Last month $562 EWR-HOU for half credit and no segment points. You're right - I'm not worth it.

Don't ya think to some extent it's a function of "what you're used to"? When I first switched to AA everything seemed confusing, convoluted and obtuse-- on the website and otherwise. Now, it no longer seems that way to me. I do think CO has a slightly better website, but, I can't imagine sticking/picking an airline on that basis, YMMV.

As far as some random price comparison-- I think we all know that fares differ tremendously due to an infinite number of factors-- one random example does not a conclusive study make. AA has great prices to Europe and S. America and NRT-- and since they are all upgradable-- they are cheaper by a factor of 2, 3 or 4 once HoKey and "fees" are factored it-- unless one prefers to fly in economy.

Also, AA has much, much, much better weekend "specials" (netsAAvers) than CO-- no comparison, IME. I don't think CO has a clear advantage fare-wise, in fact, I think it's quite the opposite. YMMV.

Easily.

JAL codeshares fly NRT-BKK and award 100% qualifying status miles. Just make sure your ticket contains the AA flight number and you'll get full miles.

I agree with many of the people who say the product Continental offers is of quality. But like many others, my issue is not being able to find a 25k FF award seat. I tried to book one in 23 cities over a 14 day period. Not 1 flight had the standard 12.5 reward available. I eventually ended up spending 37.5k to fly first class one way. This was the main reason I ended up switching my weekly flights to 50% CO and 50% AA.
If you are going to have an airline program, make it worth my while. If not get rid of it. At least with UA and AA you can use your miles.

I fly on my own dime, and get excited about fare sales. CO announces a sale, but after half hour of searching I never find a date that works for me. AA.com has a very nice feature right on the home page: Net SAAver & Special Offers where you can punch in destination, origin, or both. A list of available dates pops up, and since my schedule for leisure travel is somewhat flexible, I'm set.

But since CO doesn't want us leisere travelers, they don't want to make it easy to find the discount fares.

And for the record so far this year:

2 CO leisure flights
1 TACA leisure flight
3 Business trips booked so far (don't expect many more though)
1 CO leisure trip booked
1 TACA leisure trip booked

I realize that's not much business compared to most, but those TACA fares would go to CO if they didn't screw around with fares. Oh yea, TACA has free drinks, and I mean the adult kind, in the back of the plane as well.

EmailKid

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I am NOT a tin elite! Then again, what the hell do I know?

I don�t think itsa �hate� but more like �disgust�. CO somehow even managed to move the international upgrade policy from being difficult to almost impossible to implement and/or understand. And somewhere recently I read of getting �cheese burger� lunches in F/C. Now that�s disgusting (and fattening)!!!

CO has reduced almost every bennie they could...........and replaced them all by allowing NonePass� elites to select EXIT row seating in advance. Now that really aint disgusting but it is somewhat as petty as one can dream up.

MisterNice

After16 years with CO, I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving this year. I've never attempted to upgrade on International with CO since I've been using UA almost exclusively for international runs. I like keeping status on two airlines if possible. My CO business will go to AA or NW, no matter how much I hate DFW and MEM.

I'm leaving for four reasons:
a) Cheap fares no longer qualifying with segments unless purchased on the website. This is the main reason.
b) Award travel difficult to arrange, as noted above, but the stipulation that most of the cheap awards require a Saturday night stay is infuriating.
c) I really dislike checking at a kiosk. I greatly prefer a real person. Can't be done at IAH. Agents still swipe your card through. Call me non-progressive, but I can't stand being digitized.
d) Crummy audio compared to others. And worst of all, when there is audio, I've been seeing the volume of a commercial blasted throughout the cabin for those who didn't have headsets. I could hear it through my Bose noise reduction headsets listening to my iPod. Going the way of Ryan Air (which, if you haven't yet been subjected to this flying bus, has ads pastered on just about every flat surface on the plane.)

I would also suggest that as it pertains to top-level-- CO just plain doesn't offer enough to those who achieve it-- especially since it now will take many Plats more than 75,000 miles to achieve same. On CO you get an extra 25% bonus miles and go to the top of the heap for domestic upgrades as your reward for reaching Plat.. maybe I left something out, I don't remember.

Compare and contrast that to what top-level on AA or UA will yield-- in the case of AA, 8 SWU's (16 for first timers,) complementary first class lounge access on international itineraries for all OneWorld lounges (some of them much, much nicer than any President's Club,) access to a dedicated, highly professional group of phone agents and now... complementary, space-available domestic upgrades.

Doesn't it seem-- on the surface-- like CO doesn't offer the same value for a similar number of flown miles?

You can do a search- seems this q. gets asked about once a month, followed by a couple pages of answers.

After earning OP plat yet again last year, I find little difference in reward availability coming with this status. Much better availability 7 years ago as a silver (or was it bronze then?), not a big problem then going reward Business First CLE to HNL for a family of four.

I don't have time to calculate the different fare basis and mileage credit algorithms that CAL marketing now plays. Easier to just say no.

What tears it for me is a minor quibble I had with one Presidents Club. Wrote a letter to the GM of the PC program. No response. Wrote a letter to Gordon. No response. Wrote a second letter to Gordon. No response. It's not that the matter was big, or that I'm important... it's just a warning sign to me when a company ignores a 15-yr elite member, and a multi-years-in-advance PC member. As a small business owner myself, I know when a company does not want my business, and act accordingly.

I barely have a couple thousand OnePass miles this year. Got comped to mid-tier on UA, and am now watching the miles quickly build there. Will likely not make Continental elite this year.


[This message has been edited by ronin (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

Absolutely correct. My international trips have dropped dramatically so I did not take the no-brainer effort to switch to AA, the most logical choice for the normal mix of multi-trip domestic AND internatuional trips. My CO flights so far this year are down 80% from mucho past years (total flights are about the same) and spread around many other BigSix(tm) airlines and including JetBlue and ATA but not US (now they are really disgusting). IMHO CO is living on borrowed time for most thinking ff's. Being allowed to book EXIT aisle seats in advance aint much of a bennie..........its more like a beanie.

MisterNice

Do you know what the loads are on these flights? It is quite possible that operating them on a mainline aircraft is just not feasible. I have done DCA-EWR plenty of times when the load factor is less than 40 people. Why run a mainline jet on a route like that. By the way, there are still mainline DCA-EWR flights. Some routes just don't support a mainline aircraft, and the best way to provide service is with an RJ. Believe me, as a mainline employee, I don't like it any more than you guys. Especially after being on reserve for 4 1/2 years, while XJT gets all this new flying.

I'll use this example of how I just don't buy the "Load Factor" argument.

Both CO and NW service MHT.

NW has 4 MAINLINE flights daily MHT-DTW and every time I fly, they are full.

CO has 0 MAINLINE flight daily MHT-CLE.

How can NW support Mainline, yet CO cannot?

Someday, hopefully soon, the employees of CO will realize that Greg was the brains behind the operation and that Gordon is merely the man behind the curtain.

CO might have higher fares... and therefore fewer pax.



[This message has been edited by xyzzy (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

I come from a much-different perspective, in that I get most of my air miles, of virtually any US airline I choose (and BA to a limited degree), via credit card purchases. Be that as it may, and I realize airlines can't live on sold affinity mile income alone, I now actively avoid using my Chase/Continental affinity card, strictly because I don't want to accrue a single Continental air mile ever again. Not a single one.

Got *very* tired of tying to land a single domestic 25K NonePass award, and knew without even a half-effort that I would never get my family of five on a Continental plane with Nonepass miles, and finally concluded Continental was executing one of the most veiled, covert scams of all time in the ff realm, with (to my deep disappointment) Inside Flyer's tacit blessing (ie getting freddys year after year and not getting blasted by Randy in an expose' editorial = tacit approval). So. Not only did/does Continental lose...so does Chase.

Interesting tryst between Chase and Continental.

P.S. To add to mileking's suggestion, I would recommend anyone considering Continental's Onepass to search the term "NONEPASS" and you will immediately understand the THEME of Onepass. The phrase "nonepass" is unique and believe me, you'll get massive hits in this continental thread.

FWIW, I hold GOLD status by virtue of being AMEX/CENT cardholder. Each year I get the GOLD welcome packet...goes in the trash with barely a glance. Did I throw any freebies away this year ? who cares.

[This message has been edited by ILUVCITIBANK (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

I dislike Onepass also. I have been a Onepass frequent flyer since '87. I have tried numerous times to get standard rewards for a w-i-d-e variety of dates for a w-i-d-e variety of destinations. Nothing - Zilch. And this with Gold elite level. How do you spell fraud? How does the normal person who is not elite ever get their miles redeemed?

One time when I called the so-called dedicated elite line, I was actually told by the Continental agent that my requests for a standard reward seat to Europe (again, a wide variety of dates and destinations) was a "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM." Those were her words, not mine.

On the other hand, I have flown a minimal amount of miles on AA. I have never had any problem redeeming my miles there, and they haven't treated me as second class, and I have no status on AA.

Continental treats their customers like the enemy!

I used to love Continental and got all my friends and business associates to use them. No more.