Agreed.

Call them what you will,but they're coming

Yes - CO is merely playing catch-up with regard to those improvements.

Was reading the email from CO about changes to Onepass and noticed that stopover rewards are part of the improvements. Don't recall that being mentioned before.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...tion=OFOP-INTL

Actually the stop over awards have been there for some time. I just read what it says on Continental.com and I'm pretty sure that's always been the case -- that you could stop once along the routing between your origin and destination. Maybe it's new that you can use them for domestic itineraries, but I'm pretty sure it was always an option, at least for international reward tickets.

A stopover reward apparently is just a 3 legged journey in the US (at standard levels).
I used to think you used them in combination wtih a normal award. but most other rewards allow a stopover if they're NA-> non-NA.

They've had stopover awards as far back as I can remember at 35,000 miles - but of course you could only get it if all segments had standard availability - I don't think there was an EasyPass option. It's come in handy a time or two, especially since a (domestic) stopover is not an option with United awards. (or at least, not back when I needed one last). As Entropy mentioned, most all international awards include a free stopover.

Sorry everyone I was away and did not see Scotts Thread, till those below posted the Link, Didnt see it as it got buried past Page 1, too bad its not a Sticky

Ya must have missed Scott's announcement
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...12&postcount=1

Your #1 is correct. Your #2 is incorrect. The changes announced so far can be seen here. I'll be merging this thread with that one.

Xyzzy
CO forum moderator

Thanks I looked at todays page 1 and didnt see anything about it so I ASSUMED Incorrectly that it wasnt spoken about previously and that in fact today was the 1st time it was mentioned and in the WSJ.

I apologize as I should have known that if its the WSJ or any paper or website then it most likely was NOT New News but Old News that I just didnt know about.

Ok just finished reading all 11 pages. Wont comment on anyones particuliar post since Im very late to the Party.

In General, 1- thanks Scott for the Advance notice even thou I didnt know about this threads existence

2- To those who dont cash out for Easypass and feel these changes wont have any affect on them, I wish you were Right. But it Will as I can only see CO offering less and less so called Saver Awards pretty much as DL has already done, its almost impossible to find a 25k award on DL however for 50k you have your choice of flights galore. Co wont be far behind. its only time till CO elimates Saver and all that will be left is Standard a/k/a EasyPass.

3- As for E+ all I can say is I just did 2 round-trips the past month EWR-TLV and sat in Row 32 (Exit) it was great being 6'2" for the leg room, but I killed my back as the seats are not only narrower but have less support and comfort then the reg seats do. Im not a fan of COs BF seats.

So I now find myself checking out BAs WT+ fares. Ive flown it before and had the needed leg-room and the seats didnt cause me any back problems as COs does. The fact I have to stop at LHR is not a problem to me , I prefer actually being able to split a Long Flight by actually getting off the plane and being able to walk around and take a hot shower. Or better yet arrive in LHR at 7am skip the 8:30am connection and take the 10:30pm flight onto TLV giving me a day down in London to visit with friends, or take in the sites.

I highly doubt that CO will put a PE onto its aircraft

wish I had known about the changes before I flew back to TLV on 10/18, I would have cancelled the MR to HNL I booked that day to requalify for Plat for '08.

Seems that CO and I have reached the end of the road

I wouldn't be so hasty to assume that. They're just changing the name. That's a marketing thing. Regarding the awards themselves, I've gotten plenty of standard awards. You just have to be a little flexible. Then again, I've not looked for them EWR-TLV.IMHO They're fine for sitting, but not for sleeping. I wish they'd do something before the 787 comes. It'll take years to migrate the new seat choice to the older aircraft. <sigh>I think they'll get there eventually but that it will take a while. There have been plenty of other things they said they would never do that they are now doing. When they first said they wouldn't do a PE product AA had just abandoned it and UA was skirting bankruptcy. Now we're seeing that (as a separate) product only on UA within the US, but on an increasing number of international carriers. I'd guess the market forces will eventually force them to do this for longhaul flights.Hopefully you won't say the same about the CO forum

Have you ever tried checking DL for their Saver Award, a couple of yrs ago almost any City Pairs you entered had them being offered. Along came Chap11 and now youd be Lucky to find it even on a 5am flight, its usually 50K for any type of free coach on DL anywhere anytime anydate. I can see CO copying that process, after all the EasyPass will be called Standard and CO will beable to simply say, Oh we HAVE Standard seats Available Mr Craz, but its 50k, its only the Saver Seats that are NOT available. But Standard is. SPIN if I ever heard it!

I just checked both CO and BA for a 1/1-1/10 trip to TLV, CO Q & M fare = $1234 ai, H = $1611 ai, BA in WT+ $1975 ai. SO BA is only $364 over the H and I get the needed Leg Room and back support, not to mention a much better Entertainment System then CO has.

I will admitt I Dread having to fly AA again Stateside even thou I have LifeTime Plat status with them being a 2MM and HATE the MD-80s Ok they are better then the RJs, and with ORD or DFW as the connecting Hubs that spells TROUBLE. Maybe BA Intl and JetBlue for Domestic flights

Actually CO has improved their EWR-TLV availability a lot. The only problem is that they are offering the tickets on AF and they cost 90K instead of 70K (but you said you don't mind the stopover?) It is funny that they do so even when they have TONS of free seats on their own flights those days. Other than peak travel months you could get NYC-TLV on either CO, AF, Alitalia or KLM. (I wonder if Virgin/Elal could work too?)