentioned only Q/T fares. There is no mention of what happens to a NW elite who is travelling on a NW "V" fare (NW's two lowest categories are 'V" and "Q"). Is a NW Plat elite travelling on a "V" fare (equivalent to a CO "Q") going to receive full mileage?" How about a NW elite who books a CO TurQey ticket and gives his WorldPerks number. What does that person get?
More questions than answers.

Not to create a furore where there may need to be none, but yesterday my wife- a NW elite- flying out of EWR to DFW on CO 1137, was told by the gate agent that they do not upgrade Silver elites. Not one to care too much for F , she didn't pursue the matter. On boarding she saw that F was full.

So hopefully, the gate agent meant nothing more than that they were not upgrading Silvers on that particular flight since F may have checked-in full and it isn't some sort of an "enhancement for our top-level elite flyers".

[This message has been edited by knit-in (edited 09-08-2002).]

Please, NJDavid, CO is not going to go bankrupt because YOU don't like their new OnePass rules. This is a business, and a money-losing business right now. If you want to be able to fly CO at all in the future, they've got to figure out a way to provide good service and make a profit at the same time. If you can find a PROFITABLE airline that provides better service and perks than CAL, you should fly them -- I personally don't know of one (despite the JBLU hype).

As an infinite platinum, myself, I'm not crazy about the new rules, but I understand why the status quo can no longer exist. There are plenty of people gaming the OnePass rules -- this board has got lots of them. CAL can't afford all the gamers when it's losing money, so it will make it harder to "get more than you paid for."

If you're lucky, the other major carriers will not match the 250 and 500 mile limits on low bucket fares, and CAL might have to modify that rule -- or risk folks like yourself booking their leisure travel elsewhere. I'd personally be surprised if NW doesn't match it -- otherwise it would be rather pointless to belong to OnePass. In the meantime, you can complain loudly and hope management listens. They will no doubt make their final call based on the cold, hard economics, regardless of whether any customers' feelings are hurt.

I do agree with the poster who said the buckets will have to be displayed on line if anyone is going to understand the new accrual rules. I no longer usually know what bucket I'm booked in, either. My guess is that this would be an easy modification to make.