Two weeks into the merger, Coninental and United have finally officially made available reciprocal ugprades and other seating benefits to their elite members.
Here’s a breakdown of the benefits:
|
Continental |
What is it? |
Comparable to United |
|
Automatic upgrades to any available seat in first class on an eligible flight |
||
|
Economy seating in the exit and bulkhead rows that offers seven inches or more of extra legroom |
||
|
Seating in the first few rows of economy |
Each carrier will still process upgrades differently and United 1Ks seem to benefit the most–they will clear along with Global Services members right after Continental Platinum Elites when flying on CO. Continental Platinum Members will be processed at the same time as Premier Executives and Continental Golds on United (after Global Service and 1K members). This suggests that a CO Gold on a higher priced economy fare would clear before a CO Plat on a lower priced fare on UA flights.
As a Continental Platinum and United 1K, these intricacies won’t effect me, but I would be a bit ticked off if I was only a CO Plat traveling on United…
Information is scant about what happens for members who book codeshare flights, but becuase we haven’t seen any official change in policy, I would assume that those who book a UA-flight number on a CO-operated flight and vice versa will still only be able to standby for an ugprade on the day of travel.
Now that reciprocal upgrades are in place, how about reciprocal voucher usage?
Matthew, does this order of priority apply to both CO and UA operated flights? I was under the impression that the ordering would vary depending on the operating carrier?
@Gene: Ordering will depend on operating carrier. Sorry for not making that clear earlier.
On UA
-GS
-1K
-1P and CO P/G
-2P and CO S
On CO
-CO P
-GS/1K
-CO G/ 1P
-CO S/ 2P