Northwest or Continental???
Nov 30, 2007 | 2:58 pm
#16
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,716
"I'll give you everything, but I cannot agree that upgrades are less generous on UA. Maybe for lower tier elites, upgrades are less generous, but for 1K members you do get 6 system wide upgrade certs that's good on most international fares. Try that on CO. Also, as a NW Gold Elite, I've never got upgraded out of EWR. Yes, I fly mostly EWR-LAX domestically which often sells out, but what's the purpose of free elite upgrades if I never get them and never expect them?"
Valid point. NW/CO do provide many, many more upgrades on domestic travel. AA/UA do offer the systemwide upgrades for people who travel a lot. In general UA/AA provide benefits to their international fliers at the expense of their domestic fliers and you could say the opposite for CO/NW.
I do feel for your lack of upgrades, but at least when you fly that EWR-LAX route, you know that you're not getting upgraded because those seats went to people who paid for a first class ticket, people who have more status than you or people who have the same status but a higher fare class ticket. On UA, there were plenty of times where I sat in the back and stared at an almost empty first class cabin domestically. EWR-LAX is a long flight and probably full with elites and also business travelers buying those seats. If the staff could upgrade you, they would. On UA/AA, the staff could upgrade you, but they won't.
As a gold on United, I would try to use my certs and often they'd end up expiring before I used them. Also, I'd get all of 4 500 mile certs for every 10k miles? It's not like the flight routes are exactly 500 miles. For every 10k miles I flew, I could possibly be upgraded for 1/5 of the flying time. Once you take into consideration routes that are just over 1000 miles, dealing with being wait listed to use them, their expiration date, etc, I probably got upgraded 5% of the time. As a platinum on CO/NW, I get upgraded greater than 60% of the time. Those that I have missed have been times when I've booked late and the cabin was already full.
Internationally, UA might give more upgrades, but domestically, they are clearly focused on selling those upgrade certs instead of rewarding their elites.
Valid point. NW/CO do provide many, many more upgrades on domestic travel. AA/UA do offer the systemwide upgrades for people who travel a lot. In general UA/AA provide benefits to their international fliers at the expense of their domestic fliers and you could say the opposite for CO/NW.
I do feel for your lack of upgrades, but at least when you fly that EWR-LAX route, you know that you're not getting upgraded because those seats went to people who paid for a first class ticket, people who have more status than you or people who have the same status but a higher fare class ticket. On UA, there were plenty of times where I sat in the back and stared at an almost empty first class cabin domestically. EWR-LAX is a long flight and probably full with elites and also business travelers buying those seats. If the staff could upgrade you, they would. On UA/AA, the staff could upgrade you, but they won't.
As a gold on United, I would try to use my certs and often they'd end up expiring before I used them. Also, I'd get all of 4 500 mile certs for every 10k miles? It's not like the flight routes are exactly 500 miles. For every 10k miles I flew, I could possibly be upgraded for 1/5 of the flying time. Once you take into consideration routes that are just over 1000 miles, dealing with being wait listed to use them, their expiration date, etc, I probably got upgraded 5% of the time. As a platinum on CO/NW, I get upgraded greater than 60% of the time. Those that I have missed have been times when I've booked late and the cabin was already full.
Internationally, UA might give more upgrades, but domestically, they are clearly focused on selling those upgrade certs instead of rewarding their elites.
Last edited by thegeneral; Nov 30, 2007 at 3:03 pm
