carl92103

I am considering switching my elite status from UA over to CO. Here are my questions:

During irregular opps do CO elites get priority agents that will double book flights so that you are protected. UA has flight paging the minute you land you get a text of your new flight?

Do they text you with flight delays or with protections during the day?

How do Presidents Club compare to RCC?

I know CO does not charge for upgrades but do they have any mileage based upgrades? For example on UA for 15,000 miles per direction you can upgrade to first. Sometimes they offer advanced First for a fee.

What is the best CO credit card to get? I think UA and CO both use chase?

Any other suggestions would greatly be appreciated. It seem like CO is the only happy group of flyers.

Do they have a special web site for Plat's?

Look forward to possibly joining your team.

Thanks in advance for your help.

OPFlyer

Numbering mine


1. During IROPS, you can call the elite desk to put you on the next available flight or put you on stand-by for it. CO does not have the guaranteed seat rebooking policy like UA does for its top tier but the stand-by list is prioritized by elite status. You can also get rebooked at a CS station (which have EliteAccess lanes) or at a Presidents Club.

2. CO has a TripAlert feature however it does not work well at all. Some days you will get a text/e-mail/phone call (your choice) with the new flight information and some days you will get nothing. As far as I know regarding when they protect you on the next flight, I do not think they send a TripAlert for it. When and if CO protects you, you must go to the CS desk, PC, etc. to find out.

3. Presidents Clubs are much more superior to RCCs. You can get complimentary alchol as well as free Wi-Fi. The agents in the PCs are usually always happy to serve and the clubs in general have a nice interior. I will point out though that the clubs are usually very full, especially in the hubs and the ORD club.

4. Continental has complimentary upgrades as well as mileage based upgrades. These are for 15,000 miles in each direction. Currently, CO does not have a buy-up program to get you into First except for their IAH/EWR/LAX-HNL service.

5. In my opinion, I love my Presidential Plus MasterCard. It entitles you to a free Presidents Club membership, Hyatt Platinum status, President’s Club status with Avis (an invitation only level), discounted premium wines at the PC, and more. Info on the cards can be found here.

6. I am overall very happy with CO and the upgrades this year have been great. I am a little disappointed with the recent changes they have made, particularly the elimination of the 500-mile minimum.

7. Continental currently has no special Plat website.

More info can be found in this thread.

imaries

Thanks a lot for the info. Been thinking about requesting that CO match my UA elite status recently.

PhillyPhlyer40

a. IME, this is where CO FAILS terribly! As a PLAT CO* (top 2% of spenders), I RARELY (10% or less) get "protected" by an agent. IMO automatic rebookings are MUCH LESS then at UA. I am a 1K and Plat CO*, and really feel UA (as bad as they are) are MUCH better then CO at IROPS. And if you are flying through, into, out of, near, or even THINKING of through EWR...be prepared for IROPS.

b. IMO, UA is much more irregular with the updates then CO.

c. PC and RCC member, and they are a wash. Free booze (big deal to me) is the only plus on the PC. RCC, IME, are less crowded...EWR PC is usually MUCH MORE PACKED then ORD RCC!

d. U/g's on CO are almost non-existant out of EWR. Be prepared. EWR-ORD on a 735 with 8 FC you WILL NOT get u/g'ed. IME, on my routes, UA uses large (757) planes with more f/c.

e. NO. IME, they treat even CO* (equal to UGS) equal to golds. CO has shown recently they do NOT care for the PLATS (bonus miles are equal to golds )

A few things to consider...and YMMV...but I fly for work so I can enjoy vacation travel. CO does not have F int. flights, nor the availability to book F int flights (with the exception of Qantas) Also, NONEpass lives up to its name most of the time...NO FLIGHTS. Looking at travel next year, I found NO availability on CO or partners for J flights TATL. Yet UA had PLENTY of F and C availability.
I am BURNING my miles like a California wildfire!!! I have taken my business to UA, mostly for this reason. (And other reasons...like the "service differential"-sundaes on transcons-is GONE..making UA and CO similar!)

channa

I'm top tier on both CO and UA. Overall I would say that CO runs the more reliable airline, but UA runs the better airline overall.

The biggest differences, IMO:

Advantage CO

1. CO runs a more reliable operation, so you are less likely to get your travel plans interrupted.

2. CO offers you a free meal in economy.

3. CO's PC has free drinks and better food.

4. CO has newer and cleaner planes.

5. CO has more liberal reward rules (e.g., stopover AND open jaw on CO vs. stopover OR open jaw on UA; also you can mix/match alliance and non-alliance partners on CO awards, while on UA you can only mix/match alliance partners; also you can change any award ticket after travel has begun with a CO-issued award, whereas on UA they only allow changes to UA segments).



Advantage UA

1. UA has EconomyPlus; CO does not.

2. When your travel plans are interrupted, you are less likely to get support from CO. Rebooking you onto another carrier when even when all CO flights are full can be a challenge with CO. On UA, I know that they will do what it takes to take care of me. Also, for CO rebooks you are more likely to get a bad seat -- since there is no EconomyPlus, there are only a handful of good seats on the plane, so a last minute rebooking generally results in a lousy seat, unlike on UA where any E+ window or aisle is a good seat.

3. CO does not give a hotel voucher in overnight weather misconnects even for top tier like UA does.

4. CO offers no mechanism for free same-day flight changes (e.g., no free standby, no same day confirmed). On UA you can do both for free as 1K.

5. CO charges top tiers close-in fees for reward travel while UA does not.

6. UA's flight alert (EasyUpdate) and auto-rebooking is superior to CO's TripAlert.

7. UA has SWUs, CO does not.

8. UA has lower reward levels for awards (e.g., 120K biz to Asia with CO miles vs. 90K on UA; 100K biz to Europe wiht CO miles vs. 80K on UA; 50K domestic 2-class F on CO vs. 45K on UA).

9. UA is more likely to accommodate or compensate on a service failure. CO is more likely to reply with a technicality as to why it wasn't really a service failure.

OPFlyer

I wouldn't say CO* is equal to UGS. UGS are told they are UGS wheras CO* is something internal only.

From NYC

I don’t know what UGS brings, but the one time I somehow found out that I was CO*, perhaps the only time I was, the only benefit of it was that on one of my TATL flights, when I was in the 1st row behind BF, I was asked if I wanted a pre-flight drink and was brought one. No one else in that 3-row section of the plane was asked or brought one. All the rest of my TATL flights that year, even when sitting in the same seat, never brought that same service.

So, beats me what benefit one gets from being CO*.

ConciergeMike

UA is better at IROPS because they have to do so much more of them. Practice makes perfect, boys and girls.

These reasons, IMHO, are part of why UA can't seem to make money. They're too busy giving away the house to get people to come back.

tourismspecialist

I'm CO Plat, but thinking of switching to UA. Per recent earlier post of mine, I've been advised that UA would offer me perhaps the best option for travel between Washington DC and Asia, especially in terms of international upgrades. I didn't see much mention of that issue in this thread - what is your experience Channa, PhillyPhlyer40, or others, in getting bumped up for the long haul trips?

Thanks!

channa

You can use miles or SWUs to upgrade (make sure you get an upgradeable fare). Depending on your flexibility, you can pick flights based on upgrade availability (e.g., I recently picked a DEN-MUC flight over an ORD-MUC flight because DEN-MUC could be upgraded with SWU immediately after ticketing). Even if upgrades are not immediately confirmable, 1K agents are usually pretty good in trying to help you. They'll tell you loads or look at waitlists to help you make your best educated decision.

There's also the occasional op-up when they oversell Y and undersell C.

suzanneaustin

Wow, my experience has been vastly different! I've ALWAYS been protected in IROPS, even being booked on the next available flight on a different airline. While I agree that the Flight Status Notification is not very good, especially when compared to the exceptional AA FSN, I have on occasion received a FSN about my re-accommodated flight, even when on another airline.

Don't forget that you are re-accommodated in the Y bucket, so you move up on the upgrade list if you were in a lower fare. I've ended up in FC about 50% of the time. CO has also had a hotel room ready for me on a weather misconnect.

I am upset about both the loss of the minimum 500 miles since I connect AUS to IAH every week as well as the devaluation of the Plat bonus miles, but I have to say that CO has always taken very good care of me.

ani90

Can I ask the reason why you are considering this switch? Quite a few are considering switching the opposite direction.

bomaab

Why would you ever switch to CO? I live in Houston and still the only miles i have in CO are the ones before I realized how bad the service and their one pass program is and i use skyteam to accrue miles on other airlines... Havent you heard that phrase that their "onepass" is "nopass" due to lack of availability and horrible miles if it is available.. strongly advise you to not change- the only caveat is if the united program is worse than CO

Ibarra

Just a quick look at the advantages of being one of the top elites with UA, it seems like a major, major downgrade to move to CO from the FF program standpoint.

The bolded items alone above are enough for me to say no thanks, no way to CO's program. With UA, I could book to Sydney, Hong Kong, or any US cities in F class only three days out with none of these garbage fees (of course depending on availability, which I've never failed to obtain yet). If I change my mind, I could cancel anytime, and re-deposit in a snap for free (don't tell me CO charges for re-deposit do they?). Plus, look at that level of redemptons in comparison to CO! And no SWUs? Yikes! It's comforting to know that my Y fares on UA internationally could always be upgraded to C (100% so far) with SWUs. UA does not let this top tier sit in economy in international flights.

CO 1E

CO now charges redeposit fees to everyone other than Platinums.