One Pass vs. World Perks
 

I'm somewhat new here and will be doing some Skyteam flying in the year ahead--hoping to have CO or NW match my 2p status on UA.

Just curious which the majority would prefer head to head? I'm leaning towards CO although most of my travel would end up being with NW/KL out of IND...thanks!

If most of your flying is on NW, then go with NW. CO only gives 50% EQMs for the cheap fares on NW (V/L/T/K class), making it harder to requalify in the future. NW gives 100% EQMs for any NW/KLM flight no matter what fare class.

This is true in reverse, too. NW only gives 50% EQMs on the cheap Continental fare classes (Q, I, S, W, T, X, L) but CO gives 100% EQMs on any fare as long as you buy it on their website.

Incidentally, I just got NW to match my AA status with no trouble. Wrote up a short letter and included 2 elite statements and a copy of my card, and fedexed it to Chisholm. I had elite status on NW within 3 days. :)

Here are some of my random thoughts...

1. The word on the street is that CO's program is nicknamed NonePass b'cos of the next to non-existant availability of award redemption on popular routes.

2. CO still has awards for biz class tixx (N.America to Asia is still at 90K). NW eliminated biz awards and grouped with first class tixx.

3. If your travel is Transatlantic heavy then CO would be best. If you travel heavily Transpacific, then go with NW b'cos of their hub in NRT.

4. If you live on the east coast of the US, then opt for CO. If you live in midwest, then NW works better. For west coast, the edge goes to NW for their gateway cities to Asia. Otherwise, both are equally useless out there.

5. NW has MH as a partner... great for ASEAN flights and kangaroo routes. CO has VS (long-haul flights from LHR) and EK (good coverage in middle-East).

6. CO's lounge, President's Club, has gone wireless... NW's lounge, WorldClub is slowly introducing this feature progressively.

For me, I live in metro NYC and hold platinum on NW. Only justification is that I travel to Asia more frequent than to Europe. Only fly domestic NW if forced to (connecting flights), otherwise, it's almost always CO.

I'll be interested in hearing whether NW will comp you a higher status, seeing as how you are already NW Silver.

Flying out of IND, unless you want 50% EQMs, the easy choice is NW.

If you really want comped status on NW, you may need to generate a new WP number and get that comped. Of course, that strands your other miles. But, if you are near a redemption point, that may not be too bad.

Please post your decision and what happens.

The OP might want to also consider that if they were to fly DL, some of their fare classes (L, U, T) would only count 50% for elite on CO, but 100% on NW (if I'm reading the rules correctly).

Just an anecdote... I am CO Platinum, and the folks at
NW seem to take care of me better than the folks at
CO. International op-ups, keeping adjacent seats
empty if possible... Although my schedule and flying
patterns mean that I seldom fly on NW metal, they
have taken very good care of me when I show my CO
Platinum card.

Thanks to all...I went ahead with NW as I'll be making a few trips to EBB on NW/KL and with all the NW options out of IND, it seemed to make more sense. I was comped to Silver two weeks ago and already have a reservation or two for the new year. Thanks once again!