I posted this under a UA thread last week, but wanted to generate a conversation here about this. I am not able to attend the DO and would love to ask the execs some questions like this, but deep down inside I think there answer is still "CO is not the right airline for everyone".

I hit the 80,000 EQM mark as a CO PLAT in June and decided to give UA a try. I figure if I hate it, I've got CO as PLAT for next year (not that I get anything more for going above 80,000 EQMs) and if UA turns out to be better, I am good to go.

I got comped to Prem Ex with the promise of doing 12,500 EQMs in 90 days on UA metal. So far....

(1) Booked a flight BWI-LAX-BWI in Oct (non-stop) and was able to use miles to upgrade from any fare (as an elite) to F/C.
(2) Booked a flight in full coach LAX-NRT-LAX and was able to use miles to upgrade to Business at booking (about three weeks out).
(3) Booked a flight (today) to/from SNA in November. Looked at CO (no upgrade seats available and I'm not playing the EAU lottery anymore and can't book Y-UP (company travel). Booked a $400 ticket on UA and used miles to upgrade.
(4) Flying to VIE Friday and booked the 'C' ticket on UA (after originally buying an UA ticket on OS metal) and used miles to U/G to F/C (nice perk, even though CO doesn't offer it, the point is I could upgrade with miles about two weeks out).
(5) Flew from BWI-DEN-SLC-DEN-BWI a few times and enjoyed the legroom of Economy Plus and was able to use my laptop. I got the movie and, to quote FCTSTY, bought my own "victuals" and didn't need to rely on my free "meal at meal time" on CO. Plus the service was actually great on this 757.

I know every airline has their issues, but the experience on UA has been pretty good and I'm only a Prem Ex. I'm thinking it may be worth it to start on UA next year, hit 1K for the SWUs and ability to nominate someone to elite status and then focus on CO, probably hitting Gold, maybe Plat again. I will miss the BizFirst to Hawaii, but that can't rule my flying patterns for the business.

Has anyone else thought that the profit first approach to the elite program at CO has really eroded the loyalty of some flyers? I will say I get great service as a CO Plat, but I have gotten equally good service as a UA Prem Ex and I'm not even 1k, let alone the chance for UGS!

I don't have that big of an issue with CO's elite program. My problem is that their Y product is just plain uncompetitive. I find it cramped and uncomfortable and no amount of barely edible food is going to change that.

So the problem becomes that OnePass and elite status just doesn't help you get up front, where CO is more competitive. At the end of the day, it is just too hard to get in the front, whether with miles or status or whatever. Particularly for long-haul flights, where it matters most. I don't earn miles for free economy tickets.

Agreed. As a silver, I have a 50% upgrade percentage. To me, that is a good precentage compared to the routes that percentage pertains to.(ie. IAH to EWR)

Sounds like UA meets your needs pretty well.

But you won't find yourself flying F much if you start flyings from IAD instead of BWI. Even 1Ks have trouble upgrading there.

Also, you will find little success with international upgrades (much less saver award tix in C) if you try to confirm months in advance. But of course you are probably used to that kind of treatment...

I haven't flown CO in a long time but my impression is that the domestic upgrade program works much better than UAs for lower level elites, and that the reverse is true for international upgrades and free tix. But YMMV.

I guess I take a few things for granted, but I am a little bit surprised at some of your observations. Based on what I've read, it seems that you're mostly frustrated by the cramped CO Y, and the fact that EUAs are really tough to get if not booked in high classes or Y. UA does seem to keep at a few NF and NC seats open ahead of time, especially on 757s at non-superpeak travel times. However, you also had the fortune of being able to burning 150,000 miles rather quickly. Once your balance has fallen and you're stuck playing the upgrade game as a 1P (or even 1K), the rules of the game change dramatically. Upgrades are really route specific, but UA elites gripe a lot about how hard upgrades have become. This is largely because UA flies A319s with 8 F seats on lots of midcons and transcons, and other than the 757s, UA has far less F seats on their domestic fleet than the rest of the legacies on a per-plane basis.

Some of the cons of UA:
-crappy RCCs
-ICC
-mediocre 1K agents
-consistently inconsistent service onboard
-understaffed airports
-747s in Y
-IAD
-expensive UP/discounted domestic F fares, especially compared to CO
-lack of agent training on QUPs
-smallest European network of the legacies

I will admit that being able to upgrade to F on C tickets is a nice perk, as is *G status and access to awards on SQ, NH, OS, LX, etc. If UA really works for you, thats great, especially since you have some international worked in. If you're a purely domestic traveller for biz like me, I've been really slow to fully switch to someone else, despite my unhappiness with UA just because its such a hassle. My experience with AA as a midtier has been better than my experience as 1K.

BTW, UA doesn't serve VIE. I'm assuming you upgraded to FRA or MUC and are taking LH to VIE?

Boraxo-I only go to IAD for Int'l flights (can't rely on EWR) and had been catch AF to CDG and then onward, but this time am going to use UA. I live 20 min from BWI, so the haul to IAD is not worth it. I rarely don't book months out for Int'l travel and usually I'm paying for Biz, so it's not that bad.

I too, requalified for CO Plat and have been focusing on UA. Last year I gave UA a try just like yourself, bwicoplat, but didn't opt for the status match as I did not know how much I would be flying this year and wanted to save the status match to when I really needed it. I reached 1P only to make sure I got access to the exit row seats. Well this year, I'm on track for 1K and so far I've been pleased with UA. Of course E+ is what makes a lot of difference compared with all other airlines. I actually use CO and UA depending on the season. During winter where DEN and ORD gets snowed in (been there done that ) I will try to fly CO as much as possible. I'm a loyal CO flyer and will continue to be cause they gave me my first upgrade and my travel habits have never been the same since .

What condition are the planes in? On the few flights I have taken on UA I've noticed dirt, crumbs, and spilled drinks on a 757 and a 737 after it had supposedly been cleaned.

I am tempted to use them though as I am in and out of DEN and ORD a lot and it makes sense (plus *A for LH and SQ).

I have had a fairly good experience with UA. Not perfect but good. Everything said earlier is true. UA FA's are mostly good, The GA's can be really bad, the RCC is poor compared to the PCs. Europe routes are supplimented by LH and the Asian routes are great.

The number one thing about UA is Economy Plus. It makes all of the difference to me. I upgrade when I want, and know that I will have an E+ seat when I don't upgrade. I don't have that crestfallen feeling of horror when my CO upgrade doesn't clear on my PDX-EWR flight. CO is great as an airline and service at all levels easily outshines United, but those coach seats are a wicked whip. Its hard to forget the feeling of sitting in Y on a bad headwinds EWR-SEA flight that lasts 7 hours. I had several of those in a row and it was just too much.

The fact that my knees literally stick two inches into the seat in front of me without them reclining is torture. In E+ I can cross my legs and use my laptop. The UA GA's can be as incompetent as they want after I know I have that...

The planes can definitely use some refreshing. For the most part however, they've been clean though CO seems to do a better job at it. Once you've tried E+ you'll long for it on CO. One thing though, stay away from the bulkhead FC seats on 737/757 and Airbus equivalents, ugh, feels like Y legroom.

That is it! I don't feel so bad when I'm not U/G on UA, because I know I have the Econ Plus. Also, they block middle seats next to, at least, Prem Ex and 1K (I think Prem too) so they are among the last reserved on the plane, unlike CO which throws the "elite" seats open to the wolves at the 24 hr mark. I have been on a few BWI-DEN flights where the E- section was full, but the E+ section had a number of empty middles. I will say the UA FAs are pretty good about enforcing the difference between E- and E+. How hard would it be for CO to auto-block the seat next to an elite?

I too am CO Plat with 1P status on UA.I have been trying to remain loyal to CO as their service is generally better,but the economy product is horrendous compared to E+. I always use UA internationally,but I do have an upcoming BWI-CGN flight on CO-my first ever-we'll see how it goes.I have exit row seats-hopefully they will be tolerable,as UA was 3X the CO fare.

I will struggle to make Gold on CO this year,partly because I do alot of BWI to the west coast and CO generally does not depart those cities late enough in the day for me,so I have been using UA one way eastbound more often.

Reward seats seem to be more available on UA also.

I wish CO would improve some of these issues,as I would prefer to remain with them,but it is becoming increasingly difficult to choose CO over UA in many instances.

I agree that CO's elite coach seating is among the worst (the seats are very uncomfortable and the front to back seating of non-elites makes no sense). I have switched to UA when I must fly coach, initially purchasing UA's E+ Access and then qualifying as a 2P, where I E+ is a perk. I still prefer CO overall because their itineraries are better for me, their fares are often lower and I enjoy the BF product. Although, as far as BF is concerned, UA's new Biz product will probably overshadow it. Although it has often been discussed on this board (and CO has promised changes) I don't understand why CO can't assign last-minute non-elites to seats from back to front and also stop placing non-elite families in the elite seating section. I just don't get where they are coming from on this--it is so counter-productive.

I don't care about the inflight food (the presence thereof) in coach.

However, UA's planes are shabby, paint peeling off, very dirty inside. The hard product should improve with the new C.

I too was able to upgrade on UA with relative ease. Upgrading with 15k miles a pop domestically is rather steep unless its a p.s. When I was 1K on United, I don't think I sat in back once. And it was pretty nice. But UA cancels a lot more flights than CO, and other times they are very badly delayed (esp ORD and SFO).


RCCs are pathetic compared to the pclub.

Agreed the cleanliness of the planes is not on par with CO and the RCC is scary compared to PC, but isn't an E+ seat plus a bottle of anti-bac better than an E- seat. And I think ORD and EWR are about on-par with each other, no?