Continental or United
 

I am new to FF and don't know which card or plan to go with. I go to Mexico every year and have flown on Continental before. But whose program is better?

I guess it is a matter of opinion, but I prefer CO. I have not been happy with UA in my experience, plus, the coach awards to Latin America with CO are at most 35k, the best of the majors.

My suggestion is to check out the places you plan to go, check which of the two cover the destinations better and also which places have better award levels for those places.

I really appreciate that advice. I have been to Mexico 4 years in a row and plan on going back again and again. I like the Continental card but am a newbie and unsure, guess I need lots of help and advice.

It really depends on your specific travel destinations and objectives. Are you primarily a leisure traveler? A business traveler? Where do you typically travel, other than Mexico? Are you price sensitive (e.g. a coach dweller) or a high roller? How many miles/segments will you travel in a given year? All these inquiries have a bearing on your ultimate decision. Without this information, it is impossible to even begin to offer you sage advice.

I am a leisure traveler. I hit mostly the resort towns, but want to go to Mexico City too. I am very price sensitive, I usually use Priceline or SkyAuction. I will typically go to Mexico/Caribbean once a year. I have a friend who works for Midwest so I fly domestically for cheap with them. I would gather miles only for international flights, maybe Hawaii someday.

United, hands down. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Why United?

If you like the thrill of possibly losing your miles due to liquidation every 3-6 months, and the finest inflight service 80+ y/o prison matrons can offer, then United Airlines is for you.

OTOH, if you would rather fly on the airline with the most service to Mexico, the most generous North American upgrade policy in the sky, and the carrier most likely to feed you in any cabin you fly, then choose Continental.


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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

Avek,

Don't be so dramatic...let the truth be written.

If you do a search of UA and CO forums, you'll find loads of information. Also search the CO forum for 'deny CO the freddie.' That will turn up some informative results. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

A couple of years ago at a flyertalk dinner, a few guys tried to convert me to CO from UA.

The following was the biggest negative...

CO never had award availability at the low rates, only the higher mileage.

So what's the point in obtaining miles if you can't use them?

FYI, I've been flying UA since 1988 and have been satisfied. I've scored close to 100% on award availibility.

Dan

1. CO offers far more service to Mexico than UA.

2. CO offers unlimited upgrades within North America at ALL Elite tiers; UA will make you pay after your first few upgrades even as a top-tier Elite.

3. CO award availability is actually quite good, so long as you have some flexibility when trying to travel to popular destinations during peak periods.

4. CO is financially stable, whereas UA is navigating a rough restructuring under bankruptcy.

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

Well, if you use Priceline to bid on airline tickets, you won't be able to choose your carrier and you won't earn miles, so it's a non-issue. If, on the other hand you use a conventional booking engine (e.g. Travelocity or the airline itself), you have mileage accrual potential. But if your sole source of frequent flier miles is a once a year trip to Mexico, then you have a long, long time before you will even be in the neighborhood of the mileage required to visit Hawaii or go overseas.

Since you are unlikely to qualify for elite status based on your infrequent flying, forget about the perks of elite status (E+ seating on UA; free space-available upgrades within the lower 48 states and Mexico on CO). Without status, there's not much to differentiate between UA and CO in terms of their coach product. [I guess it's worth pointing out that you can earn CO miles on NW flights (and vice versa), giving you more options.] So just choose whatever carrier gives you the most convenient connections and, above all, price.

Meanwhile, if you want to pick up miles from non-flight activity, they are readily available. For example, by getting a FirstUSA Mileage Plus Visa card, you can earn 20,000+ UA miles without even taking a flight.

You could always fly CO, if that's your preference (and the free space-available domestic upgrades are a real alluring perk!) and then launder your OnePass miles through Amtrak to a carrier like UA with much better award availability. To some extent, that is a formula I employ.

A couple of other points:

1) if you plan to fly overseas in premium cabin: CO BusinessFirst upgrade and/or awards are very hard to get, some even call it ridiculous. UA overall is very good in this regard and also offers the FirstSuite First Class service. CO lacks an overseas First Class product.

2) UAs star alliance partner Mexicana can get you to virtually any destination in Mexico.

3) CO has already been in bankrupt TWICE.

Good luck in your decision.

With CO you can now codeshare with Delta as well as with NW. I'm not sure if you only get Delta's new "enhanced" 1/2 mileage credit on the most sharply discounted fares or if you would still get full mileage under CO regulations. In any case you would have many more destinations available to you with the addition of Delta flights.

(I just checked and you will only get 1/2 miles toward CO Elite on Delta L,U and T fares. Just like us lucky Delta flyers.)

[This message has been edited by upgrader (edited 07-09-2003).]

I think a lot of brilliantly insightful, but overly complicated opiniions have been posted.

To cut to the chase IF you choose brand loyalty and are not going to be price sensitive go with CO for the copious Mexican destinations.

All other factors such as upg's + bonuses don't matter for a once a year leisure flyer.