MilesBuzz! - Everyone seems to be jumping ship... Except for AA members....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Let me get this straight...

Based on what I've been reading over the past month:

1) DL SM members are leaving because of the changes

2) UA and US FF members are afraid because of the viability of their airlines' futures

3) CO passengers are getting more and more annoyed at the "enhancements."

That leaves NW, AA, and the smaller carriers.

AA has the best alliance of them all. So with everyone moving to AA, imagine how saturated their planes will be with elites!

(BTW, when I say everyone, I mean everyone from FT. I don't assume that normal people follow this stuff!)

How appropriate of you to differentiate between "FT-people" and "normal-people" :-Þ

Which leaves NW/KLM as the "dark horse"

Maybe they will win the race . . .

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BlondeBomber's Star Alliance Gold Comparison Chart 2002 (http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/starall02.html)
Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart (http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm)
The FT Get Together Index (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum95/HTML/002719.html)


[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 12-24-2002).]

Very Happy at AA. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Me too, happy at AA. Wish the FC service was better, but when I have to fly coach, MRTC sure is nice compared to the rest of the pack.

I started at AA, and I'll finish at AA ****it!
DC-10's Forever

Very happy at KLM (NW)!

I'm sticking with AA!

<<--------------------- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Well, I have no ship to jump to I'm top in 3 or 4 programmes at any one time and have been just in case some of these things happened. So far I must sasy that although I am not that happy with the DL changes, at least all my carriers are still afloat (knock on wood).

I just booked a first class free trip to London for tomorrow, returning on New Years. No problems at all. Thank you AA.

1st year as an AA elite-- and couldn't be happier.

I love AA. Always have. always will

I switched from UA to AA a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier. I'm Platinum and am treated very well. Domestic First Class award availability is excellent too.
The only real negatives are excessive fees and and the high number of points needed for some awards.

AA should not get too cocky. AAdvantage members should be aware that AA tried to sock it to passengers with the absurd $100 standby fee. Northwest was the reasonable airline, though UA did mend its evil ways.

Unfortunately, the airlines are in the race for worst ff change so they will experience defectors. These defectors will go to other bad ff programs. I don't think they will race to AA.

Conclusion: NW is still good. AA hasn't changed, though they have an evil side to them. CO is getting hard to redeem, though one can always redeem on NW. I also almost had a heart attack because CO does have a seat that I want in January. US has lower mileage requirements for domestic and European awards (coach).

I am hAApy, just like my signature says. However, to keep things balanced and have a second carrier, I jumped CO to go to NW with possibly the most seamless allliance in the industry- go NW/KL!

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Going back to the bAAsics

For me it's AA all the wAAy!

Goodbye Delta.....

Hello NW & AA..............

I would change to AA but they have few flights to and in Asia. Far fewer than UA.

They can have my WorldPerks card when they pry it away from my cold, dead hands.

Or offer me unlimited domestic upgrades plus the ability to upgrade cheap int'l fares.

And don't go bankrupt.

That is all.

-alan in seattle

I am not aware of any Flyertalker having left or intending to leave miles&more (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Lauda, Tyrolian, LOT).

But in the last months some, while still flying UA did leave Mileage Plus and joined m&m.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by elCheapoDeluxe:
How appropriate of you to differentiate between "FT-people" and "normal-people" :-Þ</font>

FT people are obcessed and addicted to FF programs. They are the ones that know their program's rules better than the airline/hotel employees, they check their carrier's website at least twice a day, and they log onto to FT several times a day. I know the type quite well... I see one every time I look into a mirror!

I left Air Canada a year ago for KLM/NW and I couldn't be happier. I get upgraded all the time. I was with Air Canada for 10 years and I never received a complimentary upgrade.

Bye MapleFlot - Hello Dutchman.

Put me in the minority here, as I rarely fly AA anymore. I personally do not like any of the fees and policy changes implemented regarding award travel.

I prefer airlines with complimentary upgrades, so we fly mostly HP and AS.

I switched from DL to AA a few years ago and am very happy. MRTC is the most customer-friendly move any airline has made--though ironically I get upgraded on AA much more than DL (where the coach seats are barely tolerable).

I will continue to give as much business possible to AA but am trying to maintain some status on DL also--to protect my old Frequeent Flyer mile rights and also because, though I despise the SGB mentality as much as anyone I do believe it will keep DL in business long after other airlines have failed.

So my strategy: AA for love; DL for security.

Very happy with NW

In researching alternatives to the now almost worthless SkyMiles elite program, I discovered that appartently with AA, you cannot use or earn miles on any trans-Atlantic BA flights, or earn miles in some fare classes on some of their other partners.

For me, this makes NW a far more appealing program, as there is no such restriction with KLM or Malev.

AAdvantage does, however, now beat SkyMirage by a country mile.

Ex-Plat on AA (expires 2003 - they pissed me off), now Plat on NW. Very happy with NW!

I got comped to AA Plat based on my UA's Prem Exec, mostly as a trial. And I've been quite happy with AA, even with some of the cons other have mentioned below.

Also speaking of "normal" vs "FT" people, my parents have remarked that with my "extensive" knowledge of airlines, I should become an airline analyst/consultant. Good idea, but I fear there are plenty of folks here who would make a better analyst. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks to everyone for all those "extensive" knowledge!

My goodbye Delta decision based changes and on several calls/communications directly with their so-called Customer care folks who convinced me they could care less about me or anyone else not connected to the front office. Took me almost 2 hours one day to get screwed out of miles and $$. Although I'm only GM, I influence travel selection of 8-10 other employees who will now hear about NW or AA - not Delta. Too bad - I liked the FA's and airport staff.

MilesBuzz?????????????????????

I was about to have to switch to Southwest if American did not remove the Standby rules. They have and I get to stay with AA....... I love the airline and dont want to switch. Their EXP desk is the best and the VIP's are awesome. Delta is my #2 choice only because I sometimes need a cheaper option. I ABSOLUTELY refuse to fly on Continental, they have done everything possible to convince me they do not want my money and they are not going to get it.

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AA member since 1981.

Oh come on -- they really *DO* want your money. But that's about it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ranles:
MilesBuzz?????????????????????</font>

It IS about mile programs, isn't it?

I say goodbye to Delta because of program changes and poor Customer Care. I wrote a letter to their customer service to recommend some customer handling procedures at check-in and gate and they called me up and started giving me a lecture. They did not even read my letter carefully. That time, I decided to say goodbye to the airline who dis not appreciate anything to their customers.

I am going to shift from UA to M&M.

I am pretty happy with AA and all my domestic flights will be AA in 2003.

AA all the way.

Completed my last milage run Wednesday, requalified for Plat the hard way - 50,000 tukhas in seat domestic miles.

Gave out the last of my VIP coupons. sigh.

Hey KC - was the customer care a guy with the initials JS ? Probably the same pugnacious rude rep who wasted hours of my time, got me infuriated and ended up turning me to the other carriers - despite DLs' convenience to me. (Many people reading this probably think we're the rude ones - but honest - I was polite, but tenacious.) He fought me tooth and nail to save DL about $200 and insure I didn't get what was promised to me and booked. When we were almost done I finally asked him - is there anybody in "customer care" I can talk to. But as written elsewhere, that lousy attitude comes down from the top, so the changes were expected and will continue to erode "loyalty". . . and hat's why I'm DeltaNoMore.

I have to admit that my intentions for 2003 are to fly NW as much as possible and stop flying AA.

But I admit to being a fairly small corner case -- I flew 65,000 miles (and expect to fly closer to 90,000 miles in 2003) -- all domestic. My wife does as well. I had to take an honest look at what we spent on upgrades, and realized that I was paying a lot of money for the ability to fly an award business class seat for our once-a-year vacation.

Besides, we've already got enough AAdvantage miles for our 2003 vacation, we *should* have enough NW miles to rulebust in 2004, and I have no idea what the airline landscape will look like by 2005! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

If I flew international, I am sure I'd stay with AA.

Steve

Count me as another AA FTer who has gradually abandoned them. A combination of a few nasty AAgents at HNL, frequent bad luck on the phone even with the EXP desk, and, by far the most important factor, the diminished services (one example: no CTO's outside of the East Coast) and the never ending nickle-and-diming (the infamous "expedite" $75 fee is cheaper than the new $100 date-change fee for award travel in Y) have contributed to my decision.

I started flying UA late last year, and, as far as my experience went, I haven't regretted it. UA is by far the best of the big 6 to/from Hawai'i. Unfortunately, however, I have some big doubts about UA's viability, so I'm not sure which way I should turn now... I do still have a sizeable amount of miles with AAdvantage, so I'm probably not completely done with AA yet...

Now I'm trying to figure out whether I should focus on a combo AS/HA/BA, or...?

I sat next to 2 business men from IAD-LAX who, upon seeing me get first entree choice as a United 1K, wanted to know all about Mileage Plus because they were ExecPlat at AA, and after a few United flights wanted to jump ship from AA to United. This was on Xmas day, BTW...long after United's chapter 11 filing!

All depends on where you sit and what you value.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx:
I sat next to 2 business men from IAD-LAX who, upon seeing me get first entree choice as a United 1K, wanted to know all about Mileage Plus because they were ExecPlat at AA, and after a few United flights wanted to jump ship from AA to United. This was on Xmas day, BTW...long after United's chapter 11 filing!</font>

IAD-LAX on a UA 777? UA in a heartbeat! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

IAD-LAX on a UA 763/757/A320? AA's got it beat, I'm sorry to say. I still love Mileage Plus dearly -- but it's worth noting that for IAD-LAX AA still offers (in C): hot towels, champagne, choice of pre-meal snack and choice of dessert, hot cookies prior to landing. Plus, AAs 762s have 10" more legroom than UAs 762s in C.

All that said, if I sat next to PremEx on an IAD-LAX flight (my most frequent route), I'd be asking him to tell me all about Mileage Plus, too! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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More Room Throughout Coach: the Website of Free Miles and Free Markets (http://neat.blogspot.com)

[This message has been edited by gleff (edited 12-29-2002).]

I used to have 2 lovers AA and TWA. Since one left me and forced me on the other I have to admit I am only in love with one now. I am married and not dating anymore. I love you AA.

2nd that

I prefer airlines with complimentary upgrades, so we fly mostly HP and AS.


I meant 2nd that http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Happy New Year