I might get flamed, but it seems like a lot of you should plan on switching your business to Delta later this year. This fall Delta is going to have an improved transcon product (mixed drinks, video, new seats, upgraded interiors) and I've found as a Platinum Medallion that I get upgraded on virtually every flight. DL's transcons will be done on 757s with 26 FC seats... not UA-like pitch obviously, but this will offer a good chance of upgrade in my opinion. And if you don't get upgraded, coach with 33-34 inch pitch of Song and all-leather seats sounds A LOT better than Continental's 31 inch pitch and hard nasty seats. And YES, I'd rather have DL's snack product in coach than a soggy little lukewarm hamburger on Continental.

DL offers great customer service, both on the plane and in the Crown Rooms. New uniforms are cool, and moral is suprisingly good. Check it out later this fall when the new product launches! :D

When (and if) Delta delivers on the above, it will put competitive pressure on Continental and unless their response is to improve their product, Continental will be hurt.

I don't remember who said this, but the statement was to the effect, "competition brings out the best in business and the worst in people".

HMizzle,

No CO bashing, I'm just upset at the fact that the current management is squandering 10-15 years of hard work that raised this wonderful airline from the ashes. That's all.

I'm only upset because I love CO & its wonderful employees (and if you think OP Elites are unhappy, just talk to the employees [btw, there are many CO employees on this forum but none of them will ever make a critical statement about the way their airline is managed because of the climate of fear they are under]).

Regarding 757's & 737's, there are two major differences. One, the 757's have larger FC cabins than all but the largest 737's, meaning much better % of upgrades for elites.

Two, it is true that the 757-200 and the 737-800 are quite comparable, and that's where the lack of that mid-cabin lavatory is brutal on the 737-800, especially on those long transcon flights. On a full flight that means that there is only 1 lav for as many as 71 people. I realize there is a mid-cabin variant of the -800, but the majority of CO's -800's still don't have it.

A lot of things are changing in the airline biz. Larry Kellner should pay attention to the competition as much as much as he is to his bottom line.

I'm not inclined to jump on the bash LK bandwagon. Since he's taken the helm, CO stock has rocketed from $7/share to the 20's. The balance sheet is looking better each quarter (with CO likely making a profit this year, even with Oil hovering around $70). Personally, I have not noticed an appreciable degradation of service in Y or F in the three years I've been a Plat. Have been flying CO for far longer (since the mid 80's) and can say a Y seat & service on CO today are the same as when my travel began to increase dramatically in the late 90's.

JetBlue does not fly where I need to fly (IAH-Midwestern Destinations, IAH-Transatlantic, IAH-Mexico/Central America & IAH-Hawaii). I feel the carriers which have such coverage which can compete for my business (pretty much just AA for ALL of the above routings, and HP-US/NW/DL to a lesser extent) have an inferior Y product. Whilst AA's F is good, there are no freebie u/g's unless you're an ExPlat, and I'm not willing to go out on a limb and ditch CO just for better odds at a front seat in an MD80.

I believe Gordon left CO at the right time -- at the top of his game, serving as an inspiration to future executives. He set an example others in CO should strive for. True, it will be difficult for anyone to fill his shoes, but I believe Kellner, Smisek & Co. have done an excellent job maintaining the corporate culture which Bethune created and nurtured at the carrier. Yes, upgrades are harder to come by these days, and ERJ's are serving many routes which were once mainline only. However, CO has grown by leaps and bounds since Bethune was at the helm. European coverage (in terms of cities served) is staggering compared to 5-10 years ago. The same can be said for Mexico/Central America/Caribbean as well. With the 787's, growth into Asia should get interesting. CO has worked very hard to project itself globally, whilst giving itself a very good shot at sustained profitability. With the CO fleet being utilized far more efficiently than in the past, and with flights packed these days in F and Y due to increased demand, simplifares, what-have-you, it is understandable that upgrades are scarce. If this upturn in passenger numbers and utilization results in increased profit for CO, I can imagine they would be very interested in continuing with new a/c orders, to capitalize on growth potential. Change in this industry should not be instantaneous, but measured, thorough & consistent. If CO returns to profitability and sees growing the airline as a boon to continued profitability (by all accounts this does look like the case, as CO has actually expanded even its domestic capacity in recent years), then we'll probably see more and larger aircraft come online. That should result in better upgrade chances for all of us.

Additionally, I should hope that LK will not rush out and spend gobs of money based on rumors of service upgrades by bankrupt carriers. If and when it looks like DL or any other carrier is about to seriously outflank CO in the service department (in a way that would have a significant negative impact on the bottom line), that would be the time for a prudent CEO to take a hard look at investing in service/infrastructure upgrades. To do otherwise would be foolish and fiscally irresponsible. The airline industry is extremely cyclical. To make quick, foolhardy decisions based on only the here-and-now has caused the untimely demise of many a carrier.

To me, consistency is key, and with CO I feel I get a consistently good product that is value for my money. And, yes, it is my money, because all of my travel is leisure based. You can bet that if I noticed a serious deterioration in service, or seriously greener pastures elsewhere...my money would follow.

If you're based at IAH clearly B6 is not a viable option.

As I've written before, a lot of quality of CO's product is based on where you fly. I think it's safe to say that EWR has the worst of it, especially if you fly a lot of transcon.

You write that if you noticed a serious deterioration in service or greener pastures your money would follow. For passengers like me based in NYC this what has happened.

Have I noticed a serious deterioration in service? You bet. And are there greener pastures? Absolutely.

Actually, I stuck by CO for years while a better option was available. And as the planes got smaller and fuller, the service became more and more vestigial (culminating in the infamous plastic calzone), the video screens began to malfunction more and more frequently, and my upgrade record plummeted to 0 for 28.

After 3 years of this I moved on. But I still love CO and I think they need to do better. Not to make me happy, mind you, but because having lots of unhappy and now only tentatively loyal frequent flyers is bad corporate policy.

I certainly won't argue with the position that not every airline is suited to every traveler's travel patterns and priorities. Personally, the thought of satellite TV on any flight does not interest me. I fly Transat approximately once per month, and cannot recall the last time I used any of the IFE. I prefer my ipod, or portable DVD player. Even if AVOD is rolled out fleet-wide, I doubt the movie and audio choices would rival what I myself can bring onboard.

I do care about meals at mealtime, as I don't particularly like paying inflated airport rates for dining which is mediocre at best. I would rather eat mediocre food (which is sometimes actually surprisingly good in Y) which has been built in to the cost of my ticket. I have no complaints with the food served in F or BF, as it has always been quite good. Lord, the soups...

As far as extra legroom, I have yet to sit anywhere other than a reclining exit row or F seat in the past three years as a plat. I'll take row 16 on a 757-200 over any other carrier's Y seat, and even UA's E+. Row 16 is a godsend on flights like EWR-EDI.

I don't particularly care for ERJ's, and try to avoid them whenever possible. I believe eventually CO will find some way to bring EMB 170s or 190s, or Q400's (or a mix of both for both short and short-medium haul) into the fleet, perhaps when they manage to ditch their leases and deep-six the 735's. If CO is smart, they will take a wait-and-see approach, to see what sort of revenue impact other airlines experience from taking on the new Embraers. If it looks like an EMB-170 can do EWR-OMA as profitably, if not more so than the jungle jet, and if CO can work something out with regard to the scope clause in the mainline contract, then perhaps we'll see these birds with a blue and gold globe on the tail.

I'm sorry you have experienced such a serious deterioration in service on CO over the past few years. As I said, I have not. I will agree that ground staff at EWR needs serious improvement. I try to avoid EWR myself whenever possible. Considering it's CO's largest hub, that's not always possible. I would not rate CO at EWR as any worse than UA/AA at ORD or DL at ATL. I also hope that with a return to profitability, there will be a return to profit sharing. If there has indeed been a dip in employee morale, this would be the quickest way of remedying it. I hope any unhappy employees are willing to be patient and wait until CO has some definite black in the books before expecting a pay increase.

As we both have different travel patterns/requirements, I realize we're somewhat comparing apples to oranges here...but I thought I would point out an opposing point of view from someone who travels CO regularly and finds the service and quality of the product to be superior to anyone else's offering at the present time (based on my travel needs).

I agree with everything you say and I appreciate the very thoughtful tone of your posts.

A couple of points:

1. I don't watch the IFE either, so for me JetBlue's DirectTV is not a big deal. It is a big deal, though, for my two young kids who travel to the Bay Area 2/3 times a year to visit their family. Having DirectTV is like having a sedative for them.

2. Legroom. I have, of course, secured the exit row (although not every time). As far as I'm concerned that's the best seat in the house on a CO 737, since the legroom in FC is not as generous. But there are only 12 exit row seats on a 737, and two of those are middle seats. The beauty of JetBlue is that every seat has more legroom, while rows 11 to 26 have much more legroom than CO. On a long transcon it's a huge difference. For me there is also the issue of CO's thin, rock-hard very uncomfortable seat. After 6 hrs in one of those, my legs are numb.

3. EWR. To be perfectly honest with you, I don't mind EWR per se. Although it would be an exagerration to say that the staff are effusively friendly, I have never once encountered someone who was rude or unprofessional there. I find Terminal C itself to be very nice, actually, modern, clean. The elite line at security is always quick, the P.C.'s are spacious and nice, etc. What I don't like about flying out of EWR is the fact that transcons are mostly operated on small a/c's jam-packed. There is very little FC inventory on these flights, generally 12 to 14 seats, so no wonder there are so few upgrades. Compared to AA or UA, CO has 1/2 to 1/3 as many premium seats. And so many OP Plat's end up in the completely full Y cabin repeatedly with the knee-crushing legroom.

4. Hubs. I avoid ORD like the plague, and while I fly into ATL 3 or 4 times a year, I agree with you that the place is wretched, crowded, seedy, very user-unfriendly with the centralized, epic line for security and the need to change terminals with the train for connections, etc.

5. Employee Morale. Of course profitability would help, but at hubs like EWR and IAH they're pretty maxed out and they're worried about not sharing along once the company starts making a big comeback financially. We'll just have to see.

6. Meals. I'll agree with you that I'm happy to have a hot meal, especially on a longer flight. But the plastic calzone is not really a hot meal, it's just a piece of melted cheese on white bread. When I fly JetBlue, I bring my own, usually from my favorite Italian place in Bensonhurst. The food is excellent, affordable, what I like to eat, and I can have whenever I want.

Finally, I want to make it clear again that I think CO provides a perfectly fine product: Clean, modern planes, excellent on-time and luggage delivery records. But in Y it's just basic transportation. I find the sales job regarding the "quality of the experience" a bit much when the only perks are really just a warmed-over 90-cent sandwich and a paper pillow.

Leaving all other issues aside (such as geographic location) the fact is that JetBlue provides a far more premium service in Y than CO does. By a long shot.

While I certainly wouldn't want to see LK do anything rash I do think that he's got some analysis and contingency planning to do. CO's competition is closing the gap in several areas. This is a subjective judgement but for an Elite flyer DL, NW and maybe even the new US Air's elite program are on a trajectory to match advantages CO has enjoyed for the last several years. While they've been improving, CO has been nickle and diming by:

1. Shrinking the FC secitons on the 737s
2. Becomming too dependent on ERJs (I'll admit some bias here but in an ideal world they should be banned for any flight over an hour)
3. Continuing to tolerate service levels at EWR.
4. Allowing the 'farm' at IAH-B to fester - particularly the nightmare at B-84.
5. Topping the disaster at IAH-B with the even bigger mess they've made with Colgan at IAH-A.
6. Following DL into the 50% EQM strategy - something DL has moved away from after a well-deserved backlash.

Bottom line: CO is on a negative Customer Service Trajectory while its competitors are on a positive one. Eventually that has to change or CO is going to find itself going from First to Worst all over again.

I would add that CO has adopted the "lowest common denominator" pricing structure. While understandable in the current airline environment it has had the following consequences:

1. Dramatically reduced FC upgrade availability (CO has no tangible way to reward its most loyal customers)
2. Created very high LF's, thus straining the line personnel and making the overall experience unpleasant, especially in coach
3. Reduced reward seat availability, again reducing the incentive for ff loyalty

While filling seats is fine in the short term, alienating loyal customers in favor of consumers who shop for airline seats based purely on the commodity value of the product is pure folly.

As soon as CO is no longer the cheapest, the casual consumer will instantly pick the cheaper option, while the loyal customers will have been alientated and will take their business elsewhere. And by the nature of the frequent flyer's relationship with an airline, namely the need to cultivate and maintain a relationship with an airline in order to reap the benefits of that loyalty, the frequent flyer is the hardest airline consumer to switch over to another airline (the fierce loyalty of so many here is a testament to that fact).

So every frequent flyer who leaves CO for DL or B6 or any other airline would need to be really unhappy with that airline for a significant period (years) before making the switch back to CO.

Doesn't Larry Kellner get it?

Good point. If Delta and Continental had reciprocity on the Elite status (like CO/NW), I'd certainly move over to Delta for many flights. In other words, if I could try to upgrade for FC just like on CO, I'm there, especially, because you report that upgrades are easier to come by. Do you know how Delta and Continental compare with carryons? Does Delta typically have the same amount of storage space in the cabin? Just curious.

^ ^ ^ Excellent posting. I love the way you write!

If load factors are higher than pre-9/11, then why should even a plat expect the same probability of an upgrade as s/he would have received in 2002? Thanks to market realities and RJs, F is far less plentiful these days and in far higher demand. If the upgrade really means that much, then buy the Y-fare, and upgrade on the spot. None of my Y's have failed to upgrade at time of booking (usually 2-3 days prior to travel).

For the 80th time and with all due respect, CO is not shrinking the F sections on 737s. They removed two seats from the 735s and are eventually converting all 738s to an 18 seat configuration, so they are actually adding F capacity on the 737 fleet (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that this was announced at the last DO or maybe even before - if this is not true, I will stand corrected).

Your other points are definitely valid.

My sentiments as well. My Ys also never have failed to clear at time of booking, and I've purchased quite a few of them this year.

I live in Los Angeles and frequently fly to New York City (EWR), Philadelphia (PHL), and Washington DC (DCA) I could choose from United, or American, but choose to stay with continental because of there service. I accauly like browsing around the airport, and the PC membership doesnt hurt, so I don't mind the connections. I will sometimes fly Delta, if I am going to BOS, or ATL, if I NEED to go direct, because it's a ST member and I can still earn onepass miles. Continental is a great airline. They have all the partners you need to earn miles on onepass wherever you go. If you need direct flights sometimes, fly the partners and stay with continental. ^