A Man Without A Program
 

Just finished my earliest requalification for Gold last weekend and in fitting tribute failed to get U/G on EWR-MSP and even on the NW Codeshare MSP-YEG despite being on an H fare. :td:

One bonus, I got to sit in NW comfortable Y seats with decent pitch ^ as opposed to what I agree are CO's Y prison benches. :mad:

In any event, as cigarman will see when he eventually gets to my retraction e-mail for the DO in IAH, with the termination of YEG-IAH on February 15th I have no CO flights to take from my hometown.

Since I've held a NW # for 13+ years and with DL only starting service to SLC mid-December on CRJ's and both being SkyTeam, it looks pretty grim for me to be comped to either. Anyone else tried in circumstances like this?

I left AC and won't return. HP comped me when they introduced service here in YEG a couple of years ago and one week after I got it their affiliate, Mesa, promptly reconfigured all their CRJ's to drop first class! :( I then stuck to CO.

AS/QX never run on time on their Q400s and I'm sick of overnighting in SEA (3 for 3 my last 3 trips :eek: ). UAX runs CRJs only to DEN and ORD and they are Star Alliance with the useless types over at AC.


In other words, I'm A Man Without A Program :td: :( and I'm not all that enthused about CO right now. :mad:

Any ideas?

You'll have to implement the NW switcheroo. What you do is book your NW flights using your Co gold number. Then when you get to the airport you switch to your NW number. NW will continue to recognize gold status throughout the entire Itin and credit miles to NW. Of course once you get NW status you can use the NW number instead. I have been doing this for the ast year with my CO plat. I become NW plat next week, The only thing you lose is fewer bonus milies as you work your way up the food chain.

BTW I do the switch at the kiosk where there is a tab to udate FF#.

It's the clsoes you'l get to a status match.

While this is the traditional method, the fact that CO dropped service into his hometown should come into play for a comp. It may mean escalating to a supervisor over at WorldPerks, but I think he could reasonably convince them to comp you based on your CO credentials given CO's exit from the market.

Of course the easier way to do it would be the comp from HP (if you still have the HP credentials).

Hey! Those are state of the art prison benches which feature adjustable... :p

I'm sorry to hear about the axing of the YEG flight :(

It's a pity CO does not have an EMB (not ERJ) to use on the route. More non-stop direct service for the longer thin routes, and of course, FC!

I forget. Does CO let you do this in reverse? NW number on CO flight, then switch to CO number at checkin? For some reason I remember threads that CO does not do that, even if it is in their favor.

A year or so ago, I played that game. If you got advance upgrades you would do it (change) after getting seats. If's tougher if you only get battlefield though. Even if you get it a little early like at a Club, they will not allow a switch of program unless you already qualify for the upgrade on the switched to program. (Got that?)

It's interesting because I was doing the same thing. NW dropped my home airport and I was switching to CO but didn't want to lose my upgrades. When I asked CO for a comp status they said no but told me to go ahead and switch my number after upgrade (which you can do online).

However when I mentioned that in a PC you would have thought I had commited mortal sin or fraud (a term actually used by a PC agent).

Don't know if they have caught on or want to make it a problem but it certainly was part of the game back then.

I even remember once when I had traveled from SFO to EWR I didn't get upgraded to FC so I left my NW PE number in for a chance to get an UG for the return trip. It was a turnaround so when I got off the plane I went to the gate agent and asked if I had be UGed for the return yet. She handed me a FC BP. I then went to one of the convience CO help desks and they gladly changed the whole trip to my CO number.

Thats when ATA was on the same route and you could get a SFO-EWR-SFO for less than $150 most every weekend.

BT

Damn. Too bad it's more of a hassle with them.

Gonna have to see if I can get the sales rep. assigned to my firm to match, otherwise try the third-party status.

Co will not do this. If you are not elite in the program you switch to you will even lose elite status.

I had people at NW say you are not supposed to be able to this-I always say based on what because the system clearly lets you. Anyway thats why I tend to it at the kiosk or online after the UG has come through.

CO could conceviabbly pull the UG.

I apologize if this question is a bit off-topic for the original thread, but the subject of switching FF numbers has come up and so now seems like the best time to ask this...

Is it possible to switch FF numbers on an award ticket? For instance, say that I want to redeem DL SkyMiles for an award ticket on CO (I guess for this example, assume both code and metal are CO). I book the ticket, and at this point I assume that my DL# is attached to the ticket. Is it possible to change after booking the FF# to my OnePass#? How about at check-in?

Yes, get the CO Record Locator (different from the DL record locator). Pull it up and co.com and make the change. You still won't get miles, but you'll still show Elite Access and your status on your BP if you're Elite.

Why not NW? Oh I know now isn't the best of times for them but it fits your Fly Edmonton First preference. Just a thought.