richard

I am seriously considering CO as my primary airline. I use AA and US quite often. I do a lot of last minute travel, full coach fares usually, from different parts of the US mostly. Unpredictable, SEA-SFO-DFW one day, then IAD-HSV, then something else. The other day I had to fly to BOS then surprise! had to get to Chicago for a meeting, etc.

My question for you CO enthusiasts is this: how often can you get the upgrade to F on last minute travel? I have been 95% with AA. The only time I haven't gotten the upgrade using the "stickers" as a platinum is when they cancelled my flight and flew me out on the next flight which had been sold out. They got volunteers and they found me a Y seat, which I was thankful for.

AA has really taken care of me. I'm not thrilled with the MD-80s. I'm a little tired of the food in domestic F although it's okay really. The service has been quite good actually. And they have a lot of routes (for instance, I had to get to SJC from BOS and they fly direct. I have to go DCA-MIA and they have a lot of flights. etc.)

But with CO, I save money by not having to buy "stickers", and they have what I think is better service, nicer equipment, etc.

CO doesn't have as many routes if you exclude NW (I hate NW) and my impression has been that it is very tight up front on most CO flights in terms of avails for last minute upgrades. Is this true?

monitor

That is true. Most CO flights operate with every FC seat filled. As a last minute traveler, you will generally be at a a disadvantage vis-a-vis Elites with advance plans who have picked up most of the seats three days before flight.
CO however, is scrupulous about waitlisting the full fare passenger at the top, so if there is any no-show, he gets the seat.

dgolds

Richard: I'm not sure from the above what your criteria for making the change is, but some of the things I enjoy about CO are:

Good customer service, with lots of friendly people working there
Great baggage service (if you check)
Great FF program, including free upgrades as you noted
Better hubs (IAH, CLE vs. DFW, ORD); I guess EWR vs. JFK is kind of a wash
Terrific transcon and international service in FC (but US's transcon is just as nice)
Very nice Presidents Club at DCA

On the down side:

Partners (as you noted), also a problem for Canadian travel if that's something you do
Award restrictions (Saturday night stay required)
International partners for award travel

I would guess the food is about the same(except for the transcons), and that 95% upgrade percentage is going to be hard to beat. I make my travel arrangements a week in advance or more and never have problems getting upgrades on Y fares; rarely have problems on discount fares.

Sheryl

I'm not so sure I agree that CO Elites pick up most of the FC seats 3 days in advance of the flight. I handle travel arrangements for 4 CO Platinums who are almost always flying on discounted/restricted tickets, and I regularly check FC availability for upgrades on itn.com. I also call the Elite line nearly every day for an upgrade for one or more of them. There have been times where there were as many as 8 available FC seats 3 days in advance, but none were available for a complimentary upgrade. It just all depends on the route. In my experience, CO does, however, open all remaining FC seats for complimentary (Elite) upgrade on the day of the flight.

Further, it is my experience that typically the flights that *sell* out of FC seats are those routes where Y is the only option when there is no Saturday stay, such as BOS-IAH, for example. So if you are going BOS-LAX via IAH, for example, it may be difficult to get a last minute upgrade, no matter what fare you paid, on the IAH-BOS upgrade, because sometimes all FC seats will go to Y-fare paying passengers that purchased their tickets 1 or more weeks in advance.

It is further my understanding that Platinum Elites are listed at the top of the standby list, ahead of non-Elite (or lesser Elite) full fare paying passengers.

Vulcan

I love CO and suggest you go with them. I have two observations.
1. Full Fare customers go ahead of any type of elite if a seat opens up. This is as is should be.

2. CO always holds at least 2 FC seats on all flights until the day of departure for Full Fare paying customers. They are supposed to be released 2 hours before the flight, but it can be anytime from 12 midnight(or 1 am) of the day fo the flight. This is unpredictable. However, if you have access to ITN, you can see at all times which CO flights have FC seats available and the number. You could tinker with your itinerary to reserve one of the flights with open FC seats. If you pay FC, you will get one of these.

doc

Recommend CO over AA just on the basis of the quirky Ex Plat level and mileage/full fare baloney counting toward attaining this elite level which is essential to have if flying AA these days, IMHO.

CO FF

Richard -- As a "lowly" Silver Elite, my upgrade rate is around 70% when I travel without my family -- and I'm starting at EWR. But, I can tell you that probably half the times I didn't get an upgrade, there were seats available (either for revenue or reward) shortly before they opened up for Silvers to upgrade, so I was probably beaten out by other Silvers. You will have a hard time getting F if you book same-day, because of the liberal upgrade rules for Silvers; if you know about a trip even the day before you travel (so you beat the midnight deadline), you should be OK.

Tute84

Since you travel a lot, you will easily reach elite status. From there, you get FREE upgrades if available, and if there is nothing available on day of travel, they will waitlist you for standby.

FC food EWR-LAX is MUCH better than AA - I have flown them both.

Although my info is correct, my opinion is biased, because I am an EWR flyer who HATES connections, even if they'll give me money off the fare. So, of course, I favor Continental over anyone else.

BearX220

Richard -- as Silver or Gold Elite on CO the last couple of years, and almost always flying on straight Y tickets, I can tell you that when I'm organized three or more days in advance, my upgrade batting average is almost 100%. No coupons, no slips of paper to save, no nothing. And when you're Gold and buy a "Y" ticket you're almost always boosted into F automatically. I really appreciate CO's no-fuss, no-paper, no-limit approach to upgrades.

Where I haven't succeeded is when I've flown on very short notice -- same-day or 24-hour -- or changed my booking at the last minute. I've had very little luck with gate upgrades, whether I've been Silver or Gold.

I think CO's staff, food, amenities and overall attitude beat AA hands down... but on the aircraft front, CO -- like AA -- is sneaking more NG 737s onto transcon routes. (Upgrade hounds beware... we're tussling over 12 or 14 F seats on a NG '37, versus 24 on a 757. Hurts our odds.)

On balance I am proud to recommend CO to be your primary airline! But with your travel patterns, I can't swear that you'll end up in the front seats any more than you do now.

dgolds

I just want to second Sheryl's opinion regarding "day of" upgrades. This has been discussed here before. CO will open up FC seats the day of the flight, so even if you don't get your upgrade 72 (or 48) hours before the flight, you could very well get it when you check in.