Elimination of the 500-mile minimum. Continental will discontinue awarding a minimum of 500 base miles and Elite Qualifying Miles for flights operated by Continental, Continental Micronesia, Continental Express and Continental Connection that are less 500 miles. This applies to travel booked on or after Nov. 15, 2008 for travel on or after Jan. 1, 2009.

Does this mean if I book a trip LGA-IAH-MSY right now for next year I will still get the minimum 500 miles both RDM & EQM?

[QUOTE=CO Insider;10316140]
[*]Elimination of the 500-mile minimum. Continental will discontinue awarding a minimum of 500 base miles and Elite Qualifying Miles for flights operated by Continental, Continental Micronesia, Continental Express and Continental Connection that are less 500 miles. This applies to travel booked on or after Nov. 15, 2008 for travel on or after Jan. 1, 2009. The 500-mile minimum will still apply to flights operated by Copa Airlines, Aero Rep�blica, Hawaiian Air, Island Air, U.S. Helicopter and SNCF Rail. Amtrak minimum earnings will remain the same as well. QUOTE]

1. Does this mean that if I purchase tickets before Nov 15, 2008 that are for travel through EOS, that these tickets WILL get the 500 mile minimum?

2. If 1. above is correct and I change the ticket purchased before Nov 15, 2008 inn March, is the 500 mile minimum still good on that changed ticket.

3. If 1. above is correct, you'd better get a 744 freed up on the Sat/Sun IAH-SAT or IAH-AUS to accommodate all of the MR's in Jan & Feb

This is a major hit for the Mrs and myself. Our EWR-MSY commute for 2009, planned at 20 RT's would have been EWR-IAH-MSY, RT 3830 EQM Total 76600, Platinum. Now it will be RT 2860 EQM Total 57200, Gold and 18K MR's for Plat or just fly EWR-MSY since the IAH-MSY of 152 isn't worth the time and inconvenience. That will be RT 2334 EQM Total 46680, Silver and almost 24K MR's for Plat. We'd most likely just do Gold since the additional Plat benefits for us appear to be none.

In the domestic arena CO has a solid advantage in CLE, but certainly not internationally in the non-summer months. Many high fare business travelers based in CLE are tired of the mess in NYC and will have no issue connecting in DTW when going to Europe or Asia, myself included. If I need to connect anyhow, I would rather do it the easy way at a nice terminal with a short flight to get there.

I can live with the changes, but don't like them. I don't check bags or go to TLV. I only have 1-2 trips a year <500 miles. I don't like the decrease to 100% bonus miles, since this means if I only fly 75000, my spendable miles go down from 168,000 to 150,000. It is not the end of the world, but in an era of increasing # of miles for an award ticket, it hurts.

Furthermore, on an earlier post, someone bought up the fact that more people will now try and carry on. So will CO haul these people off the plane at the last minute and demand $25 for the bag they will now have to place in the hold? Probably not, but it won't take non-elites long to learn this loophole. I see this causing more departure delays.

At least they did not increase the in-cabin pet fee again

The reduction in Elite bonues for Plats is just plain asinine. The value of One Million Miler status also just went down considerably...

Re the 1st bag fee: will this apply to non-status family members traveling with an Elite?

No fees to be charged at the gates if the aircraft overheads are full.
We are being asked to look at the size and quantity of bags as you board the flight and deal with them at that time. I don't think too many boarding agents will take the time to charge you for the oversize or extra bags but we might be tagging those before you enter the jetway.

I am really disappointed to see Continental follow US/UA and AC, three shining "STARS" in the North American Airline Industry. Continental has worked so hard to distinguish themselves from the rest, and now has chosen to follow. FF need to ask themselves "why am I being loyal to Continental"? OnePass is no longer a loyalty program.

It is getting to the point where Southwest is going to become the only full-service airline in the US and Canada. I hope everyone in the forum sends Continental a note expressing their disappointment in the changes over the last couple of months.

I have spent a couple of hours digesting these changes, and have come to the conclusion that while they are not good for the frequent traveler, CO must have had its reasons.

Re the 500 mile minimum, I object to that because it affects some of the highest yield flights--in the northeast. One can also say that it also affects some of the lowest yield flights, such as Intra Texas and Express, but in the end, it is a negative to most of us.

Regarding the bonus miles, let's look at the bright side. I would assume they are aligning with Star, and particularly UA, however, there are still bonus miles, making US a standalone loser in that area. With Travis Christ gone from US, however, we have heard they may be rethinking things over in the Sand Castle.

I cannot say I like these changes--I particularly object to the 500 mile minumum change. It is a different world, however, and I think ALL airlines are going to have to change the way they do business. At least CO is trying to consider their elites and other customers when they make these choices.

Time will tell if they come up with any enhancements at some point to sort of make it up to the elite base.......

Agreed. Some of my friends have been trying for years to get me to switch from CO to SWA, and I've resisted, pointing out the great services and benefits to OP and CO service as a whole. Of course, ever since teh * announcement, I've had to deal with their smug looks as they remind me how they used to love US before they become SWA converts. Thuings just got a little more smug today.

On a side note, I booked my get-to-silver MR last night at 11:30. I wonder if I should just cancel it.

I think CO is going to end up getting hurt from this. I know now more of my business will go to AA than before. Yes I will try to get my minimum 50k on CO but anything after will go to AA since I get a free status match every year via Merrill Lynch Credit card. Because of this I also unloaded my CO stock.

Depends on how much you paid for it and if it will off set future checked bag fees.

I learned from folks at another carrier, that plans are to have a system in place to charge for Gate bag checks.

*sighs* I knew this was coming, but didn't expect this today.

Looks like DL is the only holdout now... I wouldn't be surprised if they'll be greeting the idea of $15/1st bag, 500-mile min, etc.

I'm disappointed, I thought CO would be different. But, we're in a violate economy... so I guess survival trumps convenience, right now.

I think that the NY area market is more segregated than that. This is only anecdotal, but many people I know in the NY area, particularly on the NJ side, have their preferred airport and don't want to go to the other (even if it's cheaper, better service, etc.).

Whereas here in SF, people seem more willing to go over to OAK or down to SJC for the right price/service/etc.

I'm off to DL. So long CO.