MilesBuzz! - United or AA Premium Program?

I'm close to elite status on both of these programs, but have to choose one. Any thoughts on which is the better choice? In the past, I've leaned towards United because they have a lot of flights out of LAX, my home base, and have (or had) more non-stop flights to Latin America, although it looks like some of this is ending. Plus, I'm a bit worried about them going under soon. Your insights are appreciated. Thanks.

In the end, you'll probably make the decision based on which one flies where you want to go most frequently, but I will throw two cents in for AA here. I am currently both Prem Ex and Platinum, but am moving towards a future where I will only be able to keep Premier or Gold status on one of the two. Next year, I will pursue continued elite on AA, eventually losing all status on UA.

My #1 reason for choosing AA is the level of service and respect I get from AA as a low/mid-elite vs. that which I get from UA. Not that AA is overly snuggly or anything: I just think they treat me fairly when I fly them. That's not free upgrades or waived fees or anything like that: it's just common courtesies like no hold time on the phone, reasonable lines to check in, and reasonable assistance when my flight gets canceled or whatnot. AA just seems to have friendly employees. I'm sure UA has a lot of friendly people too, but they seem to staff the unfriendly ones to work whenever they notice that *I* am traveling that day.

Other factors that helped my decision were MRTC, award availability (in my experience), the fact that they fly where I need to go, and the fact that I'm close to 1 million lifetime miles and the Gold status that brings with it.

I thought a little bit about the financial strength of AMR vs. UAL, but not much. Even if one of them were to go bankrupt (Ch. 11), I don't think they would cease to exist because they are just too doggone big.

[This message has been edited by pinniped (edited 11-13-2002).]

Having been PremEx on UA and PLT on AA, I would offer that I have found AA to be by far the better of the two, largely because I have found AA to be
* more reliable
* more service oriented (in part because of their SOS program)
* nicer lounges

In UA's favor, they do have a much nicer fleet.

Of course neither is perfect, but for my money I have been very happy with AA for business and leisure and I am really glad I stayed with them. Moreover, AA's million miller plan versus UA's makes it by far the better long term choice.

Good luck

mktozd,

The SOS program is gone.

Go with AA as a MM flyer one both the service is better on AA. The lead the field and United follows FWIW. s

Until a few months ago I would have said go with AA. Now I'm not so sure. I was PremEx with United for several years until 1997; I've been a gold or platinum with AA ever since.

The main reason for my switch was based on destinations traveled. But although the level of service I received with AA improved when I became platinum -- as good or better than when I was PremEx with United -- the service I got without any status on AA (pre-97) was friendlier and more customer oriented than what I received when my United status went to zilch. United didn't seem to care one whit about my business and it was reflected in the unfriendly demeanor of one agent after another.

Further, I have found AA's reward structure for international travel to be better than United's. For instance, I could fly anywhere in Europe for the same number of miles with AA's partner British Airways, but United's partner Lufthansa required more miles for flights to Euro destinations outside Germany. There are many other examples, although to be fair, if your goal is redeeming miles for domestic flights, the programs are pretty much identical.

A couple months ago I tried to ticket a friend to accompany me on an Australia trip. It was better for him to fly Qantas because we could link several domestic Aussie flights into one award. But despite calls every other day, the seats never opened up in business, and one trans-Atlantic segment would never open in coach. This, despite Qantas res agents telling me there were plenty of revenue seats available. On my first call to United to request a flight on United or Air NZ, I was able to get the flights I wanted on the first try, and on the second call two days later, business opened up. Guess which airline my friend is flying next month?

Now, I realize that we're going in to high season and the airline has a right to cap its reward seats, but I doubt Qantas has substantially higher sales than United or Air NZ. But what really irked me was all the new rules that AA has put in to place that make it more difficult to hold a reservation (they won't hold seats more than 14 days); how a ticket issued less than 21 days before departure requires a $50 penalty (the United ticket didn't); how any changes to the res require additional fees (it used to be you could change dates without a penalty); and how unfriendly most AA (not all) agents were in trying to accommodate me.

The final insult is that AA has made a number of changes to the program and hasn't announced them to the members. Yes, I know AA "reserves the right to change or terminate the program" at the drop of a hat, but I believe members deserve notification. Instead, I got a res agent telling me how it was now cost prohibitive for AA to send out printed literature, and that they didn't have to announce changes to the program on the web site (which would cost them next to nothing) and in fact didn't want to point out changes because doing so would encourage members to call and complain. AND that instituting the AAdvantage program 20 years ago was a huge mistake and that it's the reason the airlines are in such dire straights today!!!

Give me a break.

[This message has been edited by roti (edited 11-14-2002).]

I'm a Premiere Exec and EXP, and I fly primarily out of LA. While they're not as good as they used to be, IMHO AA is still better than UA service-wise and flexibility-wise.

AA has improved their non-stops out of LAX (not quite as extensive as UA, but I'm usually flying to MIA or JFK, so AA is better for me). They've got MRTC, not just E+. And they're more liberal than UA with the upgrades (I've got about a 90% upgrade success rate on AA, about 50% on UA, and it'll be even less in the future since they don't upgrade the cheap seats). That said, UA has better access to Colorado and Asia.

Figure out where you fly most often, and base your decision primarily on that. If AA and UA both cover those routes, then I'd tip the hat to AA.

roti makes two good points:

(1) If you want to go to Nz/Aus, UA and the Star Alliance will provide more choices for you than AA and OneWorld.

(2) My one bone to pick with the AAdvantage program is the stupid fees. Expedite what?!?!!?! It's all electronic!!!!

I actually favor the changes to the ticket-hold rules. Makes it easier for me to get the seats I want, because I'm not competing with indefinitely-held seats clogging up award inventory.