dl new coach esp on transcon and vegas has ptv and more comfortable seats.
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Hasn't been on any of the aircraft I have been on.

I may be wrong, but I think DL only flies the ex-song birds on transcons now...

And I would take the extra legroom and the chance to watch the history channel or the ballgame over a 33 grams of fat cheeseburger any day of the week.

(Spare me the "read a book" comments, I read more than just about anyone I know. Close to a book a week.)

I think rational people would agree, if sitting in coach there are better products out there.

But there is another level: it's called AA EXP or United . . . well you follow.

I hit Platinum in February with 76k and moved to AA. Once I hit 100k with AA, I finish off DL (which I started in April) to become Platinum. I'll probably switch to United in September or thereabouts. I don't see any point in sticking with Continental past 75k.

I don't see any point in sticking with Continental past 75k.
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Where this breaks down for many people is that once you acheive all the benefits that elite brings you at Continental, then you go off to another carrier and travel with zero status and zero benefits when you could be using the status and benefits that you already have on Continental.

While many of us have status on most carriers and the above doesn't apply, there are many that it does apply to.

Lastly, for me there is more to it than just accumulatiing status. I want comfort, convenience etc, and when Continental offers me a nonstop on most of my trips, it makes no sense to go and connect on another carrier just to build status. I spend enough time on a plane as it is

Last year I had about 85K EQMs, so there wasn't much point in my trying to get status on a second carrier. This year I'm at about 50k already (I know, not nearly as many as most of you) but I am also in on the UA AKL deal, and I am flying some routes lately where CO/SkyTeam isn't convenient (DCA and/or DFW to non-SkyTeam hub cities) where flying on other carriers makes more sense. I'm strongly considering pushing for a low elite on a second carrier.

I like CO a lot and I agree that actually using the benefits is a great reason to fly once the tier threshold is reached, but that assumes that 1) CO and partners offer the best routings; and, 2) You can actually take advantage of most of the benefits. I've been fortunate to be flying on routes this year that have been upgraded almost every time (22/25 eligable, and only 3 ineligible CO flights ERJ/TATL, and 5 DL segments, mostly short/shuttle), so I have been very pleased on number 2 above. On my other routes where I've flown a non-SkyTeam carrier I've actually been treated well enough as a non-Elite (bulkhead/exit row seating, free standby), but I can see times where it would've helped more.

If you're not getting upgrades at the rates where you see value in using your CO status, there's a decent chance that another carrier offers similarly decent routings and in such a case having elite on multiple carriers makes a ton of sense.

S.

That is my situation exactly. Last year after I achieved Platinum I had plenty of time to make at least the mid-tier elite level on another airline. However, I would have been going from OnePass Platinum to a nothing with another airline. Sure, there are status matches, but I'd still be giving up my nonstops from IAH to just about every place I usually need to go for work, as well as the ability to use a Presidents Club before my flights out of IAH. In the end it just wasn't worth it to me.

Not so, other airlines will often comp' people to the second highest elite level. AA comp'd me to Platinum; DL bumped me up to Gold, but warning--Delta is slow. By the time they got me to Gold, I had already earned it--it takes many weeks for them to provide the credentials. Interestingly, while AA didn't need evidence that I flew--they had a platinum challenge--DL told me to FAX a statement from either carrier "it doesn't matter." [sic] I think they have to be wrong (I sent them AA), I don't think they'd match my status on CO--at least I believe that CO doesn't match NW or DL.


If you're based in EWR, IAH or CLE, I can see sticking with Continental. I am in LAX, so AA or even UA is a better choice for direct flights. In my case, connections don't bother me. I was worried about losing some of the intangibles too; after switching, I also discovered that those benefits aren't worth the opportunity cost of giving up things like SWU's or elite-for-life on other carriers. If a flyer has a choice, I can�t seeing it making any sense to stick with Continental once he or she hits Platinum while foregoing benefits on other carriers.

Maybe if they offered to apply this year's "excess" segments to next year's qualification.

Frankly, though, I think I would go completely nutters if I had to fly that much in half a year. You have my sympathy.

I can join the ranks of "high segment" travelers! I was just checking, and so far this year i'm at:

NWA-44 segments
CO-49 segments, 57EQP (TOOO many 0 eqp's, then a ton of Y 2x's)
US-17 segments

And this is NOT my busy travel season (July-November is!) So...I will end up with a TON.

Im thinking im going to switch to AA (fly to MIA/ORD a TON!) after making Plat on CO this year. Im going ot try the challenge and see how I make out.

If CO put something in place for 200+EQP I would be the FIRST one there!

And NO MORE US for me!

And when corporate travel departments got wind of TWA's methodology of rewarding customers for dollars spent, corporate travel dept. quickly prohibited their employees from flying on TWA. TWA no longer exists, so the rest is history.

Exactly. I don't know why people keep suggesting that frequent flyer program tier achievments be measured by spend. In any event, all carriers already recognize spend my awarding bonus EQM's and RDM's for the purchase of high fare classes.

The common theme here is that obtaining an elite level on another carrier makes sense if your location and travel patterns will support it. I have 52 segments on Co and 53 on AA so far this year and will easily requalify for Plat and EXP. I own a business and must commute between offices in SAT and MIA and my business takes me to Latin America. That reduces the universe to two carriers. Due to the fact that a substantial portion of my travel is not recovered in billings, I tend to seek cheaper fares. Balancing my travel between AA and CO maximizes my upgrade percentages. The MIA - SAT route is mostly AA, because of a larger upgrade inventory. Trips to Latin America tend to be booked more on CO, less competition for upgrades and more routes open for free upgrades, especially to Northern South America. If I lived in Houston and did not have to commute, then AA would make much less sense for me as would CO if I lived in MIA and did not commute. I cannot identify another carrier whose route system fits well with my travel patterns. NW has terrible service to MIA, United would result in much longer travel times as would US and I dislike DL with its need to connect in ATL. WN is out of the question, no upgrades, no service to Latin America, its South Florida destination is FLL and its system punishes those who change or book tickets at the last second by its on line check in system. Make a last second change on WN and you are most likely going to get a middle seat, no matter how much you reward them with repeat business.

I am not sure that I would jump to another carrier simply because there was "nothing for me" above the elite qualifying level. AA did not give me a status match as a CO plat, I had to do a Gold then a Platinum challenge. Given the amount of flying that I do, my strong desire to avoid riding in steerage and given the fact that a substantial part of my travel is not passed on as an additional charge it makes sense for me to split my travel between AA and CO. YMMV.

Seems more frequent than that

Nothing like a discussion about a super-tier above CO plat to get the blood boiling on this board. It's been discussed ad nauseum here.

Like the OP, I will fly at least 150k miles this year, any maybe closer to 200k. I have already reached plat status on CO for 2008, so I am flying on DL to re-up for Plat status there as well. (nb: my DL Skymiles AMEX card spend will get me at least 10k and maybe 20k EQM's, so I'm off to a good head start).

Why do I do try to qualify for Plat on DL and CO? ? If I fly DL on transcons (or anywhere domestically for that matter), I get upgraded about 95% of the time (as a DL plat). I realize that folks think the DL product is inferior, but the upgrade is great, especially as it is almost guaranteed to clear, and in the NYC-LAX market I'd rather fly DL than CO. When that DL upgrade clears 5 days out, makes travel day so much less stressful. Sorry. Also, DL has excellent partners. All those miles I stockpile can be put to good use.

I keep status on CO because the BF product is excellent, and if not flying on a BF ticket, I can upgrade with miles and $$ -- not the case on DL. I've read with interest the many posts and threads here about the difficulty others have had in upgrading to international BF on CO, but my mileage upgrade success rate has been almost complete.

So, bottom line -- if you are flying substantially more than 75k miles on CO this year, no reason to spend your travel dollars on CO beyond that milestone. Lost revenue for CO is something one would hope they'd think about.