MilesBuzz! - Running away from Delta - would you choose UA or AA in my case?

Have been a Platinum on NW for years, now Platinum on Delta. This year will end up with around 120K BIS, if I wanted to I could go for the new Diamond on Delta, but really see no enticing benefits, primarily the complete lack of usability of Delta SWUs (unless on the very expensive M fares and up).

Here is my story:
- live and work in Chicago
- travel for business primarily in the US, South America and occasionally Asia (Japan, Singapore, China, Korea)
- annual travel (realistically) about 100K BIS miles (for the past two years its been more around 120K but want to be cautious in my 2010 estimates)
- travel exclusively on the cheapest coach fares as required by employer (not necessariliy in the cheapest bucket, but one of the 4 cheapest buckets usually)
- personal travel is mostly on awards using miles from business travel
- upgrades domestically and internationally both are very important (thats why Delta was fabulous domestically but internationally it just doesn't work for upgrades, here is where usability of the SWUs comes in play)
- travel to MOW on award travel and sometimes on paid coach (and upgrade) about 3 times a year, need a decent choice of options traveling there


Both AA and UA offer enticing choices, AA has 8 SWUs at EXP level with the ability to use on all fares, UA has 6 at 1K with the ability to use on all but 3 lowest fares; AA has unlimited domestic upgrades at EXP level, UA will have unlimited upgrades at all levels starting second quarter 2010 a la Delta (meaning don't have to fly coach the entire year before hitting EXP on AA, for instance), UA has much better route structure to both Asia and MOW, AA has a better South American structure (not that importnat) but usually is cheaper from ORD to all my destinations (probably because they consitantly try to undercut UA on the same routes) and offers upgrades via eVIPs on all fares. Also, AA requires $200 for a challenge and only gives your Plat after one complete the challenge, UA doesn't charge for it and gives the Premier Executive right away. UA has E+ is I have to do coach, AA doesn't.

Also, seems like partners in OW earn very few if any miles on AA if booked in cheaper buckets (unless booked as AA codeshare which would be quite expensive usually), not sure if thats the same issue with UA or not. With these restrictions it would be harder to get to the EXP or 1K level every year (DL is very good about it, basically almost all fares post as 100% miles even from partners), so the ability to earn more full miles while flying with partners is also of importance in this case.

I am really torn between the two. Given those parameters, what would you do?

Our community can certainly beat this to death debating which is the better program or alliance.
Its of my opinion you can do no wrong in either program when you are coming from Delta.
Though my preference leans towards suggesting Star Alliance based on your post I am primarily program driven after all these years.
American IMO runs a better fairer program with really good perks.Some of course may disagree.So in suggesting a program to you from my own perspective it would be American/One World first hands down

Trust is also really important in a relationship along with well trained well spoken English speaking agents that are easy to reach.
Despite the bumps in the road American has rarely let me down and fixed problems anytime it has mattered to me.That includes a complaint about a flight or getting something posted to my account.
In Tokyo with a canceled flight AA pro actively posted 20k to my account without ever my mentioning the concern to them.

Award availability has been the best of any North American program.Perfect no better yes.Individual results will always vary.
Recently introduced one way awards in One world rock. They were previosly only available through international One World partner programs

United/Star Alliance was once the Gold Standard. However based on Star Net blocking and a number of other sins I don't find it the top choice anymore
That said a few of my colleagues have stayed loyal to United despite their constant complaining :D
Star Alliance partners are sweet

Im sure you wil find some more in depth comments added to your thread.
It took me a many years and trying most domestic FF programs at most tiers to come up with my own conclusion.Good luck in making the right choice for you
Cheers

Our community can certainly beat this to death debating which is the better program or alliance.
Its of my opinion you can do no wrong in either program when you are coming from Delta.
Though my preference leans towards suggesting Star Alliance based on your post I am primarily program driven after all these years.
American IMO runs a better fairer program with really good perks.Some of course may disagree.So in suggesting a program to you from my own perspective it would be American/One World first hands down

Trust is also really important in a relationship along with well trained well spoken English speaking agents that are easy to reach.
Despite the bumps in the road American has rarely let me down and fixed problems anytime it has mattered to me.That includes a complaint about a flight or getting something posted to my account.
In Tokyo with a canceled flight AA pro actively posted 20k to my account without ever my mentioning the concern to them.

Award availability has been the best of any North American program.Perfect no better yes.Individual results will always vary.
Recently introduced one way awards in One world rock. They were previosly only available through international One World partner programs

United/Star Alliance was once the Gold Standard. However based on Star Net blocking and a number of other sins I don't find it the top choice anymore
That said a few of my colleagues have stayed loyal to United despite their constant complaining :D
Star Alliance partners are sweet

Im sure you wil find some more in depth comments added to your thread.
It took me a many years and trying most domestic FF programs at most tiers to come up with my own conclusion.Good luck in making the right choice for you
Cheers

Thank you very much for your thoughful post, 777 global mile hound, its much appreciated!

Of course, IMO the final determinant should be "who goes where I go for business?" When I am traveling on business I look for the most direct and quickest way to get somewhere and have not hesitated to change programs three times in the last seven years as schedules and locations have changed.

That being said, it is clear to me that the *Alliance carrier should be the favorite if there is no other criterion that needs to be satisfied. The only problem here is that UA is really such a poorly managed company and its service is so wildly inconsistent that it would certainly be hard for me to want to fly them on a regular basis. The Starnet blocking is really just a final insult to its customers.

All other things being equal (and when does that happen?), I'd give the edge to AA for the better program IF you can get to EXP. Yes, sitting in their Y is pretty bad (and UA's E+ is SO much better), but the generally larger F cabins on AA's domestic flights will give you a much better chance to get into them, provided you are able to avoid booking at the last minute (particularly since you usually buy cheaper fares, if you can book in advance, you'll be higher up on the AA UG list than you would be as a low-fare customer on UA). I've found award availability on AA much better than on UA. And I cannot sing the praises of the EXP desk sufficiently. They stand in stark contrast to my telephone experiences with UA, even in my 1K years. Also, since you are buying cheap fares, you don't sound like a UGS candidate, and on UA I found it very clear that as a 1K you are NOT their top tier; on AA as an EXP you feel that you are.
But in the final analysis, if an airline can't get you where you're going with minimal delays and uncertainty, it's really not the airline for you. So I'd look long and hard at route structure before deciding.

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions. It looks like although Star Alliance offers better choices in terms of number of airlines and options, One World still gets me where I need to go and offers a better award availability (important), support from EXP desk (important) and a generally better program (provided I can get EXP which is what I am aiming at anyway). Even though it will be more uncomfortable during the switch (coach with no E+, $200 for challenge, etc.), in the longer run AA is a better choice, and thats what I am leaning towards to, thanks for everyone's input. Safe travels!

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions. It looks like although Star Alliance offers better choices in terms of number of airlines and options, One World still gets me where I need to go and offers a better award availability (important), support from EXP desk (important) and a generally better program (provided I can get EXP which is what I am aiming at anyway). Even though it will be more uncomfortable during the switch (coach with no E+, $200 for challenge, etc.), in the longer run AA is a better choice, and thats what I am leaning towards to, thanks for everyone's input. Safe travels!

Let us know how you're doing...
Can you do a couple of quick MRs this year? If you can fly 25K, you could make it to Plat without paying the $200 challenge fee, by taking advantage of the Double EQM promotion, which lasts until mid-December.
And if you're buying any 500-mile UG certs during the interim before you get to EXP, you can console yourself that they're cheaper on AA than on UA.

Let us know how you're doing...
Can you do a couple of quick MRs this year? If you can fly 25K, you could make it to Plat without paying the $200 challenge fee, by taking advantage of the Double EQM promotion, which lasts until mid-December.
And if you're buying any 500-mile UG certs during the interim before you get to EXP, you can console yourself that they're cheaper on AA than on UA.

You are absolutely right, i should have booked my remanining trips on AA this year, instead I procrastinated and went with Delta for all my remianing business bookings till the end of the year. Thats the price you pay when you wait.

Good point about 500-milers, didnt realize AA ones are cheaper than UA.

I was in the same boat. NW Plat 2MM lifetime BIS, etc. Used to be totally satisfied, but then NW made it almost impossible to get upgrades to business on international flights. I ended up switching to UAL. The downsides... on time services is not as good. Food not as good. Upside and the three things that matter most to me. 1) They fly where I want to go. 2) Can usually get upgrades on international flights. 3) The new business class seats are good (better than AA I think).

Really depends on what your priorities are.

You are absolutely right, i should have booked my remanining trips on AA this year, instead I procrastinated and went with Delta for all my remianing business bookings till the end of the year. Thats the price you pay when you wait.

Good point about 500-milers, didnt realize AA ones are cheaper than UA.

AA is very strong to South America. You can take a Platinum challenge on your first trip south, and make Plat right away. Check out the AA wiki.

I think it depends on what you want to do with your miles. If you want to actually use your miles for award travel to exotic destination stay away from United like the plague.

I was mid tier with both UA and AA but am not anymore. I will tell you this, I needed to go to CMB (my wife is from there) over the 2010 summer in J and United told me they couldn't get me there period (thanks to the wonders of blocking Starnet flights). AA was able to get me to CMB with a overnight layover in Toronto on Cathay Pacific. The bottom line is that you can use AA miles for the trip YOU want and not what UA's Starnet blocking team will allow you to use.

I think it depends on what you want to do with your miles. If you want to actually use your miles for award travel to exotic destination stay away from United like the plague.

I was mid tier with both UA and AA but am not anymore. I will tell you this, I needed to go to CMB (my wife is from there) over the 2010 summer in J and United told me they couldn't get me there period (thanks to the wonders of blocking Starnet flights). AA was able to get me to CMB with a overnight layover in Toronto on Cathay Pacific. The bottom line is that you can use AA miles for the trip YOU want and not what UA's Starnet blocking team will allow you to use.

I REALLY want to go with AA, truth be told, but their entry rules ($200 for a challenge, status only after and not during completion of the challenge, EQP instead of EQMs during the challenge) make it hard to decide, especially considering that when I fly to DME I would always have to return on 5:35am BA flight from DME which is an insane timing. Plus UA has E+.

I hate UA. Really do (many factors too personal to list here), but they do seem to satisfy my travel patterns more (except for South America, where I really mostly fly to GRU and GIG and United does fly to those airports), this is just really hartd to decide (8 vs 6 SWUs for 1K vs EXP also come in play). Feel like I am going mad.

Star Alliance is stronger to South America now that CO has joined.

IMO, don't go with AA.

I have been under the AA umbrella for the past 10 years. I have lifetime 1.5 million miles with AA and have Gold status for life (previously Exec Platinum and Platinum). I don't know much about other programs but to me anything would be better than AA. If we were in 1999, I would highly recommend AA as they were so great at that time. But we're at a period where AA is the king of nickel and diming customers. Elite status means little now so it doesn't seem worth it. Almost half of each plane trip has "elite" status customers whereas before it was truly difficult to obtain these levels. Also, so many people nowadays have AAdvantage miles through so many programs that using AAdvantage miles for free award travel has become very difficult. This means not getting the time you want for your award trip or that only a handful of seats are available (AA won't tell you how many) for any given flight. I'm sure they exclude free award travel for those high demand schedules but won't tell you this - only that it's not available.

I have since switched to Southwest Airlines. I think overall they are great and the only single exception is the connection required if you fly out of Dallas Love Field. I understand this will go away in the very near future. Regardless, even with the connection, I'm still very happy with SW. The fact that SW doesn't nickle and dime customers is something I value greatly. They seem very efficient, constantly on time for departure and arrival.

One last thing that bugs me with AA. In past years, they used to have young, vibrant, and sometimes attractive flight attendants. Now all I see are mature and grumpy attendants. This is quite obvious when you travel international. Maybe you have noticed this as well. While this is your decision, use my experience to help you make an informed decision.

If you want to fly coach in the US, Southwest is a great airline.

As a mid-tier with AA I always had had a reasonable chance of upgrades and now as a top-tier I love the long haul SWUs.

As far as half of the plane being elites, I'm not sure what you base that on, but my wife bought a ticket from FRA-DFW-ATL-ORD-FRA one week before the flight and got an exit row on each flight at the time of booking. In 4 ORD-DFW flights this year as both a PLT and EXP I had upgrades clear. I take that to mean that the flights weren't as elite heavy as you suspect.


IMO, don't go with AA.

IMO, don't go with AA.

I have been under the AA umbrella for the past 10 years. I have lifetime 1.5 million miles with AA and have Gold status for life (previously Exec Platinum and Platinum). I don't know much about other programs but to me anything would be better than AA. If we were in 1999, I would highly recommend AA as they were so great at that time. But we're at a period where AA is the king of nickel and diming customers. Elite status means little now so it doesn't seem worth it. Almost half of each plane trip has "elite" status customers whereas before it was truly difficult to obtain these levels. Also, so many people nowadays have AAdvantage miles through so many programs that using AAdvantage miles for free award travel has become very difficult. This means not getting the time you want for your award trip or that only a handful of seats are available (AA won't tell you how many) for any given flight. I'm sure they exclude free award travel for those high demand schedules but won't tell you this - only that it's not available.

I have since switched to Southwest Airlines. I think overall they are great and the only single exception is the connection required if you fly out of Dallas Love Field. I understand this will go away in the very near future. Regardless, even with the connection, I'm still very happy with SW. The fact that SW doesn't nickle and dime customers is something I value greatly. They seem very efficient, constantly on time for departure and arrival.

One last thing that bugs me with AA. In past years, they used to have young, vibrant, and sometimes attractive flight attendants. Now all I see are mature and grumpy attendants. This is quite obvious when you travel international. Maybe you have noticed this as well. While this is your decision, use my experience to help you make an informed decision.

My fellow forum member with all due respect to your well spirited opinions the good days are gone forever at every airline to some degree.
Glad to hear you have found satisfaction with Southwest
Thats good news

To say American has poor award seat selection is simply not accurate
Statistically they have amongst the best redemption seat record of any Legacy Carrier in this country with statistics to prove it.
That is not to say you haven’t had difficulty redeeming.I think it is safe to say many of us have difficulty from time to time.
I really believe the OP is seeking an international alliance as much as I assume you are satisfied with Southwest

Few airlines have the programs like United and American with exceptional partners to redeem on.IMO a few nickel and dimes are well worth it
We all dislike fees for the most part
As an elite I have only once ever had to pay an excess baggage fee
It was reasonable when I look at the value I receive from the program annually.Perhaps because I am am elite.I am over rewarded for the revenue I bring to the company

Cheers

To the OP: I am reading all this with fascination, as I also recently burned my last Skymiles and am looking for a new home, albeit without the heavy annual paid miles you accummulate; and int'l. options for award travel are also paramount with me. While I can't add anything to the reasoned thoughts of the other posters here, I can add a further idea for your consideration: would CO's program also be an alternative for you, now that they are in Star; doesn't booking awards thru them avoid the blocking issue with UA, wouldn't UA paid miles accrue into your account with them equally, wouldn't their S. American network help balance out UA's weakness there; and certainly you get access to the more valued team members in the Alliance that way -- just food for thought...

I have been under the AA umbrella for the past 10 years. I have lifetime 1.5 million miles with AA and have Gold status for life (previously Exec Platinum and Platinum).

Just a little longer than me. I have 8 years at the EXP level and 2.6 million miles, mostly from flying. I moved to AA from UA after labor issues there in 2002.

If we were in 1999, I would highly recommend AA as they were so great at that time. But we're at a period where AA is the king of nickel and diming customers.

The only fee that I worry about as a top tier flyer there is the award redeposit fee of $150. No charge for baggage or dealing with a rep on the phone. What fees are you referring to? It looks like the OP will fly enough to make top tier, and could easily do a challenge to get to midtier quickly.

Also, so many people nowadays have AAdvantage miles through so many programs that using AAdvantage miles for free award travel has become very difficult.

You might need to have some flexibility in dates, but the seats are out there. I have a business class award to Australia next year, and booked similar awards the last two years (though they were One World awards with multiple destinations in Asia and Australia--I don't think UA offers a similar product). AA got me tickets to the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and to Athens in 2004. From posts in the UA forum, UA could only get their flyers as far as Shanghai in 2008 and they had to make their own arrangements to get to Beijing. I'm pretty happy with award availability and I burn miles every year.

In past years, they used to have young, vibrant, and sometimes attractive flight attendants. Now all I see are mature and grumpy attendants. This is quite obvious when you travel international.

AA hasn't expanded like some other carriers, so no need to hire new flight attendants. They eliminated 921 more flight attendants on October 1. I haven't ran across the grumpy flight attendants in the 120,000 paid miles I've flown this year.

There is one area that someone coming to AA as a discounted economy traveler needs to be aware of, though, and that is partner travel to Asia. Some Cathay flights in discounted coach don't earn any miles, and flights on Qantas earn 50%. AA has a whole page devoted to it, so be careful to read over it and see how you would be impacted. That issue alone could make the decision for you.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/partners/airlines/main.jsp

Also, a word on systemwides. UA requires you "buy up" to a higher fare to use them, and I see the OP has done some research on that. Talking with FTers at various events, they tell me these fares can run up to $1,000 extra to Australia, or as little as $100 to London. AA, on the other hand, does not require you to "buy up" to a higher fare. Just make sure what the fare differences are, and whether they fall within your budget.

I'm pretty happy at AA, having cleared 45 domestic upgrades this year (100%) and 10 systemwides which all cleared at booking (100%). I get a sense from following the UA forum that advance clearance with systemwides is not as common there and lots of folks clear at the gate (and some don't clear at all, even with the higher priced fares to use the systemwides).

To the OP: I am reading all this with fascination, as I also recently burned my last Skymiles and am looking for a new home, albeit without the heavy annual paid miles you accummulate; and int'l. options for award travel are also paramount with me. While I can't add anything to the reasoned thoughts of the other posters here, I can add a further idea for your consideration: would CO's program also be an alternative for you, now that they are in Star; doesn't booking awards thru them avoid the blocking issue with UA, wouldn't UA paid miles accrue into your account with them equally, wouldn't their S. American network help balance out UA's weakness there; and certainly you get access to the more valued team members in the Alliance that way -- just food for thought...

Thank you for great suggestion. Your points make total sense, but: I actually did think about CO quite a bit, but at the end of the day decided against them because they don't have SWU's. They still require miles and copay for Intl upgrades, and I would rather accumulate miles for straight award redemption in premium cabins and use SWU's for upgrades on buisness intl flights.

I also truly appreciated tom911's thoughtful post (as well as others great help in this thread), as it stands right now, my two concerns with AA are the very limited schedule into MOW (since I fly there 3 times a year, getting up to make that 5:45am BA flight to LHR to connect to AA is just brutal), and they really don't have that many options for going there. Additionally, their challenge to PLT: I don't want to pay $200 for the priviledge to give them even more money on non-GNOQS fares in the first 3 months of 2010 (when i would be doing the challenge). My calculations are such that with my business schedules in the first three months of next year I will be struggling to make 15,000 EQPs (due to the cheap fares I am required to purchase, essentially i would have to fly 30,000 BIS miles and all on AA metal or AA codeshares, and the codeshares I won't be able to book because they are usually more expensive).

South America is not that important to me, since I mostly would fly to GRU and EZE where UA flies anyway, also CO now offers more options for me there.

The real battle in my mind is the following: 8 eVIPS vs 6 SWUs, AA ability to use eVIPS on all fares vs UA superior schedule to where I fly. Also, someone pointed it out, AA EXP is more a truly top level in the program compared to 1K's (UA has UGS which is truly top level and I won't get there, and AA has Consierge Key but in reality only very few people have it so EXP would still be treated as true top level with AA).

Do you have a corporate travel agent? We have seen some posts on the AA forum about corporate agents being able to offer status matches at some companies (up to midtier I would suspect), so if that avenue is open to you something to look at.

Do you have a corporate travel agent? We have seen some posts on the AA forum about corporate agents being able to offer status matches at some companies (up to midtier I would suspect), so if that avenue is open to you something to look at.

I do have a corporate Travel agent, but they are not willing to request anything from AA as UA is our preferred carrier. They will request a status match from UA (most likely will get mid tier as well), but AA is not something they are even willing to consider. Incidentally, I have noticed that on almost all my routes AA is consitantly cheaper than UA, but that doesn't seem to matter to our travel department, which is completely useless, by the way.

You may want to consider the volume of your travel.

If it is low enough volume that you are unlikely to reach status even by concentrating on one airline, you may want to just choose whatever airline is best for your flight, and put the miles or points in the smallest number of airlines (through alliances and partnerships) so that you eventually gain awards every few years.

If it is high enough volume that you can reach a desired level of status on multiple airlines, you might want to again consider using the best airline for a given flight, while still reaching status levels and collecting awards.

If either of the above patterns fits you, then Chicago gives you a fairly good choice of flights from UA and AA at ORD, and WN at MDW (though WN points expire quickly enough that its program does not work well for the low volume flyer).

You may want to consider the volume of your travel.

If it is low enough volume that you are unlikely to reach status even by concentrating on one airline, you may want to just choose whatever airline is best for your flight, and put the miles or points in the smallest number of airlines (through alliances and partnerships) so that you eventually gain awards every few years.

If it is high enough volume that you can reach a desired level of status on multiple airlines, you might want to again consider using the best airline for a given flight, while still reaching status levels and collecting awards.

If either of the above patterns fits you, then Chicago gives you a fairly good choice of flights from UA and AA at ORD, and WN at MDW (though WN points expire quickly enough that its program does not work well for the low volume flyer).

Neither option fits me, as I mentioned in my OP. I can accumulate enough BIS to be the top tier in only one program (annual travel around 120K), so splitting between AA and UA is not an option. WN is not an option for many reasons I have listed in my original post.

You have now had the benefit of the collective technical advice of those on this forum, and it has really been comprehensive. I may be wrong, but I think that many if not most would agree that each program has real advantages and disadvantages compared to the other and that based on dispassionate logic alone there is no overwhelmingly clear choice. I also think that many if not most would agree that either program is an improvement over SkyTeam (that is certainly my own personal belief). I am AA plat-for-life, but have also flown many thousands of miles w/UA on trips where it made sense, and thought them to be in general a legacy carrier as well-run as most. I would never argue with anyone who chose to give them their business. But I did notice that in one of your earlier posts, you said "I hate UA." Many things in life are not rational; they just are. I suspect that if you choose UA you will soon regret it, as every bad experience will reinforce your existing bias and you will hate them even more and hate feeling stuck with them. I'm not trying to be critical of your views/feelings (or of UA for that matter). I'm just saying your gut feelings are what they are and you may just end up being happier with AA even if on some technical points it does not win out over UA. Just my $0.02. Good luck.

I'm a current UA 1K. Likely migrating back to AA next year because of my destination mix, not any real dissatisfaction with UA.

My thoughts about UA 1K...I don't know much about AA EXP.

- The ability to issue, change repeatedly, and redeposit awards at will is a wonderful benefit. I use it often.

- The ability to book any ticket via phone or at the airport is helpful in some cases. (I'm guessing AA EXP allows this too.)

- The award stopover is incredibly valuable to me. I like that AA has one-way awards, but I also like that UA didn't immediately follow and instead kept the stopover in place.

- My average buy-up on my six SWUs this year has been about $85 per seat. All six have been used TATL. All confirmed at booking time. Caveat: all were available only on 777's. The 777 is a big La-Z-Boy style C seat. The 767's have had new lie-flat seats installed. Finding NC availability on these flights has been notoriously hard, as many on the UA board will attest.

- Starnet filtering sucks if you're trying to fly TATL on a better C soft product like LH. I've been able to craft some fairly interesting awards in my recent years with UA, but definitely set your expectations that you're flying UA metal as far as it will take you. No problems flying LH metal beyond FRA, but lately I've found that UA wants to keep you on UA to FRA. (Similar Starnet filtering problems have been reported TPAC.) Once in a while, I've gotten lucky: I got LH F two years ago IAD-FRA and back, but I think I booked that trip before the filtering reached the level it's at today.

- I'm 100% in domestic F as a 1K. (Coming from a mid-con location, I'm not on the "toughest" domestic upgrades like SFO-IAD.)

- UA has no "soft landing". A 1K with 0 miles this year loses all status. I think AA still offers soft landings, so if you think your travel will drop off in 2011 or beyond, that might be important.

- UA has a formal rule published that 1K's will be accommodated on all forced overnights - even for WX/ATC misconnects. I recall an AA thread that indicated this wasn't a published EXP benefit, although I'm not sure if they do it in practice.

- The ability to book coach awards in the NY (1K-only) bucket has been helpful to me in a couple cases. You are allowed to book NY seats for other people, which is nice. I just booked a DTW-LAX round trip for March 2010 on flights that were XY0 NY1 for my mother-in-law. (I also checked AA for these dates - no awards available in either cabin.) Only catch: the "extra" availability is coach only and UA only - not *A-wide.

UA has E+ but as a Gold, Platinum and EP member on AA you can reserve exit row seats which I like more then E+. As an EP and later as a Platinum, the only time I had any problem reserving exit rows on AA is when I've changed my ticket last minute and even then I almost always was able to get an exit row at check-in. Now that I have no status on AA I know why I had no trouble getting exit row seats as an elite.....I was booked in a middle seat MIA-JFK last week. At the gate I asked if I could swap for a window or an aisle, forget about exit row. Twice I was denied but I watched as the AAgent cleared a number of folks into exit row seats. AA seems to hold those premium seats for elite members.

Also, the ability to get work done and stay connected in-flight is a big deal for me. AA has in-seat power outlets in First, Biz and Coach. United only has them in First and Biz. Something to keep in mind when comparing UA E+ to AA E. And, UA only has in-flight wifi on p.s. flights JFK-SFO/LAX. AA has wifi on the same transcons plus JFK-MIA and an increasing number of MD80 and 737 flights. For more info see: http://www.aa.com/wifi

AA EP's get expanded award availability over other AAdvantage members which was very useful for me. I imagine UA 1K get similar.

As others have mentioned the AA EP desk is stellar.

And AA/BA/IB antitrust immunity may finally go through which could open up many more mile earning and redemption opportunities for you transatlantic.

But in the meantime the 5:35am BA flight out of Moscow isn't your only one-stop option back to Chicago. IB has a good daily connection leaving DME at 7:25am with a 75min connection in Madrid putting you back in ORD at 2:20pm.

Enjoy.

UA has E+ but as a Gold, Platinum and EP member on AA you can reserve exit row seats which I like more then E+.

Just to be clear as a 1P aka Premier Executive = AA gold, you can also reserve Exit row seats in advance of your flight. Exit rows on the 757 and the Airbii twins are a pretty good consolation prize if you don't get upgraded to first, some even prefer those seats to the First seats. UA has E+ in addition to exit row seats so in case you do have a last minute ticket you would at least end up in E+ instead of E-. That is a huge advantage for UA, especially if you are going to be sitting in Y all the time.

Just to be clear as a 1P aka Premier Executive = AA gold, you can also reserve Exit row seats in advance of your flight. Exit rows on the 757 and the Airbii twins are a pretty good consolation prize if you don't get upgraded to first, some even prefer those seats to the First seats. UA has E+ in addition to exit row seats so in case you do have a last minute ticket you would at least end up in E+ instead of E-. That is a huge advantage for UA, especially if you are going to be sitting in Y all the time.

AA GLD is actually equivalent to most other carriers' Silver, so UA 2P Premier in this instance. AA GLDs can request exit rows fine though. As I understand it only 1p can request exit row seating.

lots of good points already made, but, just to throw it out there, have you thought about splitting miles on CO and AA?

You can match to CO Plat and make EXP on AA next year to figure out if you like *A or OW more.

Or you could keep both: CO Plat is 75K EQM and AA PLT is 50K, which is near the 120K total you mentioned.

Any reason you didn't mention CO as an option? ORD is not a hub for them, but something to consider maybe.

EDIT: About earning partner miles - CO looks like it's more generous than UA for lowest fare buckets on some partners, but probably won't make a huge difference. Partner miles on AA for the lowest buckets are usually useless or close to it. But during some sales, codeshare segments will be sold for the same price (like NRT-SIN).

AA GLD is actually equivalent to most other carriers' Silver, so UA 2P Premier in this instance. AA GLDs can request exit rows fine though. As I understand it only 1p can request exit row seating.

Correct: you need to be 1P or higher to reserve exit row at booking-time. UA 2P can book anywhere else in E+. At the gate, if exit row is available, the 2P can be reassigned there. (That is, there isn't a separate upcharge for exit row for someone Economy Plus eligible.)

Booking exit row as an AA Gold is a nice perk. I'm honestly surprised at how easy it is to do so, given how many AA elites there are in this world.

CO Plat might yield the same or better mileage-earning value, but out of ORD he's be on a ton of UA metal with just the basic *G treatment. Priority screening/boarding, etc. but a lot of time in the back of the plane. Within the U.S. carriers, I don't think I'd want to fly a ton of segments on any carrier without the "native" status.

When you are in the middle of the country it makes choosing an alliance a bit harder, I personally prefer AA, while they aren't perfect 40,000 RT to BsAs are a big plus for me!! To do the same on Continental would cost 55,000 miles. I used the last of my UA miles to fly to South Africa this year. Now that those are spent no more UA for me :)

So go with Oneworld, you get great service to South America and you can use Cathay Pacific for your Asia trips.

Also!! Try LAN to South America, I really like them! They wouldn't work for GRU or GIG but if you find yourself going to Chile, Peru, Argentina or Uruguay they are great!!

I'm biased but I much prefer the foreign airlines internationally than the US based ones, the service I received in economy on SAA and LAN were unparalleled! On my JNB to IAD SAA flight the stewardess loaded my seatback pocket with 2 Windhoek's, 3 different wines an Appletizer and a water, then told me to call her if I need anything else :)

Adam

When you are in the middle of the country it makes choosing an alliance a bit harder, I personally prefer AA, while they aren't perfect 40,000 RT to BsAs are a big plus for me!!


Well, look on the bright side: I look at it as having decent choices from all three alliances if my frequent destination mix ever changes. From MCI, it's one-stop through a hub to get pretty much anywhere beyond the U.S., so from a routing/scheduling perspective things are reasonably equal.

Another thing I always like in my AA years: the 40k off-peak Europe award. Even though we all like biz awards better, it's hard to argue with 40k Y seats if you can get exit row and want to converse miles for bigger trips later. Especially if we're talking one-stop to a western European gateway where the lack of lounge access for an AA Gold isn't really that big of a deal.

For a while last year LAN was redeeming like %33 miles on the cheapest long haul flights. But they just changed it back, so flights out of south america, now earn %100, but the within south america are only %33 or something crazy like that.

AA also has an alliance with GOL for flights within brazil. That puts them about equal with TAM. Personally i kind of prefer gol, in a jetblue/south west kind of way. But i'm flying TAM MVD-GRU and back next week, so i'll get a better comparison.

While UA and CO both fly to south america, AA runs more flights. Also AA flies to half a dozen cities in brazil directly.

For what its worth, I left NW/DL for AA in October and haven't looked back since. AA has been great. Their planes are clean, their staff is friendly and their elite line is extremely warm and helpful (like Chisolm). The best thing about AA is that you don't have to connect in ATL or SLC!

I REALLY want to go with AA, truth be told, but their entry rules ($200 for a challenge, status only after and not during completion of the challenge, EQP instead of EQMs during the challenge) make it hard to decide, especially considering that when I fly to DME I would always have to return on 5:35am BA flight from DME which is an insane timing. Plus UA has E+.

I hate UA. Really do (many factors too personal to list here), but they do seem to satisfy my travel patterns more (except for South America, where I really mostly fly to GRU and GIG and United does fly to those airports), this is just really hartd to decide (8 vs 6 SWUs for 1K vs EXP also come in play). Feel like I am going mad.

Yes, the reaching DME with AA is difficult, now that they dropped the ORD-DME. I will have to stopover in LHR on the way back in January: I cannot take the 5:30am flight since I am connecting at DME.

WOW hot topic !
here is my one cent reply:

AA easiest for booking RTW fares. Good call center in USA. ( IMHO it is always nice to be understood) AA great seats in first on the 767-300.

UA has better business class international. (They own SFO... Best first class international lounge at SFO) I will lose my One K this year, they just don't take care of business and the pilots and employes are always complaining.

like I said hot topic and it only was worth 1 cent. ( my bad)

I am both 1K on UA and EXP on AA (among other things) - and I normally buy economy tickets. AA does have advantages at the EXP tier:

- more upgrades (both VIPs and more domestic availability)
- no significant higher tier like UGS
- first-class check-in and lounges on international flights
- better redemption (and elite bonuses on some carriers)
- far, far better customer service than United (because I live in the UK I often have to deal with the Pune operation)

But that said UA's E+ is really good and if someone really feels uncomfortable in AA's seats in economy, it might well be better to go with UA despite all the other shortcomings. I know I always appreciate the extra space that UA has -- for me, AA is still better and I would drop UA before AA as well as others such as CO PLT -- but I don't mind that much the long flights in economy.

[QUOTE=asnovici;12727762]I REALLY want to go with AA, truth be told, but their entry rules ($200 for a challenge, status only after and not during completion of the challenge, EQP instead of EQMs during the challenge) make it hard to decide

I suggest looking at the $200 as an investment towards you EXP by end of CY2010. Just do the challenge on a trip to South America and you will hit it in one round trip.

Once EXP you will probably be upgraded on all domestic flights. Also the 8 SWU can be used on international long hauls since you have to purchase coach.

I have since switched to Southwest Airlines. I think overall they are great and the only single exception is the connection required if you fly out of Dallas Love Field.

Well that and they intentionally, systematically ignored routine maintenance on pretty much all of their planes. Not a big deal, just the kind of stuff that makes flying actually safe. They got the biggest fine on record for it. The US is a very corporate friendly country. When you get fined millions here, you have done something really, really bad.

...Plus WN's schedule to MOW is pretty weak...that's probably a deal-breaker for the OP. ;)