Yep, I shopped UA before choosing CO for my NYC-SFO commute. JFK-SFO is 2,586 miles, so they want 3,000 miles worth of certs. If I asked them to round up my EQMs and miles to 3,000 for each flight, their bean-counters would think I was trying to steal from them.

So I drew the only logical conclusion: They were trying to steal from me.

So what do you do now? Fly CO SFO-EWR and never get the upgrade? :p

But there is a grace, it's just not 86 miles, it's more like 50. Which makes something like SFO-PHL a better value at 2,521 (or 5 x 500-milers).

Seriously, though, if all you fly is SFO-JFK, nothing else, you'd still get > 50% upgrades if you blew your CR1s and SWUs on it, along with your 500's. Hard to believe any CO Plat does this well on SFO-EWR. You'd have to manage the certs, though.

Or they should fly JFK-LAX (UP using 5 @ 500s) then LAX-SFO in E+, and back SFO-LAX-JFK do the same thing LAX-JFK total EQMs 1 way is now 2975, and it can usually be had for the same price as the non-stops or a couple of $ more

"# Full Elite Qualification is back. Effective Oct. 27, you’ll earn 100% Elite Qualification Miles and full Elite Qualification Points on discounted fares, regardless of where they’re purchased. To all of our loyal corporate travelers: message received".

Does Full Elite Qualification apply to tickets booked after Oct, 27 or travel after Oct, 27?

Answered by CO Insider up thread

I'm 11/16, first half of 2009 between SFO and EWR, on the lowest fare available in a wide window 1-2 months out, flying on a forced schedule that should be poor pickings.

Upgrade statistics are like weather conditions; they change seasonally. Sure, it always rains in Seattle, yet they had a heat wave while San Francisco was shivering this summer. And I heard people talking about how it always rains in Seattle, during this heat wave; they never got the memo.

If we recite a static rosary-bead prayer-myth to each other (or does the emoticon mean you knew what you were saying was false?), we miss noticing actual changes.

I believe that the bountiful upgrade opening I describe above has slammed shut. Why? My guess is because of nobody that we know. They don't post here. While we sit here and whine together whether it's worth it to earn Gold or Platinum, our ranks have been flooded with new DEQM Silvers (Dilberts?) who can afford the very affordably priced last-minute B fares. They're automatically upgrading as elites. This isn't even listed on the upgrade standby list status pages; I'm sure of this because I flew a B fare in first a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't listed (on the govt. dime and a refundable fare at their insistence).

I pray for higher mileage limits for CO's top elite level, e.g. to match UA's 100K. I'd be thrilled if it were instead 125K. Of course, with the B fare situation, this still wouldn't lock upgrades.

That is outstanding! Meanwhile I'm presently #13 on the list on the allegedly easier IAH-SFO today, on a flight that was F0 2 weeks out. So as always, YMMV. :D

As a European-based member myself, I have to agree with you on the devaluation. However, as a NW refugee from the DL takeover, I must point out that DL socked it to its European based members MUCH harder than CO did.

That's really unbelievable. I'm a plat and have flown SFO-EWR in first, but never on anything other than a paid F fare or Y/B. 11/16 on low fares is astonishing - you should probably also be playing the lottery.

As a European based member, seeing partner earning charts SOON would be extremely helpful. My intra-Europe flying is always on partners, as CO does not have its own intra-Europe flights. Right now it is a crapshoot on booking. What fare classes will earn full miles, bonus miles, or reduced or no miles?

That is one of the significant negatives that I see.

From co.com

I think I have read this somewhere but is one of CO's changes two stopovers and a open jaw or one stopover and one open jaw? Is there any airline with two stops and one open jaw?

No changes here. It's always been one stopover and one open jaw.

Correct, and only on international rewards. On AA you can have 2 stopovers since rewards are one-way but the stopovers are only available at international gateways, not anywhere along the route.

BD also has oneway rewards and permits stopovers. There are even some route pairs that they offer where two rewards add up to the same price as one along similar routing so you can actually get extra stops in with some situations.

I thought Hawaii and Caribbean (SJU/STT) awards follow the same stopover and open jaw rule, even though they're domestic.

Then again, with CO, Hawaii is international. ;)

Yup, I've done award flights to Hawaii and 10K intra-Hawaii awards (HNL-LIH-OGG-HNL) with stopovers. And the stopovers were not even always at the gateway (CLE-IAH-HNL-IAH-LAX-(stop)-CLE)

Well, it seems CO takes its FF seriously. After almost 10 years with AF/KL and the frustration of the last months, I am glad I switched to CO. I am sure nothing is perfect, but at least this seems a decent FFP.

It is now. A year ago, it would not have been.

CO has gone from what was arguably the worst top tier in the industry a year ago to a rather competitive one.

So you came over at the right time.

Yeah, I wonder to what extent it had to do with Skyteam policies, as all Skyteam companies, led by awful changes made by AF/KL, have rather bad FF programs (DL being the last one resisting to some of the worse changes).
I work for non-profit and cannot afford huge budgets on my trips. However, I travel a lot. I, together with many colleagues, left FB to join *A programs. I personally think OP is today one of the best. Hope to be proven right. :)

So is there any airline that offers two stopovers on awards? I seriously thought I heard something like that - is it US?

I'm not so sure of that. CO's 50% EQM rule went unmatched by DL and NW for years. CO's failure to provide free SDC for Plats wasn't matched by DL/NW (DL even provided it to Golds, and NW did it as a courtesy to CO Plats, unofficially). And both DL and NW had some form of SWUs while CO held out with no such thing.

Something's definitely changed for the better down in Houston.

Poor choice of words on my part. Series 0 rewards don't get the freebie; everything else does.