I've currently got 70 segments on CO. I'm scheduled to fly another 29 segments this year, so with a bit of creative routing, I can get CO Platinum.

I also have 21,334 flight miles on NWA this year (before I switched to CO). Is it worthwhile to try and fly a few of my segments on NWA and get CO-gold + NWA-silver, or am I better off just ignoring the mistake of earlier this year (21,000 NWA miles) and going for CO plat?

I'm leaning toward CO plat since they're partners and I don't see any advantage to having status in both programs, but thought I'd better ask the experts before I actually ticket anything. :-)

CO Plat! I only wish that I was myself!

If your horizon tends toward the short-term: Go for CO Plat. The benefits of Plat are manifold, and I'm too lazy to enumerate them here. Also, there's a promo for double-miles that count toward Elite status going on until Nov. 15.

If you're looking toward the intermediate to long-term: Accumulate miles in NW WorldPerks, since mileage awards are easier to come by on NW than CO, particularly if you're Platinum.

You see, CO OnePass is in a state of flux right now, which might even be characterized as devolution. Many of the hallmark perks of being high or top tier elite on CO have gone, or are going to go, away, such as Platinum EasyPass rewards to certain markets.

Most troubling to me (and a lot of others) is the recently-implemented policy known disaffectionately at FT as "HoKY fares" which require that upgrades to international segments using OnePass miles be booked in H, K, or Y classes, which are significantly more expensive than next-nearest coach fares. Not only that, but your upgrade is *not* even confirmed - it is only upon the few moments before boarding that you'll know if you'll get the upgrade.

If you don't get the upgrade, CO will generously give you a whopping 2,500 miles as consolation... but you'll still be sitting in coach on a fare that's at least 50% more than you could have gotten the same 33" of pitch for.

If you fly mostly domestic, then you're probably splitting hairs between NW and CO since their upgrade policies are relatively similar (except when you are doing Elite companion upgrades - on CO, your Elite companion trumps the next "lower" elite tier, whereas on NW, elite companions come after all bona fide elite members are cleared).

If you do Europe a lot, whereas CO just recently announced codesharing with KLM "for six months," NW has already been doing it all along.

I fly almost exclusively domestic (so far). The only way I've ever been able to redeem an award on either carrier has been to use a "RuleBuster" (for more than 2x the standard mileage) because neither has many award seats.

Why not have the best of both worlds - go for CO platinum and use the NW 200% bonus promotion to get NW silver also. You'll have to fly on one NW segment (make sure to use NW online booking - you'll get at least 1250 miles for that and use nwa.com check in and you'll get 2000 miles for that).

If you are CO Plat, you get discounted "Ratebuster" awards (35M for any domestic seat anytime if 20M/25M award not available), fewer restrictions on awards, 1st dibs on upgrades on *both CO and NW*, and treble miles on flights on either airline if you pony up CO card.

Keeping in mind the value of the CO/NW reciprical agreement, I'd get CO Plat first.

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On the road,
In the air,
I enjoy travel
From here to there.

33"!?! Better make that 31, or 32 if you're lucky.

I've never understood the pitch measurement. What specifically does it measure? The distance the top of the seat travels when it reclines (i.e. the arc it scribes through the air pivoted about the base of the chair)?

Basically it is how close the next seat in front and behind you are!

Sixty inches is good!

Without a doubt, top tier on one is better than lower tiers on two, especially when the two are such close partners, as CO and NW are. As a CO Plat, your benefits even on NW are overall much better than a NW Silver.