Well, here comes the Continental/United merger…

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: September 28, 2010

15 comments

Mentally, for me, the Continental/United merger just went from being an abstract thought to a reality. Check out this picture of the first Continental 737 being repainted in, well, Continental colors (with the United name stamped on it).

And rumor has it that starting October 1, Jeff Smisek will be appearing in the United safety videos as “United’s CEO.”

I love Continental and I love United. But darnit, I don’t like to be Conned!

Now I’m dying to know what will happen to the elite levels of the new airline (four tiers? will there be a 125,000 mile tier?) as well as the million miler program (Premier Executive for life as a million miler, or Silver status for member and a companion?)…

More discussion »

Support OMAAT

Conversations (15)

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Comment as a member

Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.

Loading comments…

Recent Comments

The latest from the OMAAT community.

HunterSFO Guest

September 30, 2010, 1:00 am

@Erndog - both airlines feature the perk of waived mileage redeposit fees for top tier elites, however CO is not as strict as United about changes on award tickets after travel begins.

‼ 0

Ralph Guest

September 29, 2010, 9:34 pm

Oh give it a f...ing rest with the "what's going to happen to me" whining. It will be what it will be. Get over it.

‼ 0

Erndog Guest

September 29, 2010, 6:17 pm

How about waived mileage redeposit fees for elites? - CO

‼ 0

HunterSFO Guest

September 29, 2010, 5:58 pm

sorry "Channel 9" above should be UA!

‼ 0

HunterSFO Guest

September 29, 2010, 5:55 pm

I am a loyal UA 1K and love United, but I am also a CO Plat and I Love CO. The problem is that everything I love about one kinda sucks on the other. This merger will either be terrible for me, or a dream come true. If they did what I want, here are the things I'd choose from each in order of importance to me: NO STARNET BLOCKING (Booked SFO-AKL in C for 2 on the first choice dates I wanted in about ten minutes on the first call with a friendly agent at CO) - CO VERY generous routing rules on award tickets without having to argue with the agent and call back several times just to find an agent that follows the airline's actual policy - CO Excellent special treatment of elites, esp top tier - UA Very decent and sometimes actually delicious food in domestic F - CO Having DirecTV onboard - CO Having many extremely dedicated employees that really go above and beyond for the customer - UA *Almost* never having any (i've never noticed any as a plat in 2 years) surly rude lazy employees who clearly hate their job and show it - CO Seeing the upgrade list, standby list, and aircraft info/amenities on my phone - CO generous compensation when something goes wrong - UA Letting me standby even with checked bags and my bag makes it on the new Flight - CO Website that is well designed and actually WORKS - CO The HNL call center - UA Having generally good service 99.99% of the time even without status Confirmed same day change for top tier elites 24 hours in advance instead of 3 and on the web if i want (website sometimes even suggests alternate routings) and still get the upgrade - CO Boarding that doesnt include 2/3 of the passengers boarding the aircraft in one huge "elite" group - UA Clean club louges with working toilets (no trashbags) - CO Well maintaned furniture/carpet/sanitary handling of food in lounge - CO Lounge agents that more often than not smile, greet me by name, and thank me for my business - CO (and one UA guy at IAD) Channel 9 - CO NO paper tray liners EVER, NO paper salt/pepper packs in C/F, yogurt served in real china bowl, not disposable plastic cup it came in - CO Having a VERY young fleet of planes where everything wcrks 99.999% of the time - CO 110 volt power on most aircraft and sometimes even in Y - CO HOT NUTS - UA NO outsourced International call centers - CO Economy Plus (but i never have a problem getting reserved bulkhead/exit row seats free as a platinum on CO) - UA Unfortunately it is possible to end up with the polar opposite of that list. My guess is it will be somewhere in between.

‼ 0