I am a Northwest Silver Elite however I've been doing the bulk of my flying on Continental and can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone at either airline about the reciprocal benefits I'm entitled to on Continental as I can standby for an upgrade (but never get it) but can't reserve an exit row seat until the moment that I can actually check-in for the flight 24 hours before

I have a chance to reach Gold and wonder whether I would be better served going to Continental rather than Northwest since from what I can tell the One Pass Silver Elites have less problems on NW than the other way around.

It would be a huge help to know what the reciprocal benefits are both ways

You essentially get the same benefits on each one. That said, CO will board their elites at a certain level before NW does theirs. Also, in general, you will getupgraded more flying NW in general. Were it me, I would bite the bullet and get the NW membership for a few reasons:

1. CO only gives you 100%EQM on its own flights if you book it through their website. This screws their business travelling members, CO knows about it and doesn't care. NW will let you get 100% EQM on all of their own flights.

2. There are many more mileage specials with NW

3. There are many more mileage run specials with NW

4. NW gives you the best chance at upgrades. At only a silver level you won't get upgraded much on CO, but you will have a better chance on NW as an NW silver.

I have to agree on NWA. I am a NWA Plat living in Houston. I fly CO about 60% of the time and have a 97% upgrade rate. I do well with all the promotions that NWA has throughout the year. The only drawback...is being careful about booking CO tickets that only pay 50% EQM on NWA.

Welcome to FT.

It really doesn't make that big a difference whether you're NW or CO elite. On NW metal any NW or CO elite can reserve the exit row and have a pretty good shot at upgrading. On CO, there are more elites per flight and fewer FC seats, so upgrade chances are simply lower across the board, and they only let plats (both CO plats and NW plats) reserve exit rows in advance.

To me the biggest reason to choose one program over the other, though, is access to the elite phone line, since that's one benefit that's not reciprocal.

DON'T MISS this - if you do purchase lower-priced tickets you will really hurt your elite qualification miles if you aren't careful - the 50% hit can be huge - this applies both ways - to WorldPerkers flying CO and to OnePassers flying NW - if that is an issue and you are trying to make/maintain elite, you'll probably want to belong to the program for which you actually fly the most miles.

CO golds can now book exit rows online.

Can NW golds, too?

Yes, NW Golds can book exit rows on line. Once the reservation is made, go back to view the reservation and you can change the seat to an exit row.

Now I just need to get from Silver to Gold....

NW has a better FF program, also, upgrade chances are better on NW.

The 50% EQM change was what got me to move from CO to NW. I did it via UA for a year, seriously intending to try them. UA has some good special offers, a much better global alliance and possibility for some really odd MR routings, but the upgrades are less generous, the website booking is a disaster, sale fare availability was an unexpected issue, and they just don't have enough service to ATL. So I comped over to NW. The upgrade batting average is down a good bit this year vs. NW on past years, but bumps are way up, and flexibility is certainly rewarded.

Also, CO has been flying too many RJs on RJ-inappropriate routes. You can fly ATL-IAH-MKE as all-RJ now...fine for miles, but not for comfort. Of course they like being able to offer more flight times, but I think the lower pilot pay and needing only 1 crew member has a lot more to do with it. Generous upgrade benefits aren't worth anything when the plane has no FC.

I was facing the same thing and went with NW. Here's why:

1. I fly internationally on SkyTeam carriers a lot. CO is downright stingy with EQMs compared to NW when crediting from other SkyTeam airlines -- its the difference between one elite level and the next for me year in and year out.

2. I like actually getting upgrades rather than merely the idea that one is possible. I get upgrades on NW -- on CO even Plats aren't getting too many if the CO board and anecdotal evidence is any indicator. It's a simple numbers game: NW has a much larger percentage of first class seat available to upgrade into domestically.

3. CO flies Barbie Jets / RJs all over. I'm rearely if ever stuck on a commuter shuttle plane on NW -- full size planes only, please.

4. It's getting harder to redeem miles on nearly every carrier, but CO is among the worst. DL has recently made it their business to eclipse CO in thsi regard, but people still call it NonePass for a reason.

Now in all fairness, CO has a much better overall product on the plane itself -- both in businessfirst and coach. The difference for me is that NW makes it easier for me to get/maintain my status, redeem miles for int'l J, and has the space for regular free upgrades so that instead of appreciating how nice CO is in coach, I get to appreciate how nice NW is in first. Nuff said.

peace,
~Ben~

If you can make it happen, do it! The difference between SE and GE has been like night and day. I could never go back to SE (of course I'm sure PEs could never bring themselves back to the GE level).

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?

That being said, if you don't buy cheap CO tix, then I would stick with NW for better mileage earning potential. (And if you do have Asian address and can work up to gold elite, free WorldClub membership is very handy )

Fly CO metal, credit your NW account. That way, you get the best of both worlds. If you're a high mileage earner (100k+/year) NW offers a better program with SWUs and/or a selection of other "gifts".

Plus, NW has "White Tie" - I do not think that CO offers a similar program at this time.