I just did the OA match program for CO, from US Airways, I think there's some impending doom headed for that program...

Anyway, anyone have any good, (or bad) experience with CO? They seem to handle the Northeast fairly well...

Go over to the CO board and you'll find all of the informatin that you'll ever need. Please enjoy CO...I do!!!

Did you do any research prior to making this switch? just curious

Probably not as much as I should have.
I am a regional sales manager in the northeast, Michigan/Indiana to New England, Delaware to Northern Canada, Quebec....Flying out of Syracuse. USAir is the "preferred" for me, finally made CP and like their service, but I have seen too many little reasons why they probably won't last, at least in the configuration they are today. And I feel like I have personally support Mr. Wolfe's 7 million dollar salary...Yuck, no wonder why they are in trouble...
Anyway, when I became a regional sales guy, I tried NW, CO and US...My company is in Monterey CA, so I get to SFO 2-3 times per year. I usually fly 3 weeks per month, and NW has all DC-9 service out of SYR to DTW, then connections elsewhere...CO gets me to EWR or CLE, with small commuter service and then connections to my final destinations.
I can't remember the last time I flew coach, and my wife gets the upgrade with me, without even being enrolled...
CO told me today that they awarded me PL Elite...I'm happy about that, and will probably split my flights 50-50 with CO and NW...I'm still awaiting any offers from NW...

Only real downside is I have 500K miles with US and really hope to use'em before they go away...

Even as a Platinum on CO you can expect to look at the back of the curtain on those transcon 737's from time to time unless you're buyin' full Y fares. Customer service on NW has improved a lot since Dasburg left to flip burgers over at BurgerKing. CO is slightly better in the food and entertainment area, but the quality of customer service is goin' downhill. On CO the companion upgrades are last minute at the airport only. Don't have any unreasonable expectations about takin' the wife to Europe or Hawaii in BizFirst!

Rotor -

If you really believe you're in danger of losing your USAir miles you may want to consider Privilegeflyer to insure your miles. It's at http://www.privilegeflyer.com/ .

Now if only they would guarantee points in all of these web programs.....

I too think CO is going down hill largely due to the intl upgrade policies, and the way they implimented EUA (elite upgrade automation) where now essentially an agent cannot upgrade an elite pax even in the respective upgrade time window....must leave all upgrades to the computer. I also don't generally get much satisfaction from 800-we-don't-care2, etc. Also CO does IMHO a poor job with internet fares promotions and marketing compared to US. I am not worried about my approximately 300,000 miles, but maybe I am naive. I cannot just see them disappearing. TW eent to AA, eastern to CO, Pan Am to DL, etc. etc. US has too large an east coast operation to just disappear. I flew CO years ago when it was in Chapter 11, and if anything I think if a corp is struggling and they perceive a need for business (instead of arrogance) they are more likely to trat you better and waive things, etc. CO right now they get all these awards, one after another, and they perceive themselves as great and there is discussion on CO board they are arrogant. If you fly full Y though, anyone will treat you better than if you fly discount fares. One thing also about CO you will find is the elite bonuses. Now on US if I fly BOS to LGA, I get 500 base miles, 500 Gold Preferred bonus miles. On CO I would get 500 base miles, and only like 191 (ACTUAL) miles for the 100% Gold Elite bonus. So on short hops, you will lose some elite bonus miles. Some people do say that CO comparatively cut its service in F less than other carriers i.e. food, etc. I do miss the P club very much with free drinks. I have an US club membership, and have maybe used it 3 times, but used to always go to the P club all the time even for short connections. I miss some of the people I worked with and got to know at CO as well.

You would have done a lot better to choose AA, DL, or even Southwest. Check out all those boards and then visit the CO board. Granted, customer satisfaction with DL has been declining since their hateful L-fare policy went into place but if you can get past their management's foolish policies, you'll find DL employees to be stellar. If not, AA is still my 1st choice as their upgrade policies are the best available, assuming you travel internationally occasionally. Southwest... well you get what you pay for and you don't get an attitude that you did not pay for.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

rotor: perhaps one of the nicer things about your CO Plat comp is that you are treated as a NW Plat.

As you know, the only a/c that CO flys to/from SYR are RJs (with no FC). If you are traveling intra-Northeast you're going to be on connecting RJs an awful lot.

Right now you can't remember the last time you flew coach, but out of SYR on CO you won't be able to remember the last time you flew on something that held more than 45 pax.

Going to Michigan or Indiana on CO is always going to be RJ to CLE and RJ to your destination, unless you pick the NW DC-9 service (w/16 FC seats) to DTW and then on... that's what I'd do at least.

For travel to New England, I may have worse news for you... you may not even get the luxury of an RJ to EWR, you may get a Beech 1900 turboprop (every seat is aisle & window ) to ALB, CO Connection's mini-hub, and then connecting service out of ALB on a Beech 1900 also

CO's yield mgt is awful these days... for your transcons I would always choose SYR-DTW-West Coast... you'll get upgrades much more often than CO thru CLE...

feel free to fire away w/ more questions...

[This message has been edited by EWR-COflyer (edited 05-14-2002).]

I couldn't say it better than EWR-COflyer did...

Be sure to jump over to the CO board and see whats being said. You'll notice it ain't all wine and roses, but the consensus is that NW is trying MUCH harder than CO right now.

The RJ's are a huge issue on CO. The flights they use the RJ's on have crossed the 3 hour flight time mark, and are set to cross 3:30 later this year. Be very careful!

Oh, and I know that you played within the rules, but a year from now, when CO is comping others to top status, you'll understand why a few of us here get annoyed when CO gives away what we earned the hard way. Yet they can't seem to figure out why I don't fly 'em much anymore...

[This message has been edited by duxfan (edited 05-14-2002).]

I am CO and NWA Plat and have had the opportunity to try both airlines often.

CO offers Platinum Elites:

1) domestic entertainment (movies on long haul flights)

2) more regional jets (w/o FC cabins) than in past years.

3) difficulty getting advance upgrades and no elite line assistance w/ upgrades (must be done automatically by the computer)

4) Platinum elite Bonus points are based on 125% of actually flight miles, so if you flew a 100 mile segment you would get 500 credited base miles and 125 bonus miles (125% of 100 flight miles)

5) average airline website with limited features/capabilities.


NWA Offers Platinum elites:

1) 24 hours advance internet checkin from home computer or office computer.

2) Very good advance upgrade opportunities and proactive upgrade assistance from the Plat elite line.

3) Platinum elite Bonus points are based on 125% of flight miles with a 500 base mile minimum, so if you flew a 100 mile segment you would get 500 credited base miles and 625 bonus miles (125% of 500 credited base miles) this is 500 miles better than CO offers for CO Plat.

4) Interesting promotions such as turbo miles.

5) Best Web site for frequent travelers

Yeah, the RJs are a problem and the 737-800 is a lousy plane in which to be stuck in coach for a trans-con. There are also issues with int'l upgrades, if that's your cup of tea.

As a 2 year CO plat (and 2-year gold before) I would concur that trend lines haven't been good. The program was on top of the heap a year ago with bonus mile promotions, but for the past few months it's as if that whole department has been sent home.

More worrisome, I've had trouble with redemptions recently, even with super-flexibility and lots of advance planning and plat status. Too many people are being told that everything's sold out for 3 months (except EasyPass), and it's not just for London, Orlando, Rome or Honolulu.

CO is also lagging in the partnership game, and KLM may end up hurting more than it helps if it blocks out better possibilities. The HP termination also was a lose-lose.

It also seems the airline as a whole is at risk of losing market share on many city pairs because it was counting too much on the post-9/11 capacity cuts to drive up fares. Financially stronger airlines could add flights on competitive routes to gain market share.

That said, it's still very much a saving proposition. But the rumblings grow louder.

Rotor - would one of those 'little reasons' be the US Air stock price HALVING in the last 3 trading days?

Man it sure looks tough to climb uphill from there.

------------------
~ Glen ~

Wow!
I didn't know about the stock prices!
Amazing...Now I'm concerned. I know there are folks out there that say don't worry, all will be well, but I can't see that...
I don't see any strong contender willing to buy US and keep it running...My guess is that the overseas routes will go first, followed by transcon and then they start to shed the express flights. I do see a benefit to some major buying up the short haul routes a little at a time...

Here's a stock that hit over $44 in Jan 01.

More recently daily closes and volumes...

14-May-02 2.85 7,289,800
13-May-02 2.98 6,397,000
10-May-02 3.60 4,556,700
9-May-02 4.95 267,100
8-May-02 5.12 544,400
7-May-02 4.80 624,400

Note two things...

First, that mid-last week the stock was trading at 5. Now it's down below 3.

Second, volume spiked up tremendously. Everyone is dumping this stock. US normally trades a few hundred thousand shares a day. Friday onward volume has been in the millions.

US, as an independent airline... You are the weakest link. Goodbye!

Seriously, this airline has problems (high costs, overlapping and duplicative hubs, lack of partners, lack of West Coast presence, eroding yields in the Northeast due to JetBlue and WN).

It also has assets (frequent fliers in PIT, PHL, BOS, WAS, NYC; the shuttle!; slots at LGA and DCA; some nice transatlantic routes)

So what happens?

Their route network would go nicely with HP's, but that just makes two troubled airlines - neither of which is in a position to do any acquisitions.

If AA hadn't picked up TWA, they could have really enjoyed gobbling up US.

DL can't grab US for anti-trust reasons (overlapping shuttles, primary routes in the east).

UA has already gotten burned here.

NW? CO?

I actually think the best thing for shareholders, FFs, pax, etc. would be to relax the foreign ownership rules -- tell Richard Branson that for the measly sum of, say, $750mm (roughly 3x current market cap) he could own a US airline outright.