I have been worried on and off that CO will implement a no elite miles/no-upgrade policy for the lowest fare classes...but given that this benefit remains the single core tenet of their program, I dont see them doing that...plus I think NW would never go along with such a change, as they are still in customer relationship building mode.

Remember the "they took your upgrades away?" advertising campaign of late...they would look quite silly rolling that out, then doing the same thing themselves.

I can only specuclate that these fares will be loaded and sold for the DL codeshare flights, so that there will be parity across the board for DL Medallions who cannot get full MQM credit (or upgrade in advance) on the lower DL fares. If they didnt do that, then DL Medallions might fly CO and NW flights to get full MQM credit and advance upgrades to circumvent DL's rules, and push most Medallions to fly CO or NW as much as possible, taking business away from DL.

I could be wrong...and it's possible the lowest classes either wont get full elite credit or wont get upgrades, but if the difference between the lowest non-earning L/S is only 30-50$ less than the lowest full-credit T/Q, then I would spend the difference to maintain my benefits and upgrades. That is how it was at DL a few years back when L class was banished from upgrades, but K class was only 30-70 more depending on the route, and was fully upgradable. I didnt think 30-70 extra was out of order considering the benefits I was getting. Now DL K is 100-400 more than L/U/T, well, that is why I am a CO Plat now and told DL to suck wind.

If they really wreck Onepass, as many of us have a genuine fear of, then I think for myself (and many of you folks as well), it will be off to AA for MRTC and VIPOWs. I ain't flyin' in CO, NW or DL coach. Gordie can chant the chapter 11 spell all he wants, but I think AA will pull out of their slump OK, with MRTC intact.

[This message has been edited by bocastephen (edited 05-01-2003).]

bumped to ask a question -

If I go to the etour site and find that they've got both S & L classes available for the flights I want and CO.com is only booking in V-class as the lowest, can I call up continental and ask for the flights and routing I found and have them book it for me in S-class (or L, which I would assume is cheaper, but I really couldn't tell what the exact restrictions of each class was based on a search of these forums). With the 1 day fare sale that was happening the other day, I did manage to get really great S-class fares and wouldn't mind trying a repeat of these fares.

If this happens, that means there are no S or L fares availabile between your city pairs, or that you have not met the restrictions for those fares if they are. Continental.com will book S or L fares sucessfully if they're available and valid for your itinerary.

Thanks. Is there anyway that I can find out the restrictions of a particular fare class? I did a search and couldn't find the topic.