MaxMiles

The problem with deciding what would keep me as a customer has a lot to do with how hard is it to use what they give you. I don't need the u/g certificates as previously stated, the $1k seemed right to me but I certainly would have accepted a bit less rather than the u/g certs.

Drink coupons don't amount to much to me as I am hopefully sitting upfront on almost every flight. Club passes would hold some value to me since I am not a member but would probably not be able to keep me. Basically I want to be able to get somewhere when I want to go and anything less than $600-$700 would mean significant restrictions. A reasonable offer of OP miles would suffice- how about 45,000 miles- since that is half the EasyPass miles required for a First Class ticket in the US? That sounds reasonable to me.

JeremyZ

k. thx.

LUVSWA

MaxMiles,

I smile every day for choosing NW instead of CO. My suggestion would be to fly NW out of PHL. You'll keep all of the same perks you are used to getting and be treated far better. That move will be your compensation if nothing else comes along.

I encountered a cancelled flight before I was elite and I remember the GA apologizing that they would not be able to accomodate all FC upgrades. I'm convinced though that NW would have given you priority given their new OPS upgrade guidelines...or at least compensated you appropriately.

As for US...I'm not sure their upgrade policy is worth the effort. Given the comment from a poster that US thought the offer was generous when showed to them...I think that says it all.

On the topic of buying Y fares just because the company allows...I buy the cheapest fare available at time of booking and take my chances...if it is Y, so be it. It is not ones position to judge, but rather allow each to their own conscience.

I would agree, however, that the employee deserves any perks, refunds or vouchers as a result of flying, especially in compensation for some inconveneience or discomfort. The way I look at it, I endured the pain, I deserve the gain.

------------------
Randy
-------------------------
HH Gold; WN CP; NW Gold Elite

Xyzzy

Despite the fact that I often get upgraded on el-cheapo fares, I, too, think that a full Y should getyou a guaranteed seat. The fact that they screwed up with an equipment change isn't your fault.

Then again, you could easily have taken the ticket to any other airline yet you chose to board the CO flight. I'd put the blame 90% on CO, though. I think the $1k request was perfectly fair.


I've had a related experience. I was upgraded on an early AM flight from SFO->EWR. At the last minute, just before boarding, the flight was cancelled due to weather delays and we were all rebooked on a flight scheduled for ~2 hours later. Of course F was already filled up, since EUA had run the night before and again at 3hrs before. Almost none of the F pax on the earlier flight ended up in F, and I saw nobody get a downgrade kit. My guess is that most of the downgraded folks, like me, were not on real F tix and that most weren't even on Y tix. Have others seen this happen? What did the agents do about it?

azmmza

max miles, do you have any white envalopes?

MaxMiles

Well you are not going to believe this but it happened to me again- well almost. I was going back to using USAir (PHL to LAX, PHL being closer to home than EWR anyway) after my disappointment with CO last week, but since I already had paid for this week's flights on CO, I figured I'd go through with the scheduled flights and make the switch next week (my CP on US Airways never failed once on the 30 transcons I took in 2002)

So its Thursday afternoon and I head for LAX with plenty of time. I call the Elite line on my drive to check that the flight was on time and reconfirm seat 4a. I even explained to the agent what happened to me last week and he said, "don't worry- it won't happen again, you are confirmed in FC in seat 4a". Well I get to the airport a little over an hour before flight time and walk up to the kiosk. I knew I was in trouble when it couldn't find my reservation. I waived over an agent and she said- "are you in FC on the flight to EWR?". "Yes" I answered. She then told me that there was a little problem and they had to swap out for a smaller plane (some excuse that the gov't took a bunch of their bigger planes for use in transporting troops for the possible war in Iraq- I kid you not!). I rolled my eyes and said, "no, you cannot do this to me again- the same thing happened to me last week on my EWR to LAX flight". She said that the current offer was a $250 travel voucher for the downgrade to coach. I explained to her what happened last week and my thinking on what I considered fair compensation and she said that the $250 was all they could do. She then sent me to the gate to speak with the agent there. When I got there, the agent just gave me the same story. So I called the We Care line and told them last week and this week's stories. Again, no budging- the only thing they could do is document my complaint and send it to upper management- but $250 was all I was going to get.

So I hung up in disgust and walked back to the gate. The agent came over to me and said, "we got you in FC- we had one full FC paying passenger that didn't show for the flight, so we were able to get you into seat 3a- thanks for your understanding".

So I got my FC seat in the end- but I am once again amazed at the treatment I received after purchasing a $2000++ ticket in a confirmed FC seat. What more can a person do than I did to make sure I get the seat I was supposed to get????

snake

Maybe CO shouldn't give more advance upgrades then there are FC seats on the smallest aircraft that can fly the route (at least those lovely ERJ-145 Jungle Jets can't go trans-con......yet )

What a way to run (or is it ruin?, I forget) an airline.

dbaker

Horrible story and I'm sorry that it happened to you -- you certainly got a bad deal and some undue stress.

As far as military transportation, it's certainly not out of the question. The US has used chartered Continental flights in the past for lots of similar things.

welookgood.com

You should ask the rep during the chat about this. see what they say

NJDavid

There is nothing conflicting between the concepts that EUA is now a fare based sham, essentially upgrading or not upgrading pax when the moon and stars and surly CO IT infrastructure feels it is possible, and my or anyone else’s indignation that a confirmed FC seat is removed by an inept system and illogical, inept airport CSRs.

The hypocrisy, as I pointed out in the quote you used, is that of CO and its apologists here in claiming that CO's is steering it's policies for the express purpose of protecting it's high fare paying "real elite" passengers, and then just treating everyone like garbage anyway.

DrivingRain

David,
You go out of your way to trash CO and would undermine your own credibility to do so. The quotes speak for themselves.

Overall CO led the way over the last few years and now does as good as anybody getting Elites of all fare classes up front on domestic flights. Of course there are hundreds of exceptions out there, but please don't try to peddle that CO is not a leader in getting every fare class an FC seat. It just is not true (but I wish it was).

As far as steering its policies toward high paying Elites...CO has done less than others in this regard and is usually the last to go along with industry changes. NW has had $ seperating Elites for years (as it should be). I dont recall you leading a revolt in the NW forum over this or did I miss your annouoncement that you set up a denyworldperksthefreddy website?

Again, for the record...I whole-heatedly DISAGREE with CO's policy on low fare Elites. They should be doing more to give benefits to high paying passengers. I would hope that miles are eliminated from Elite classifications altogether and that $$$ become the accrual unit in the near future.

TheMan

I have personally witness what I thought was pretty unreal. A passenger on a Continental flight to Vegas had been upgraded at the gate. Someone came up at the last minute and wanted to buy a first class seat. Red Coat(good name) called upgraded passenger back and asked to see boarding pass and then just tore it up. He then gave him a seat WAY in the back of the plane when he had 12C to start as he was told his seat had been reassigned. He started screaming so Red Coat reassigned him his 12C then calls up the person that had been issued 12C and asks for boarding pass then tears it up and gives HIM the seat at the back. Now he complains that he was sitting w/all of his friends, but since he wasn't elite he was told too bad. Moral of story: don't hand your boarding pass back unless you are told why.

ElmhurstNick

Don't automatically believe that CO needed that plane due to a mechanical elsewhere.... and don't believe that CO IT isn't doing exactly what it wants to be doing.... Maybe those statements are in fact true, but don't just assume they are true.

Why? Because CO is one of the most aggressive airlines at implmenting mathematical models for fleet swapping to match their projected loads and avoid oversell situations. They look at mulitple sets of flights in order to balance maintenance requirements as well as predicted load conditions.

lensman

I think there was a switch of equipment on my MSY-IAH flight today, 2/2. 757 downgraded to a 738, I think.

Maybe there's something to this MAC claim after all.

cabolew

In mid-Jan '03 I purchased full "Y" and requested FC (silver elite). Was confirmed over the phone. Get to the airport and the kiosk prints me out boarding pass with no seat assignment... must check-in at gate. Needless to say I lost my FC seat with no explaination. I did cut it alittle close on check in time, maybe 30 minutes prior to departure. So, I assumed this was the cause. But, after reading this thread I am beginning to wonder.