A search on this board has revealed that NW treats Royalwing flyers just behind their own Platinums in terms of free upgrades on domestic US flights.

How does CO deal with upgrades for Royalwings? Are they offered on domestic flights free of charge, as they do for their own flyers?

A member asked the FD Helpdesk just recently, if CO provides upgrades for Royal Wings and the answer was NO !!

I guess, they have to rethink this, just because right know CO seems to be only an alternative, cause they are offering double points one month longer than NW/KL.

Not many priveledges so far on CO, at least they could offer systemwide lounge access and ( or )domestic upgrades....

I am free of any prejudices, but should a KL RW use CO, if NW treats us much better....???

When does NW double points end?

It goes both ways. Is KLM ready to provide free upgrades to CO elite members? I doubt CO will offer free upgrades and unlimited lounge access until KLM does the same.

It isn't quite that simple.

KLM doesn't offer upgrades to its OWN frequent flyers. CO does. Why would KLM upgrade CO flyers when it doesn't upgrade its own or NW flyers?

I'm not suggesting that KLM RW members get PRIORITY upgrades on CO -- they'll always come after the CO elites...

Exactly my point. If you buy a Porsche, do you expect BMW to service it for free?

Fetchem, I don`t see your point.....

Right now a KL RW has two ways of spending money on flights to and within the US.He is getting pretty good treatment on NW, but nothing on CO....

On the other side, KL treats CO and NW elites pretty much the same !!

The important point right now seems to be, that CO will not get much revenue from KL`s best customers, cause they don�t offer a comparable product.

KLM and CO are competitors. The purpose of a FF program is to create loyalty and distinguish your airline from the competition.

I don't see CO offering free upgrades until KLM does the same. This would remove the incentive to remain loyal to CO's program.

How much loyalty is created when you give free benefits to your competition and they do nothing in return? If all FF programs offered their particular benefits to competitors, all programs would become homogenized and remove the incentive for loyalty.

I am an elite member of both programs. Therefore, I have "no axe to grind." When KLM and CO compete, I will choose CO because of the unlimited upgrades. CO won my loyalty.

Threy, in your situation, it might be best to choose NW over CO. Isn't that what KLM wants you to do? KLM won your loyalty...



[This message has been edited by fetchem (edited 01-25-2002).]

fetchem, are you aware that KLM and CO just signed a partnership deal?

KLM and CO are partners now, not competitors. They want you to fly CO just as much as they want you to fly NW, and their codeshare/partnership arrangement is designed to underscore that. It gives CO a better European / African network, and gives KL a better US/Latin American network.

But when I connect domestically, you'd better bet it'll be to a NW plane. No way I'm giving CO the revenue if they're going to make me sit in the back. And when I book a domestic US flight -- sure enough, it'll go to NW, not CO, for exactly the same reason.

What does CO get out of this? Well, it gets high-revenue, frequent travellers who are loyal to CO for their domestic US requirements. Which is exactly the same reason it rewards a lot of its CO members.

Besides, with all the recent changes in the CO program, and all the recent defections of CO top-tier frequent flyers, it'll only be KL guys sitting up front anyhow!!!

kamini and i flew CO on saturday - luckily our RW cards arrived just a day before so we could use them. she flew BRU-EWR-DCA-IAH-LAX so i'll report on her trip rather than mine (i flew upto DCA). in short - we're going to avoid flying CO next time if possible.

basically, things went according to the KL-CO press release. priority boarding and 1st-class/elite check-in everywhere. BRU - no CO lounge access (RW+economy) but we could get into the general lounge (no KL lounge in the intl gate area since KL/NW don't fly out of europe from BRU). no upgrade, not even courtesy ("we're flying 22 hrs today on CO") because the flight was overbooked in business. it was actually full.

EWR - access to presidents club lounge (as in the press release). no upgrade even at gate for DCA, gate agent said she could try, though she's not supposed to, but only after all CO/NW elites. that's fair, and the 10 1st-class seats were full anyway.

Kamini got 1st class upgrades at the gate on DCA-IAH-LAX, though, which was nice. her bags got stuck in IAH, which wasn't. (though it wasn't unexpected - 40-minute change.)

they delivered the bags 26+ hrs after her arrival in LAX, about 30 hrs before she flies out from LAX again. so i told her to insist on 1st class upgrades as compensation, and hopefully we'll get upgraded all the way through on our return because of this. we'll try anyway! (LAX-IAH-DCA-EWR-AMS-BRU). i think EWR-AMS shd be emptier than BRU-EWR too.

CO didn't put priority tags on checked-in bags. i don't know if they do that for CO elites. i know *A always puts bright red priority tags thanks to our SAS/EBG status.

-rishab

I wouldn't have high hopes of getting international opups on CO too often... they are pretty stingy with those

I am a CO OnePass Platinum member and just to clarify that I am not able to upgrade on KLM using my OnePass miles (and vice versa). I was informed that this agreement has not been signed, mostly from KLM's wishes).

So, we (OP members) can't upgrade on KLM, so RW members can't upgrade on CO. It's a bummer I know.

- HobokenFlyer

It is now possible using miles, but only if one of your segments has a CO flight number so OP can pull up your itinerary in their system. But you really gotta fight for it - I made 17 calls !!! Agreement is to be further worked out, though. I guess we just need to be patient, and persistent.