Don't forget about the base miles.

Thanks for pointing that out. Yes it affects base miles too, but I think most folks are concerned about losing the EQM than the couple of hundred extra base miles for say a flight from BOS-EWR or SAT-IAH.

I disagree. CO routinely toots its own horn with how they're the best. It comes across in their advertising, their employee attitudes and corporate culture.

However you see otherwise when you look at their uncompetitive policies (e.g., no free standby/SDC for Elites/top tier; no SWUs; 50% EQM rule; and the highest redeposit/award change fees in the industry).

As a result, CO deserves extra scrutiny when they behave in an average way. After all, it's them that advertise how great they are.

If CO would align their attitude and marketing with that of an average company in their space, there wouldn't be near as loud of an outcry.

Let me illustrate a prime example of how badly CO's changes will impact me and how they make it all but impossible to justify choosing CO over WN on one of my main routes. I travel from San Antonio to Edinburg, Texas, very frequently to attend hearings and take depositions. Many other lawyers in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Dallas do the same. My flights are also chock full with doctors, pharmaceutical sales representatives, engineers, and other professionals traveling to "the Valley," many of whom, like me, make day trips or have single-night stays. Here is how my options stack up:
Now, how can I justify giving CO my business? It costs my clients more money, takes me twice as long door-to-door, and I'll wind up with roughly half the elite qualifying miles and less than half the redeemable miles. Yeah, I'll be in first class, but a one-hour flight on WN with seemingly endless drink coupons ain't that much worse. And instead of being a Platinum, I might be a Silver, and now OnePass awards effectively become twice as expensive as they were before.

Full Fare Does not pay the fee..a few have mentioned they dont like the baggage fee for expensive tickets..The baggage fee Does Not apply to full fare tickets..

That is a good example. But the truth is probably that CO doesn't want your business. Their cost for flying you two legs for SAT-IAH-MFE (and sometimes on a highcost RJ), even at $345, is not profitable for them, considering they are giving you all the perks (FC seat, miles, etc). So, they're telling you, SAT Lawyer, please fly WN non-stop, if they can make money at $289 r/t, as we can't. We'll sell those seats to others, and we're willing to cut capacity and lose market share to WN if we can't sell those seats.

How can this flying not be profitable to CO? I'm buying full coach fares. If they can't make a profit on a full Y fare, then they shouldn't be operating the route at all. Surely serving me a couple of cocktails on some of these flights (not the morning ones, obviously) can't be turning my Y fare purchase into an unprofitable one. And, if the fare needs to be raised to keep CO profitable, CO should do that. Which it has done on this route, in fact. Why would CO want to drive away full-fare business? So it can sell upgradable L fares instead?

I fly CO on full Y fares on business between SAT and IAH. The fare has now been raised to a hefty $394.50 round-trip (versus $263.50 for WN's round-trip Anytime fare between SAT and HOU). Is this fare unprofitable for CO as well when I sit upfront (which, even as a Platinum on a Y fare, is not a guarantee)?

What about the $500-something dollar SAT-SHV (Shrevport) V fare I flew last month where I rode in the back on three of the four segments (one regional jet, one Saab, and one mainline tour of duty behind the curtain)? Not profitable for CO? I could have bought the $200-something T fare instead and probably achieved the same result (except for refundability).

See, the problem is that if I can't net enough elite qualifying miles on my frequent short-haul business travel, I'm never going to make it up with my frequent leisure travel and less frequent medium-haul business travel, so I might as well chose another airline entirely.

First off, I understand the motives and the need for changes. However, and I know this sounds a little naive, but believe it or not, the thing that disappoints and surprises me the most is the fact that they made these decisions without including their Plats in process in any way. I have always perceived that CO management has maintained the best relations (relative to other carriers) with their best customers through their communication and request for input. This is just so un-CO like in the way they handled it. They know that we understand the market better than most, and that we know changes were inevitable. However, to wap us with both the 500 mile rule and the reduction in bonus miles at the same time w/o prior notice seems like a slap in the face. I feel somewhat betrayed, like they snuck around behind my back. Again, I realize it's a bit naive, but that's how I feel.

I have to wonder how Gordon would have handled this situation, knowing that something had to give. I would like to think he would have sent out some kind communication months ago preparing us for the changes and asking for our input. This certainly would have shown the respect he always had for his Plats, while also softening the blow. And who knows, had we been given choices, we might have been willing to give up something else (whatever it is) to preserve and maintain the integrity of being a Plat.

I recently booked several trips that were basically unnecessary, but I was close enough to re-gaining my Plat status that I went ahead and did it. And the only reason is because I felt CO placed much greater value on their Plats. The mileage bonus and EUAs were the main reason. But now that I look back, I also realize that the number of IAH-AUS and EWR-PVD/BOS/BDL segments will add over 10K to my EQM number this year. I better get upgraded 98% the rest of the way this year, since that is now the only difference I will realize between being a Plat and Gold. I don't suppose they would consider refunding my money on those trips, since I would not have bought them now?

Sorry, it's not measly to me. It's about 75k miles between my husband and I.

So if CO is aligning with UA - and with all these changes it appears they have - where are our SWU????????????? I could have handled the bitter pill much better with the sweet honey aftertaste I am not jumping ship, nor do I plan to. But I'm not happy!

Scott et al:

I understand the Bag Fee and the 25% hit on the mileage reduction, but taking away the 500 mile minimum on folks who regularly fly the ERJ's and Dash-8's (which can be a challenge in itself in a lot of places, especially the Northeast)
will make CO much less competitive with carriers like Southwest & Jet Blue among us folks who are your bread and butter, the frequent Business flyer...

--Hammer

I really like CO and have been loyal (and have convinced lots of others to make it their primary airline) but dropping the 500-mile minimum is another reason for me to reconsider. 70% of my flights are same-day-return IAH-AUS flights booked within a couple days of departure. Flying Southwest HOU-AUS is what has always made the most sense to do and I'm always re-convincing myself that in the long run it's worth it to use CO. Southwest makes more sense because they are often cheaper, the airport is closer, and they have better schedules (Southwest let's me be in AUS from 7:45 AM - 8:25 PM while with CO I have to trim the day to 8:10 AM - 6:30 PM). The flight times are actually shorter too (45 + 45 vs. 55 + 60) which I think is due to the long taxis at IAH. The miles I will now earn on this route will drop by over 60%. It's not a ton of miles but it adds up.

Since I earn status by points (generally 4 points per RT because I book last minute) it won't prevent me from reaching Platinum but EUA on short flights isn't really that valuable. The main reason I want to keep Platinum at this point is because I have a lot of miles I want to burn on international flights and I've had good luck finding availability (yeah, really) and the lack of award change fees has been huge because I end up having to change awards quite a bit. I was also won over briefly again when I had an emergency 2 weeks ago and had to buy a $2,000+ one-way flight in coach from LIM-IAH leaving that day. First was fully booked but at the last minute I got EUA'd. Had I been flying Southwest for my frequent intra-Texas flights I would have had a very different experience.

I can only share my experience on American which was one of the first carriers to introduce the fee for the first checked bag. I have never seen a flight depart late because of checking bags. I have seen it impede the operation of airline in any way.

Strange post.

You need to review what I wrote an apply some critical reading skills. I didn't say that I was opposed to free booze in the PC; I said that if charging for drinks reduced the number of people in the Clubs, then I am in favor. Got it?

This is the same problem I am facing. I fly almost exclusively MFE-SAT/AUS and now see no reason to give CO my business.