Yet another incentive to become Gold again, after a year as a Silver.

Sounds like music to my ears, since all my travel purchases must always go through a travel agent.

Thank you, Scott.

Overall, I'm happy to see the program revamped and some fees removed. For myself though, I can't say I've been really affected by any of fees in the past, and I've always been Platinum. As a HI resident, I'm disappointed to see Hawaii redemption awards increasing to 40k (coach) / 80k (BF).

The extra 5000 points is what I used to get as a Platinum bonus for flying just two RT EWR trips. (125%). But that's gone too. So it's more difficult to get the same number of miles now, and it requires more to use the fewer I've accumulated. I wish we could go back to 2008.

It's like when you get your driver's license: for the first few months, you still remember what it was like to walk, or take public transportation ;-)
It goes away fast, I'm told!!!

Indeed, the RTW prices are great on CO. Currently they offer 6 stops, 3 in any one region. But I think that is a wacky SkyTeam thing. I believe that *A RTWs are 16 segments no matter what.

We are most definitely going to need a FAQ to answer questions about how CO members book reward tickets on specific *A carriers.

And of course, a thread about *A upgrade experiences, once it all goes live.

Thanks for the info, however at least with UA, RTW award only allows 5 stopovers and maximum 10 segments. 16 segments (open jaw included) are for paid *A RTW only. Also UA/US RTW award is 200k/300k/400k Y/C/F.

I haven't had time to fully digest this information (or to read the 9 pages of replies), but am I understanding this correctly: on paid BusinessFirst tickets, the OnePass miles earned has dropped from 150% to 125%? So, I pay several times the price for a ticket, and the corresponding bonus is only a fraction of that differential? Really, I always felt 150% was too low.

I am sure there are positive changes here, but this one jumped out at me.

Are awards still available on Qantas and did redemption rates change?

CO Insider -- can you confirm this? I'm PLT through next year and have found the flexibility to freely change or redeposit reward reservations for my entire family to be one of the best benefits for me. If I book reward travel from my PLT account and then change it, nobody pays a fee even if the other passengers are not elite? While xyzzy's views make sense to me, the policy as written doesn't clearly say that charges for each passenger are based solely on the booking account's elite status.

QF rewards are still available. The reward chart for QF was outside of the Skyteam chart - so it would be outside of *A chart.

US had QF rewards while they were *A, but eventually QF went out of US.

My guess is that QF rewards will remain for some time in Onepass after CO joins *A - in case UA makes any changes in their flying to Australia. Later I suspect they will go away.

Scott already confirmed this.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents and overall I too am very pleased with the "enhancements."

Quick question for CO Insider, will CO continue the practice of pseudo selling seats in front-cabins on award tickets but not deliver?

Sweet!^^

I am now even happier that I matched to CO last year and already requalified as Plat for next year.

I had some qualms about it due to 50% EQM and a likelihood that I'll need to start booking on Orbitz for Business. This solves that problem. Also really appreciate the clear award chart, the free SDC for Plats and reduced fees.

For family members whose travel I influence, who travel much less than I but are in reach of lower-level status, this makes CO a more likely recommend for them also. My college-age son already made Silver this year, and this makes it likely that MrsXS and MsXS will do more travel on CO and partners as well.

I could probably find some nitpicks but I don't care to. Overall this is really great. Thank you CO!

Lurking in from UA forum, the changes are significant, and mostly positive. The biggest one is full EQM on all fare, including discounted fares. That was one of the reasons for me to hold back on fully switching over to CO, especially as an NY airport based UA flyer.

If only CO has UA's p.s.-like service.. sigh.

1.5 EQS for high dollar fares?!?! It'll be very hard for my father and I to make Platinum next year. Other than that, the changes are welcomed.