Steph3n

CO Exit row is better than E+ in fact just not a lot of them, i've only not gotten Exit row aisle twice however.

FreFly

An interesting question is how will upgrades be prioritized. For example, CO gold vs. UA 1K on CO and UA metal. If each company gives its own elites priority on their metal, it is likely that most of the time other company's elites will not get upgrades. So the biggest side-effect will be E+ for some CO frequent flyers, as E+ is often not completely full now.

SAT Lawyer

GodOSpoons

First, let's dispel the belief that a 2P or a 3P on United are "elite" in any sense of the word. They get E+ access (which is a nice treat) and 25% RDM kicker as a benefit, with everything else just icing. There's no meat there.

Second, these changes are clearly to deal with the Delta threat and represent a fair and reasonable outcome based on what we knew was likely--the original thought, of course, was a UA-CO merger, which no one seemed to want (including us and the airlines). We knew this would be a tighter relationship than UA-US. Effectively these changes merge the two programs into a single operating model, with distinct differences (like the UA SWU valid on UA and LH flights). Ultimately, UA seems to have chosen the airline version of the Designated Hitter rule with the SWUs.

Finally, I think this all represents an acceptable outcome for everyone involved here, with substantial improvements for the most frequent of flyers on CO and UA (the target of most of these benefits, anyway), particularly those who have traditionally split between UA and CO (if you were 2P equivalent on both, you're likely now going to be a 1P equivalent on one of them; 1P x 2 = 1K, etc.)

Of course, if you haven't picked one program or another, shame on you... haven't you learned ANYTHING here at Flyertalk? All things equal, given the new rules, I'd select the program you'd most likely use for international traffic first, domestic second (unless you don't fly Internationally, which I'd choose the domestic first and, personally, cry for your misfortune).

The big losers, of course, are 2Ps and, in specific cases, 1Ps, but to be honest, your upgrade capability wasn't all that great to begin with. We 1Ks had CR-1s and pantloads of 500s and there was no chance we weren't going to use them on, say, SFO-BOS's redeye (the only flight I've been denied a F seat on in the past 12 months). So, worse luck on UA metal, 1P and 2Ps, but some luck (and opposed to not-a-chance-in-hell) on CO.

Timothy

I'm approaching the magic 1000. Who's baking me and TED a cake?

UALfromMSN

Not sure what routes you are flying, but E+ has been packed to the gills most every flight I've been on this year.

Frankly, the few CO folks that will fly UA now and then will not, in my mind, make that much of a dent in E+ numbers. Besides, at least now you'll know that the person sitting next to you earned E+ rather than being assigned it by a GA just trying to get the flight out on time(or someone poaching it).

doctor15

Premier is a joke?? Did you get many upgrades in the past as a 2P? As an entry level elite member (only became 1P recently), I have always been THRILLED to get E+, free bag check, priority security lines, and priority boarding so that I have never had to gate check my bags. That is really all I expect in the entry level tier, and am assuming thats what most airlines deliver.

Are there other airlines where you can expect to fly first class for free with under ~30k BIS miles (considering DEQM has been in effect most of the year).

Maybe I just haven't been spoiled by upgrades yet...

GodOSpoons

You'll go far in FlyerTalk, Doctor.

Timothy

And yes... I'll say it. Premier is a joke. Ha ha.

ORDnHKG

US also work closely together with UA, but US also don't get E+ on UA.

The difference is this is the first step CO merge with UA, whereas LH is not going to merge with UA. Hence UA is making the same unlimited upgrades for elite like on CO.

GadgetFreak

This and the reinstatement of CR1s is a huge benefit for me as a NY based flyer. Time for a mileage run! Must get 1K

ORDnHKG

Well UA has exit row as well and E+, when we can't get exit row we can get E+ instead on UA. But if we are on CO, if we can't get exit row we will be in E-.

This is totally irrevalant, if one has a brain and money to pay C to Asia, the person would have flown other *A carriers like SQ and NH long time ago, not because of these changes.

eponymous_coward

<digression>
AS. 20K BIS (AS/QX metal only, 25K with partners) is their entry tier, and it includes free upgrades to F, exit row, early boarding/elite checkin, and 50% RDM bonus (better than pretty much everyone else's entry tier RDM bonus).

I've flown F a decent number of times as an MVP on AS.

AS's top tier is 40K on their own metal (50K with partners), incidentally, and they had DEQM earlier this year, so in theory, you could be top tier on an airline with something like 20-30K BIS EQM in 2010.
</digression>

I do think UDU this sort of devalues things for lower-tier CO/UA elites quite a bit- though CO Golds used to have NW Platinums in front of them, I imagine there are a lot more 1Ks and GSs.

tiddyzhang

i am actually thinking to switch to CO , at least i dont need to worry about *net blocking anymore.

Jubileesmom

Give "em" a little time, son

Thing is, this is WAY out the door from here on.

But, don't get me wrong, it is not necessarily just because of the changes with CO. I welcome my CO friends and others as well. It just seems that the changes will not make it beneficial for any of us who spend our own money to travel and work towards any kind of status. Maybe they should just eliminate the 2P status and not waste some of our time and money? I need to put more into my retirement fund. LOLOL

Steph3n

It will be UA merging with CO...

CAL has a higher market cap than UAL by a lot, and about to surpass AMR now.
We know who is calling the shots, look at the changes.

mre5765

If you fly UA so much and want E+, credit your miles to M+. You'll be happier in the best FF program in the world.

LH is the airline that partners with JetBlue and now owns a stake in JetBlue. LH is trying to kill UA's domestic business, so what should UA do? For 8 years, UA has been letting its short haul business wither, and today the tide has turned. JetBlue is toast, and it isn't even the primary target.

As a *G flying UA you get stuff even UA's elites don't get, like free access to the RCC when flying within the USA (CO Silver's don't get that).

You get GAs that enforce priority boarding.

When I fly LH long haul I don't get to sit in LH's exit rows. I get a 8 KG weight limit for my carry on.

When I fly LH's short haul their "business" class gives me the same leg room as E+, and consists of an empty middle seat.

When I fly LH's short haul in economy, most of the time I don't get RDMs or EQMs. Most recently I did get RDMs and EQMs on an M class fare on LH, and got to sit in economy. CO would confirm my M fare seat into F at time of booking.

I cannot wait for Aegean to join *A: the model airline for intra-European travel and along with KingFisher one of the two best short haul airlines in the world. If UA adds ATH as has been rumored, no more flying LH for me on intra-Europe flights.

If UA announces a jet order this year, it would be the perfect year for us.

The changes that keep CR1s and SWUs? The changes that give UA elites higher status on CO than the converse? The changes that let UA elites confirm F with with M fares on CO but not vice versa?

CO is the smaller airline; these changes are going to suck more F revenue from CO than from UA. This is an experiment by CO to put AA off balance. To Texas based AA elites, CO is essentially saying: fly CO, credit your miles to M+, be happy. It is going to hurt.