Give me one good reason not to defect to Continental
Oct 12, 2007, 9:23 pm
#31
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Phila, PA
Posts: 891
>"Give me one good reason not to defect to Continental"
You really like reading the USAir FT BB?
You really like reading the USAir FT BB?
Oct 12, 2007, 9:30 pm
#32
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: CLT
Posts: 7,249
I'll give you 1 good reason to defect to continental...margaritas onboard!
Oct 13, 2007, 12:19 am
#33
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: KAUS
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 1,118
I was Gold on US in the late 90s. Have been plat on CO for a few years now. Some reactions:
Yup. Called First, though, on CO. (International F, somewhat counterintuitively, is called Business First.)
Yup. Although there are 50% EQM fares on both to watch out for.
Yup.
I haven't tried it personally; but there are some complaints about Virgin reward availability ... although I suspect this will become less of an issue once CO starts service to LHR. Of course, the Virgin partnership might disappear altogether when that happens.
IAH is not too shabby. CLE will be upgraded in the coming years.
True. Although the IAH connection increases your chances of upgrades. The transcon upgrade problem on CO is mainly with nonstop flights between EWR and California.
Also, most flights out of CLE are on regional jets. No F in CO regional jets, so there are no upgrades.
As CO plat, I have a good upgrade rate, except on the aforementioned EWR-California routes.
Nonexistent north-south west coast route structure. But you have AS and some flights (started recently) on DL RJs.
Yup. Called First, though, on CO. (International F, somewhat counterintuitively, is called Business First.)
True. Although the IAH connection increases your chances of upgrades. The transcon upgrade problem on CO is mainly with nonstop flights between EWR and California.
Also, most flights out of CLE are on regional jets. No F in CO regional jets, so there are no upgrades.
Nonexistent north-south west coast route structure. But you have AS and some flights (started recently) on DL RJs.
Oct 13, 2007, 1:21 am
#34
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: USA
Programs: AA MARRIOTT Lifetime Plat Premier ; Marriott Vacation Club
Posts: 1,650
. . . Give me one good reason not to defect to Continental . . .
1. Reason number one . . . . . . . . . uhh . . . . . . why one should not defect to CO . . . . .
. . . . . why oh why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . uhhhh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to go or not to go . . . . . . . . ummm . . . . . . . . . . because . . . . ahh . . . 
. . . . . . . OH YES 
. . . .. . . CO doesn't have a CEO like DP ?? 
But in all seriousness, yourself and lots of folks here have put up with a lot from this crew in Tempe. Lots of us have tried to play the game and kept waiting for US to square things away, but they never did.
My wife and I are leisure travelers who do some 6 or 7 TAs a year along with some domestic flying. We've got our own set of worries/issues with the US product. But the business traveler was erased from Tempe's equation a long time ago and you folks got screwed royally by this Tempe band of bandits.
I read your post and replies to it with great interest as we are in the early process of pondering a switch in the future which would probably have us flying somebody out of EWR. Kind of scary to learn that EWR is son of PHL. Then again, Jim provides insight about CO as a hub flyer there.
FFers are creatures of habit who would prefer constancy to change and seek reliability and regularity. A smart airline knows how to provide this. I believe that this present exodous of US FFers represents the final verdict on Tempe. You're the patient folks who tried to make it work but could not find a helping hand from Tempe.
Good luck with CO and safe flying. I'm still stuck in the sandbox with these out-of-their-depth kids from the west until we see if Open Skies blows anything new into our market which might resemble an airline which cares and can execute on ideas.
Barry
1. Reason number one . . . . . . . . . uhh . . . . . . why one should not defect to CO . . . . .
. . . . . why oh why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . uhhhh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to go or not to go . . . . . . . . ummm . . . . . . . . . . because . . . . ahh . . . . . . . . . . OH YES . . . .. . . CO doesn't have a CEO like DP ?? But in all seriousness, yourself and lots of folks here have put up with a lot from this crew in Tempe. Lots of us have tried to play the game and kept waiting for US to square things away, but they never did.
My wife and I are leisure travelers who do some 6 or 7 TAs a year along with some domestic flying. We've got our own set of worries/issues with the US product. But the business traveler was erased from Tempe's equation a long time ago and you folks got screwed royally by this Tempe band of bandits.
I read your post and replies to it with great interest as we are in the early process of pondering a switch in the future which would probably have us flying somebody out of EWR. Kind of scary to learn that EWR is son of PHL. Then again, Jim provides insight about CO as a hub flyer there.
FFers are creatures of habit who would prefer constancy to change and seek reliability and regularity. A smart airline knows how to provide this. I believe that this present exodous of US FFers represents the final verdict on Tempe. You're the patient folks who tried to make it work but could not find a helping hand from Tempe.
Good luck with CO and safe flying. I'm still stuck in the sandbox with these out-of-their-depth kids from the west until we see if Open Skies blows anything new into our market which might resemble an airline which cares and can execute on ideas.
Barry
Oct 13, 2007, 1:27 am
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: PIT/LAX
Programs: US Gold, CO Silver,HH Gold,*wood Gold
Posts: 301
I also figure that if Delta or Northwest ever ramp up at PIT, I will already be SkyTeam and can just credit the miles to whichever ST carrier I want. If United or AA, by some miracle, happen to turn PIT into a focus city, then I can make a decision at that time. I do think one of the legacies will make a bit of a move at PIT and add some modicum of service and then gauge the success with the possibility of adding more service gradually. I don't think anyone will come in big-except for possibly Southwest, and that really won't work for me. In the meantime, I am not waiting...I am going to try to status match with CO ASAP.
Last edited by Wave1; Oct 13, 2007 at 2:01 am
Oct 13, 2007, 1:59 am
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: PIT/LAX
Programs: US Gold, CO Silver,HH Gold,*wood Gold
Posts: 301
Out of habit and then loyalty even after I moved half of my travel to the west coast, after 400+ daily flights were cut from PIT, after two bankruptcies, after the service level cratered and then devolved into a level bordering the ridiculous, I stayed and supported the carrier. Until now.
Anyway you look at it, other carriers are doing a MUCH better job at providing a reasonable level of service on a (post BK) fairly level industry playing field. Delta, United and Continental chose to embrace frequent flyers, US has chosen to say Adios
I think US has spoken volumes to it's very loyal PIT base, its Frequent Flyers and it's business passengers. We don't care, or, we are just plain inept. Either way, the game is over for many of us.
.
Last edited by Wave1; Oct 13, 2007 at 2:07 am
Oct 13, 2007, 6:32 am
#37
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: The First State, USA - Bonvoy Gold, Honors Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, IHG Gold - FWIW
Posts: 922
I'm curious, what are you expecting from "Open Skies"? I mean, PHL already is served by BA, AF and LH to/fro their respective hubs in Europe... do you think other airlines are waiting for "Open Skies" to start serving Europe ex-PHL? If so, who? Just wondering...
Oct 13, 2007, 8:53 am
#38
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Phila, PA
Posts: 891
>"..My wife and I are leisure travelers who do some 6 or 7 TAs a year along with some domestic flying. ...I read your post and replies to it with great interest as we are in the early process of pondering a switch in the future which would probably have us flying somebody out of EWR. Kind of scary to learn that EWR is son of PHL."
I am also a leisure traveler, and have left USAir internationally for BA (Club World), AA (Business) and pending LH. I live in downtown Philly, so EWR is not an option for me. I am still doing a bit of 'local' US travel (MHT, RSW)but will not tolerate a poor quality TA product for my hard earned $$$.
I am also a leisure traveler, and have left USAir internationally for BA (Club World), AA (Business) and pending LH. I live in downtown Philly, so EWR is not an option for me. I am still doing a bit of 'local' US travel (MHT, RSW)but will not tolerate a poor quality TA product for my hard earned $$$.
Oct 13, 2007, 11:38 am
#39
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: LAS
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriott Lifetime Plat, Southwest A-List Preferred
Posts: 2,846
Got a status match on CO and just noticed this morning that PLATS get 125% mileage bonus. For some reason, I had thought only NW was offering that level and CO, like DL/AA/UA/US only offered 100% bonus.
Can anyone here let me know if this is new or if I'm just a moron?
Can anyone here let me know if this is new or if I'm just a moron?
Oct 13, 2007, 12:26 pm
#40
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Programs: DL-Platinum / AS-PlatPro / Hyatt - Glob / Hilton-Diamond
Posts: 1,573
Co 125% bonus
CO has had 125% bonus for Plats for quite awhile now.
Oct 13, 2007, 12:28 pm
#41
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: Various
Posts: 6,526
And Wave1, I think that you're right that we won't see a big increase soon, but I'll hold off at least until the beginning of December or so.
Cheers!
Oct 13, 2007, 12:42 pm
#42
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: LAS
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriott Lifetime Plat, Southwest A-List Preferred
Posts: 2,846
Oct 13, 2007, 1:09 pm
#43
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: Whoever Has the Best Bonus
Posts: 5,183
I booked my first flight on Continental in a few years yesterday (I fly to New York weekly, and thought I'd try EWR instead of JFK). CO was literally five bucks more than US so I bought tickets on them. With the corp travel agent, they book the lowest fare, so after booking and checking on Continental.com I see my outgoing flight is apparently a 50% EQM flight. It was cheap, but not that cheap. Also as a non elite I couldn't select any seat because every remaining seat (nearly 25% of the plane) was listed as premium and I could not select it.
So what does this mean? It seems to me CO will probably offer elites a better experience so if you can get the status match, and able to avoid the 50% EQM fares without paying an arm and a leg, they seem like a good choice. The fact that you can also fly DL and NW and concentrate miles makes the choice seem easy.
I would second the chorus of stop throwing money down the US toilet.
So what does this mean? It seems to me CO will probably offer elites a better experience so if you can get the status match, and able to avoid the 50% EQM fares without paying an arm and a leg, they seem like a good choice. The fact that you can also fly DL and NW and concentrate miles makes the choice seem easy.
I would second the chorus of stop throwing money down the US toilet.
Oct 13, 2007, 4:48 pm
#44
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,442
With the corp travel agent, they book the lowest fare, so after booking and checking on Continental.com I see my outgoing flight is apparently a 50% EQM flight
Corp TA'a are a pain in the ... but I have found that many times I can ask them to either book my flight in the lowest class that gets me full miles, or to book the lowest fare (to charge the client) but then I will pay the difference between that fare and the full mileage fare. This is usually less than $100 and the corp TA will take my CC # for the difference between the two fares. I have done this both for local and international flights (when I needed a specific class fare to buy up to F). One vagary of the system is that if you book far ahead (say several months), many times the wonderful CO computer eliminates all of the low discounted fares and the only ones you can book are minimum discounted fares that earn you full mileage. This is another way that I can beat the corp. TA system.
Secondly, you may find that the trans con fare from Pitt to LAX via CLE is cheaper than CLE to LAX. So, rather than driving, it may be better to fly from PIT. For example, I will be going to HLN next month. The R fare (discounted BF) for CLE-HLN was $2500 but leaving out of Columbus, it was $1750. One of the choices had me connecting in CLE
. Furthermore, if you connect though CLE, your upgrade chances are better than EWR. I find the CLE flights I am least likely to get upgraded on are hub to hub segments on Thur, Fri. Sun PM and Mon AM.
It is however true that CLE is home of the Kenjet. It still beats DL's no segment rule, which effectively eliminates DL from my travel plans, given that I live on the Kenjet segments.
Corp TA'a are a pain in the ... but I have found that many times I can ask them to either book my flight in the lowest class that gets me full miles, or to book the lowest fare (to charge the client) but then I will pay the difference between that fare and the full mileage fare. This is usually less than $100 and the corp TA will take my CC # for the difference between the two fares. I have done this both for local and international flights (when I needed a specific class fare to buy up to F). One vagary of the system is that if you book far ahead (say several months), many times the wonderful CO computer eliminates all of the low discounted fares and the only ones you can book are minimum discounted fares that earn you full mileage. This is another way that I can beat the corp. TA system.
Secondly, you may find that the trans con fare from Pitt to LAX via CLE is cheaper than CLE to LAX. So, rather than driving, it may be better to fly from PIT. For example, I will be going to HLN next month. The R fare (discounted BF) for CLE-HLN was $2500 but leaving out of Columbus, it was $1750. One of the choices had me connecting in CLE
. Furthermore, if you connect though CLE, your upgrade chances are better than EWR. I find the CLE flights I am least likely to get upgraded on are hub to hub segments on Thur, Fri. Sun PM and Mon AM.It is however true that CLE is home of the Kenjet. It still beats DL's no segment rule, which effectively eliminates DL from my travel plans, given that I live on the Kenjet segments.
Oct 13, 2007, 11:42 pm
#45
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Hollywood, Florida
Programs: US Dividend Miles/NW World Perks
Posts: 184
To all my friends on FT, sorry for the sarcasm, but I have been researching other carriers with the intent of possibly doing a status match and definitely am on the verge of moving all of my business over to CO immediately. I've already qualified for Gold on US for 2008 and am currently within striking distance of Silver on CO. United is the only other possibility for me.
Honestly, from my "research" and my personal experience CO seems too good to be true. The recent round of cuts at PIT and the slow, painful spiral of US into an LCC with a (be nice) severely degraded experience for the business traveler has pushed me over the edge. Someone please tell me where I am wrong on this.
1. Newer fleet than US with a continuous fleet upgrade going into 2008 and 2009.
2. B787s coming online in 2010
3. Far superior aircraft cleanliness
4. Much better in-flight service in Y
5. Free snacks in Y
6. Far superior domestic biz class
7. Significantly higher business class to coach seat ratio than US
8. US has been shrinking First while CO is in the process of expanding it.
9. Far superior International product
10. Business First International worthy of a world class airline (redundant but worth mentioning again
)
11. 75,000 Elite MIles (BIS miles) needed for highest elite level as opposed to 100K for US
12. Possibility of 150% Elite miles when purchasing higher fare level. This actually helps me a great deal as I not-infrequently end up buying last minute Y fares
13. Skyteam allows miles when traveling on Delta and Northwest which open up many possibilities for earning miles--all things being equal, better for me than *alliance with United/Air Canada
14. Presidents club (unless I am missing something) seems like a slam dunk compared to the US clubs. Many more cities, many more options with partners including Delta Crown Room and Northwest. Plus many international options. Free booze!! (ok I don't really drink much but its nice to have the option)
15. Cleveland is only an hour and forty-five minute easy drive from my "base" so flights doable directly from CLE as a backup.
16. Good TX connections
17. Mainline B737s PIT-IAH for west coast connections
18. EWR for all its problems still a lot better than PHL in the crappy hub race.
19. Codeshare and award availability through Virgin Atlantic (not sure if US has this)
20. Ability to status match to same level as I am currently
Negatives: From what I can tell, and maybe it is the "grass is greener" scenario, but there aren't many negatives and the ones I can think of are mostly weak points.
1. CLE and IAH still not as good facilities as PIT and CLT though they are close, and I will still O&D a lot out of PIT for the most part
2. IAH somewhat out of the way for Transcons
3. Wierd pricing from what I can tell. CO can occasionally have significantly higher pricing than US, but, of course, I can always use DL or NW.
4. Upgrade rate much lower than US, but my understanding is that the problem is most significant out of EWR and least out of CLE-though I have no illusions about this issue. This is probably the biggest negative.
5. Weak west coast route structure.
6. Virtually no direct flights from my home airports of PIT and LAX except to hubs.
7. Tight seating dimensions/configurations in coach on some A/C
Any comments are much appreciated.
Honestly, from my "research" and my personal experience CO seems too good to be true. The recent round of cuts at PIT and the slow, painful spiral of US into an LCC with a (be nice) severely degraded experience for the business traveler has pushed me over the edge. Someone please tell me where I am wrong on this.
1. Newer fleet than US with a continuous fleet upgrade going into 2008 and 2009.
2. B787s coming online in 2010
3. Far superior aircraft cleanliness
4. Much better in-flight service in Y
5. Free snacks in Y
6. Far superior domestic biz class
7. Significantly higher business class to coach seat ratio than US
8. US has been shrinking First while CO is in the process of expanding it.
9. Far superior International product
10. Business First International worthy of a world class airline (redundant but worth mentioning again
)11. 75,000 Elite MIles (BIS miles) needed for highest elite level as opposed to 100K for US
12. Possibility of 150% Elite miles when purchasing higher fare level. This actually helps me a great deal as I not-infrequently end up buying last minute Y fares
13. Skyteam allows miles when traveling on Delta and Northwest which open up many possibilities for earning miles--all things being equal, better for me than *alliance with United/Air Canada
14. Presidents club (unless I am missing something) seems like a slam dunk compared to the US clubs. Many more cities, many more options with partners including Delta Crown Room and Northwest. Plus many international options. Free booze!! (ok I don't really drink much but its nice to have the option)
15. Cleveland is only an hour and forty-five minute easy drive from my "base" so flights doable directly from CLE as a backup.
16. Good TX connections
17. Mainline B737s PIT-IAH for west coast connections
18. EWR for all its problems still a lot better than PHL in the crappy hub race.
19. Codeshare and award availability through Virgin Atlantic (not sure if US has this)
20. Ability to status match to same level as I am currently
Negatives: From what I can tell, and maybe it is the "grass is greener" scenario, but there aren't many negatives and the ones I can think of are mostly weak points.
1. CLE and IAH still not as good facilities as PIT and CLT though they are close, and I will still O&D a lot out of PIT for the most part
2. IAH somewhat out of the way for Transcons
3. Wierd pricing from what I can tell. CO can occasionally have significantly higher pricing than US, but, of course, I can always use DL or NW.
4. Upgrade rate much lower than US, but my understanding is that the problem is most significant out of EWR and least out of CLE-though I have no illusions about this issue. This is probably the biggest negative.
5. Weak west coast route structure.
6. Virtually no direct flights from my home airports of PIT and LAX except to hubs.
7. Tight seating dimensions/configurations in coach on some A/C
Any comments are much appreciated.
Go for it...why stay with US??? I 've had great experiences with CO.