I would say you chances for SFO-IAH are slim but depending on the day you could see one. IAH-BOS I'm not so sure about. It's a pretty heavy route and on a recent 4:30pm flight was mostly elites.

I can't remember the last time I could upgrade a Silver. About the only time Silvers get the upgrade is around major holidays when the businessmen aren't flying (The Plats and Golds).

Afternoon SFO-IAH flights I'm at 0% as a Gold. Weekday nighttime IAH-SFO I'm 3 for 3 in the past month. Just turned Platinum, but have no great expectations of ever getting up front on the Sunday afternoon SFO-IAH.

I certainly cannot be accused of shameless Continental boosterism, but if you're flying CO enough to earn silver then it will definitely have value.

Everyone always concentrates on upgrades, but there are other, perhaps more valuable benefits.

Elite baggage allowance is a huge, tangible benefit.

There are times when elite security can make the difference between making or missing your flight (although it depends on the location. At EWR, for example, the much longer peon security line will usually get you through more quickly because there are so many more screening stations).

Elite priority boarding is really only good for one thing, getting first dibs on overhead storage space. Although it's kind of ludicrous that priority boarding is not done by row numbers when, often, over half the plane boards priority and a messy free-for-all ensues.

You get to pick an equally uncomfortable seat in the front of Economy Minus. At least you'll be closer to the door and your chiropractor when you land.

50% mileage bonus. Of course, since most awards are now of the EasyPass, oops "standard," award level you get a 50% bonus and then a nice 100% penalty on the miles. But heck, without silver you'd have only the 100% penalty, so I suppose the glass is one-third full..

Regarding upgrades, as others have written, a lot depends on the routes you travel, etc. But what is true is that travel to and fro the hubs (IAH & EWR) will generally have the least upgrade availability. The problem, of course, is that, outside of the hubs, CO flies very little mainline.

And that brings us to the second part of the issue, the fact that something like 50% of CO's domestic flights (the flights, not the seats) are on CoEx or CoCo. There are obviously no upgrades here, even if you make triple lifetime titanium...

Questions for TWA Fan 1:

What's elite baggage allowance?

And with the 50% mileage bonus and reward ticket statement, are you implying that one earns miles on a reward ticket?

You get 70 lbs per bag at no additional cost vs 50 lbs per bag for peons

No, simply that you get a 50% bonus on your revenue flights (e.g.: EWR-SFO = approx. 2500 miles + 50% (1250 mi) = approx. 3750 miles). These bonuses, of course, do not count toward EQM

I've been upgraded as silver SFO-IAH the last 2 times i few it (July(Qfare), 2 weeks ago(Tfare)) but I always fly redeye outbound and the most recent upgrade was only gotten cause the redeye was delayed by 3 hours and most of the higher up elites cancelled, the FC seat next to me was empty. As has been discussed, NW upgrades as silver are more likely.

If you ever fly out of SAN Terminal 2 you will be incredibly happy that you have elite status. The regular security line is just downright scary.

My wife got "upgraded" to Silver before our return flight from BOM (she was short by less than 1000 miles). Anyways, we cut a lot of lines because of her status. In BOM, we cut 2 lines (one for checkin and one for the "special CO security"). We cut another line at EWR (it was very helpful). By my estimation, we saved closed to 60~75 minutes in standing time. Plus my wife had packed the bags to the limit, so the 70 pounds helped. Pre-boarding was good at BOM as not many elites there (though that was not necessary for me as I had my little girl with me). Plus, the bonus was good too for the long 15 hour flight.

Silver seems like it'll be good
 

Hi all,

Thanks for the input. Typically when I fly my SFO-IAH-BOS (Logan) route, I'll leave SFO on a 6am flight, and when I depart BOS on a Thurs/Fri, will typically take a late morning flight back to the Left Coast. I bet I'll stand a good chance on the departure trips, since I don't think many Golds or Plats will be up for a flight that early in the AM (or so I hope).

Looking forward to using the Elite lines as an adjunct to my FlyClear account, since Clear isn't accepted at that many airports (quite yet).

Hope to see some of you in the BC/FC section sometime, or as they like to say on Air Canada, the Execute grade (whereas Economy is AKA Hospitality seating).

Eric