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Systemwide and Regional Upgrade Reciprocity Coming to Continental/United this Summer

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Good news for holders of confirmed upgrades instruments on United and Continental: your upgrade options will soon widen.

This morning I received the following e-mail from United:

We understand how important upgrades are to you. Currently, elite members of both programs enjoy unlimited upgrades on domestic flights on both United and Continental. This summer, you’ll be able to use your Regional and Systemwide upgrades on Continental flights (with a few limitations). And once we have completed our merger, you will enjoy your upgrade benefits across our worldwide network. Rest assured, we are working to make your upgrade experience consistent across our worldwide network, as quickly as possible.

As Lucky suggested, I suspect that the systemwide upgrades will be restricted to "W" fares and above. The other question remains whether these upgrades will have priority over complimentary upgrades on UDU routes flights. Currently, CO clears "supported" upgrades before "complimentary" upgrades. On the other hand, once the 120 hour mark (prior to the flight) hits on United, all upgrades are cleared according Mileage Plus (and now Continental OnePass) status. That means a Premier Executive trying to use a systemwide upgrade on a LAX-SFO flight would not clear before a 1K vying for a complimentary upgrade. I personally like that policy, but from a commercial perspective I understand that CO’s model makes more sense.

I look forward to giving CO’s BusinessFirst product a try without having to shell out $$$ or miles for the ticket.

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Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120 countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying international relations, American government, and later obtaining a law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles. Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the direction and coordination of company travel.

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2 Comments

  1. David Reply

    Do we know what “this summer” means? I’m looking to book a flight outbound on UA and back on CO. I was gonna try to trade a UA SWU for a CO SWU.

  2. Matthew Reply

    @David: I wish I knew, but all the info I have is above. I recently tried to trade a UA SWU for a CO SWU to no avail. Right now, CO SWUs are a lot more valuable–no fare class restrictions and as I mentioned above, they are prioritized over elite upgrades on UDU flights.

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