Worth going out of my way to get OP Gold?
 

Hi FTers,
Looking for some advice and nuggets of wisdom....I've just moved to the DC area, and have already decided that I'll be shifting allegiance to UA (most of my travel will now be IAD to Asia), and I can get a decent match with UA while I'm still a OP Platinum through Feb 2009.

My question is - should I do one last trip (to Beijing) on CO in order to pull myself up to OP Gold, which would be valid through Feb 2010? Or just take the plunge and go over to United? It's a bit of an inconvenience going on CO for this trip, but survivable (UA is direct, CO is via EWR). Not looking forward to a 14hour trip in CO's coach class (as opposed to UA's E+).

Worth it, for the eventuality I may want to return to CO at some time in the next year?

sounds like you can use the "comp to UA" bennie only through feb 09. does that mean your comp'd status with US will last until feb 2010? if so, just fly UA to beijing, and then continue flying them. once *A bennies kick in, CO will treat you pretty well as a UA elite. or you can use your CO silver status.

if you're only able to obtain a comp'd status with UA until feb 09, take CO to beijing, get gold through 2010, and comp to UA through 2010. then you can still fly UA as an elite and when you fly CO you can do it as a UA elite or a CO gold.

a little confusing, but it really depends on how UA deals with your comp.

If you are currently a plat with CO, I am sure that UA will match based on that status.

UA is willing to "match" my OP Plat status with Premier Executive status, maintaining it subject to a 90 day challenge where I need to fly 15K on UA. I don't know if they would offer the same "match" if I were OP Gold, but I would certainly try to set this up while I'm still a Platinum.

I will take the offer in a heartbeat. Once you become a 1K, upgrades using SWU will be a great comfort for your international travel. Even seating in E+ is much better compared with the economy seating of CO, which I believe you are already aware of. ;) I am one of those who got comp'd by UA using my OP Plat status.

This is an interesting question especially since CO and UA will be in the same alliance very soon. Given that fact, I would move to UA without looking back mainly for SWU and the "soft landing" for elite.

Er, for those of us still relatively new to this forum, would you please explain what a "soft landing" is?

A soft landing is when an airline only bumps you down one status level at a time, should you fail to requalify for your status.

So if you're Premier Exec on United, and flew only 15K miles, they'd soft land you to Premier the next year.

The logic behind that is that people have life changes that impact their travel plans, and the company does not want to lose an otherwise good customer. If you get into a medical situation, layoff, assigned to a project where the airline is temporarily not a good fit, etc., you can still return easily without having to fully ramp up.

CO's philosophy is a bit different. If you don't requalify, you get nada. A Plat on CO can go to No Status on 3/1.

Could you please elaborate on how CO will "treat [UA elites] pretty well?"

I foresee waived bag fees and maybe Elite Access/Elite seating, and int'l lounge access for *Gold. Pretty standard stuff, really.

I'm sort of in the same boat. But I'm going to get 1K on united this year, so for me, I'd rather ensure the 1K....

that's mostly it. nothing else major.

currently UA and US dont treat each as nice as say NW/CO/DL do now.

You've got to buy up for recip lounge access, no recip upgrades, no E+ for US

CO/NW/DL have very liberal lounge recip rules, and recip UG's on CO/NW. I feel like CO and NW treat each others elites very nicely (with DL as somewhat of a step brother). something UA elites dont really get from US.

Im hoping the UA/CO deal mirrors that of the CO/NW deal to some extent. (especially re: the lounge) where US would be the DL in the new arrangement.