I might just do the same, and switch to my US address.

With these recent changes, exclusion from mileathon promos etc., it seems CO no longer wishes to attract overseas elites.

Frankly, a 500 mile bonus on a 10,000 - 15,000 mile round trip is insignificant - especially on a BF fare.

Although I have flown 26 times across the pond with CO in the last 12 months, and generally enjoyed the experience, I may just switch to VS, maybe even BA.

Sorry guys.

i recall seeing ANA flight at KIX from SZX. not sure about NRT. but it is highly possible since tokyo is the biggest city in japan.
it is strange that HK is in south asia when szx is in north asia.

I just got the email on this - the 100% base is a very welcome change.

All I want to know next is whether CO will engage in starnet blocking like UA, and then it's very very tempting to switch over. I always did enjoy *A, just not US. ;)

Thanks. I missed it. Really happy to hear this.

They have publicly stated several times that they have no intention of doing so. Only time will tell in reality.

Sorry, I didn't mean to intentionally leave Qantas out of my original communication. The short answer is that the rewards we offer on both Qantas and Eva Air are indeed isolated in their own reward charts and will need to be booked directly with our International Airline Partner Desk at 800.344.3333. As many of you have predicted, our partnership with Qantas likely change or end shortly after we enter Star Alliance. These details are not yet finalized, hence no announcement.

Hi belynch, love the loaded question, and I know you've been talking this up here and with my colleagues in Customer Care. When booking a front cabin reward ticket, you should expect to travel in the cabin in which you're confirmed. If you're unable to confirm front cabin space on all legs of your itinerary, then we'll allow you to waitlist on Continental flights as a courtesy, and even stand by at the airport if you had previously waitlisted. With BusinessFirst travel rewards, we'll even refund the difference in miles if the BusinessFirst segment doesn't clear (regardless of whether your non-BusinessFirst segments did). The process is working well, and we're seeing numerous reward customers getting into the front cabin that weren't before. However, in markets where we also offer complimentary Elite upgrades, we've identified a case where our Elite upgrades are being handled ahead of previously-waitlisted customers by our Elite Upgrade Automation. Our choices are to either discontinue reward standby in these markets (like before mid-2008) or to live with this imbalance temporarily until our EUA can be expanded to account for these customers. To us, going with the latter is a no-brainer, but the solution is complicated and is waiting its place in queue to be developed. We're all for doing the right thing, but in a year where we're making an unprecedented alliance switch, it's in competition with some other non-negotiable priorities.

Scott,

Thanks for the information about Elite qualification levels staying the same, which you had stated earlier in the year that they would.

My last question then is, will there be a new higher 4th tier at about 100k?

NH doesn't fly to SZX as far as I know. It is codeshare with CA. The only non FM/CA fly into SZX is OZ. NH do have a daily flight from NRT-CAN, but that is a bit out of the way if your ultimate destination is HKG.

^^ Fantastic changes indeed - kudos Scott and OP Team ^

While I'll always have fond memories of QF F flights from years ago, I haven't seen the point of QF awards ever since they doubled or even tripled in price. So, I suppose it won't be a huge loss if QF awards are cut. Will just have to prepare myself for the thought of 14 hours on UA - but at 160,000 for F compared to 300k+ for QF, it's a no-brainer.

Speaking of Australia, If I read the chart correctly, the *** notation for Oceania implies that CO Micronesia flights to Australia (CNS) are at the lower Oceania rate vs. the Australia rate, which I assume applies to all other *A carriers. However, down the in the region definitions, Oceania mentions pretty much mentions all CoMike destinations except CNS. If my interpretation above is corrected, you may want to add CNS (* if serviced by CoMike) to the Oceania definiton.

The *A awards seem to be worse compared to US.

http://www.usairways.com/common/reso...wardtravel.pdf

They do, however, seem to be very well aligned with UA's.

http://content.united.com/ual/asset/...pace_chart.pdf

It's UA new F, so how bad can it be?

But what about NZ in J? If you can deal with the stop in AKL, that is a fantastic J product.

Ouch...big jump in Australia award miles. I know most of these changes are positives for Plats, but as a lowly first time Silver, the upped rewards are a killer. Oh well, guess that means I'll just have to find some more reasons to fly.

Good news from CO across the board today! Thanks!

I think I like these all, except the no more miles with Emirates. Mainly because I booked some signficant Emirates travel in early November, sigh. Wish I'd seen that one coming. :(

My favorite and most important to me is the simplified award chart. :p

Scott - Can't believe it took switching alliances for you guys to get that thing straightened out! :p

In all seriousness, this all looks great but I do have one question:

Will Presidential Plus cardmembers continue to earn a 25% premium on RDM's?