With the many subtle changes happening at CO (perhaps in anticipation of *A transition), perhaps it would be prudent to anticipate and further discuss the creation of a 1K tier in OP.

Thoughts on this? I know there has been some sentiment pro and con for such a move.

Don't think so. There's enough of a variance of *A FFP's and the relative ease or lack thereof in gaining alliance Silver or Gold. TK and TG come to mind for ease.

CO has already stated that it does not plan to raise the top tier above 75K. Who knows, it could change. In terms of earning miles - CO has equalized the mileage bonus to 100% for top, and 2nd tier - same as United. The only difference then becomes upgrade priorities and some savings in fees. But with no reciprocal upgrades between CO and UA then the mileage to earn top tier does not matter between the airlines.

So in terms of earning miles to redeem - CO and UA are the same: 100% for tiers 1 and 2, and 25% for tiers 3. With 50K requirement for 2nd tier the same, minimum amount of flying to earn the 100% bonus is the same.

I would expect an equalization of redemption levels. The only issue I see is international lounge access for mid-tier on CO.

IMHO, it's virtually inevitable for CO to go to 100K for the Platinum tier, but they can likely delay such a change until the 2010 Elite year because the UA codeshare and Star membership will come so late in 2009.

I expect CO and UA to offer just as many reciprocal Elite benefits as CO/NW, and for commercial reasons this will dictate harmonized Elite qualification levels.

Far more worrying, IMHO, is the possibility of CO adopting UA's approach to Star Alliance partners and not award Elite bonus miles for most Star Alliance partner flights.

With that said, I hope they do not. It is far much more difficult to attain 75,000 EQMs in CO than it is for UA. UA has had their double EQMs promo, allows members to accrue segments from its * partners (US and LH come to mind), and generally have a more liberal mileage-giving policies. Also, if you think about it, US has 4 Elite tiers..why are they not aligned more with UA (or vice versa)?

US and UA don't offer fully reciprocal Elite benefits to their respective members ala CO/NW.

correct, but you get full EQMs and EQSs on UA when flying US. It's the only reason I have been able to retain Premier on UA this year.

I agree; I think it's only a matter of time too. I think I'll check out the United levels; going from 50 to 100k would be a huge leap for most flyers.

I too think that CO and UA might surprise us with the extent of the integration between the two airlines. Time will tell.

If they raise top tier to 100K, there better be a stack of SWUs to go along with it and a drop of the 50% EQM rule.

I used to hit 100 K on CO easily the last few years between work and personal travel, now work travel has slowed down so it will be hard for me to even reach 75k never mind 100k

I would hope with the business travel slowdown so many people are having that CO would not implement this now.

Is this not what a lot of people have been asking for? People want a reason to fly CO for more than 75k miles, and have better benefits for doing so. It would make the Platinum Elite pool smaller, and in return CO might kick in some extra privileges to being Platinum.

I have been reading some trip reports on another airliners dot net site. They happen to have a true international 1st class, and there are MANY things that we could integrate into our BF product. There are many things you can say about CO, however they do listen to FF, and to a lesser extent employees (which I still give them credit for, not many airlines do). I will send an e-mail off stating the little things that we could change, that will in turn prove to be big changes to the customer. (and after reading about a couple trip reports in international 1st class, I am ALL FOR us trying to implement it).

I realize that a true 1st class product would only be limited to plane types, but I think we could do it. Put 1st class on our 777 and 787 A/C, as we only do/will fly them to "important" places (and this will change after us joining Star). There is no reason (other than the bean counters not thinking it will happen) for us to not do a TRUE 1st class. It would be inspiring for the F/A's to know we had a product that competed with the "Asian carriers".

I will end this post now, however I truly believe that we COULD compete with the best in the world, something no domestic legacy carrier can say. We do truly have a team of employees that are willing to bring us to the next step. It will take the FF to convince the management that it is something companies are willing to pay for though.

Only time will tell.

The folks asking for a reason to fly more than 75K are looking for an additional tier or benefits, not more difficulty making it to the top one in the program.

As for the desire to compete with the Asian carriers, you can do that just as soon as the USA changes the laws reflecting pay, gender bias, workplace discrimination and other such things. And, on top of that, the accountants would have to come up with a justification for it. I just don't see that happening anytime soon.

Not to mention US airlines would have to get even larger subsidies then what they recieve now.

As for a "True First Class" in think BF is a solid product and with the new seats I really dont see the need for CO to have a 1st. Sure it is nice, but I doubt it would help the bottom line

I'm on pace (with current bookings and plans) to come close to 100K this year. I wonder if CO might do something to recognize (and reward ) those who hit 100K this year as a precursor to possible (*A alignment) changes for 2010.