Goodbye Continental
 

Well folks, after 10 years of almost flying CO exclusively, I made the decision to give Delta a try. I was 0/8 as a Gold this year, so what did I have to lose?

Long story short, the lack of EAU's on CO was so frustrating. I booked a few flights on Delta and asked for a status match. I had the match in a few days and low and behold, my first flight as at Gold Medallian was proceeded with a first class upgrade. My next flight tomorrow (to LA) has already been upgraded.

CO, I am going to miss you, but it will be much easier doing it from the front of the plane.

I'm also jumping ship to Delta. This morning's WAS-NYC fare increase was the last straw...added to my recent disappointment over the removal of free stand-by. I'm not going to pay $130 more per week for my commute trips. Just can't justify it.

DCA-EWR on CO - $258+
DCA-JFK on DL or AA - $128+

If you're going to use DL, you may want to consider LGA. The Marine Air Terminal is great

Thanks - definitely gonna do that. For the week of July 11th, I'm using JFK for the outbound and LGA for the return. Will be a good way to compare. Will be nice to have a choice of two airports and use whichever is better at the time for schedule and fare.

I take it you arent driving your own car to the Airport.

Nope - keep my car at my second home in VA. Don't have one in NYC. Use public transit most of the time / taxis on occasion.

I had almost exactly the same experience. My upgrade percentage was dropping below 50% on Continental, with the added frustration that all the routes I fly were being booked to capacity. There were times I want to come home early, and it was _impossible_ on Continental.

I sent in a Status match request to Delta in March, was upgraded to Gold Medallion within 24 hours. I proceeded to book out my next 3 months travel with Delta.

I have not missed an upgrade yet on a Delta transcon on my primary routes, and that is flying as a Gold.
Thanks to Delta doing a Double MQM promotion, I just made Platinum (3 months from 0 to Plat). I expect my upgrade percentage to go from ~80% to close to 100%.

Continental's airplanes are too small and too full. As far as perceived quality, CO has nothing on DL.

Good luck! To state the obvious, I guess it just all depends on where you live and travel to. Living in Houston, it would be difficult to pass up direct flights on CO in favor of DL with RJ's and connections.

The grass is always greener. I switched FROM Delta because their planes were dirty, crowded and ... too small. It all depends where you fly.

I am happy for you if Delta has a higher upgrade percentage than CO. That was not my experience. Maybe so many people left Delta that there are now more seats and upgrades! ;)

I used to love Delta, but flying through Atlanta (particularly in the summer) is ... challenging.

Maybe goodbye too!
 

As an SFO plat, and flying exclusively on CO, I was very disappointed to see that they have recently made it nearly impossible to get a mileage upgrade on the SFO-EWR (and return) route.
By only using 738's with the smallest FC cabin beginning in September, there is not a single upgrade to be found using miles.
For years I have been flying my return flight on Saturdays as there are typically no business travelers. I search out the seats months in advance, and plan my travel around them.
After all, what is the use of spending all that money and time getting to platinum, when the only benefit is to sit in the exit row.
Oh well, maybe I'll just drop down to Silver, and get status on another carrier.
Virgin America is supposed to be good on Y.
Nice going bean counters!

This will change as time goes on. CO usual just puts a 738 into the advanced schedules and then adjusts accordingly. Most (if not all) of the EWR-SFO transcons should eventually switch to the 738s with 20 seats up front and a mid cabin lav.

In the future, most transcons will be done on the new 739ERs with 20 seats up front.

I understand that CO flies a bunch of 737s on routes that other airlines fly 757, 767 and even 777s. WHY?

From an accounting viewpoint, CO is much better off flying full cabins in more fuel-efficient aircraft. Hence, the 737 (particularly the more recent, fuel-efficient variations).

From a marketing viewpoint, CO is much better off flying empty 777s where everyone on Flyertalk.com gets an upgrade.

Now, with staggering fuel costs (which are going to get worse), which model allows CO survive? The accounting viewpoint.

While some think Delta now dominates, remember back to the enormous number of complaints about Delta prior to their bankruptcy. I would argue that Delta is in the post-bankruptcy honeymoon period - they will have to do the same things that CO is doing in order to survive in the long run.

I live in Phoenix. Imagine how US Airways is doing right now? :td:

Especially when theres probably just as many Goodbye DL posts Im heading over to CO, on the DL forum.

I started flying Delta last year. I got a status match from AA EXP to DL Gold. I was surprised to find out that my upgrade percentage as a DL Gold was much, much higher than my percentage as a CO Plat. I am now Plat on DL, so the percentage is slightly higher than Gold.

Make sure you check out all DLs offers. This year, they've given away MQMs for staying at Hiltons. They also partner with rental car and credit card companies to give away MQMs. In fact, last year, it was possible to earn Gold status on DL without flying. I think that the PMUs (if you hit 75k) are a nice benefit too. You get six of these system wide upgrade certificates when you hit platinum.