MilesBuzz! - Changing Hubs, Moving to San Francisco, what's the best Airline for me?

Hi all, I've lurked here for a while and have seen lots of conversations about what's the best airline loyalty program and the pros and cons of every airline but I've not seen this question answered directly so I thought I'd ask.

I've been living in Atlanta for 5 years now and now the time has come to move to San Francisco (well truthfully, I'll be living in south bay so SFO and SJC are in range) and since I fly a lot I need to find my new primary airline of choice. Once I make my choice I'll give them a call and ask to transfer my platinum status from Delta assuming they still honor things like that.

My question is, what airline do I pick? United? American? Or should I pick a different strategy. Think of this from a blank slate, if you had to start all over in a new town like SF and you were a 100k+ mile a year traveler what would be your airline loyalty strategy?

silvexis - welcome to FT! :)

unfortuantely, you've posted it into the wrong forum - Communitybuzz! is for arranging our parties essentially, so I'm going to move your thread over into our milesbuzz! section, where the mileage afficionados will be able to assist you in your quest.

Jenbel
Co-moderator, Communitybuzz!

Where are you flying to?

Thanks Jenbell!

So it's hard to answer the question where am i'm flying to as I tend to fly everywhere, I touched down in EWR, JFK, BOS, SEA, IAD, DCA, LHR, LGW, VIE, CDG, SFO, SJC, ATL, AUS, DFW, SLC, LAX, ORD, IAH, CUN, LAS and BWI in 2008 so I need the one or maybe two airlines that i'm going to focus on be pretty far reaching assuming one or two airlines is the right strategy for someone who can fly from SJC or SFO.

It would also help to know your fare basis as some airlines provide comp. upgrades if you buy full coach, i.e. Y fares.

From SFO UA will have the most nonstops to your destinations. As 1k you will have a good shot at upgrades on many routes though you may occasionally be denied on really popular ones like SFO-IAD and SFO-JFK.

However it would really help to know which places you will fly most. For example if you fly most often to SLC and ATL then DL might be a better choice. Ditto for AA if you fly to DFW, ORD and JFK. And similarly for CO if you frequent EWR and IAH.

Another factor should be how you intend to spend your miles. The consensus seems to be that AA has the best program for redemption if you are looking to redeem miles for international business class awards or upgrades. UA has allocated almost no advance inventory for such awards and has blocked people from using miles on its partners (see UA forum re: starnet blocking). DL and CO are also notorious for award redemption at "saver" levels. However if you plan to use miles mostly for domestic (and possibly international travel in economy class, then UA is much better than the rest, except for AA.

Finally, the local choice of airports may affect your selection. If you prefer SFO (who doesn't, all other factors being equal) then no question UA and its partners have the most frequent schedule, and most nonstops including some to Europe. If you prefer SJC (due to geography) than AA has a little better schedule, though you'll still find yourself often hubbing through DFW.

As you may have gathered my personal preference is for AA - as an EXP you will be upgraded often as there are not as many elites in this area (as opposed to UA). However, if you think you will often be sitting in economy, than you may prefer UA which has more legroom in E+ seating.

Given the cities to which you fly, it is only United. Otherwise there will be a lot of connecting flights. Once CO joins Star Alliance along with current partner US your options will increase even more.

United, without question. It is awesome. ^

silvexis,
When I moved from ATL last year to the North Bay, I switched to UA. They are the prefered airline of my new employer. They matched my status from AA (I only flew DT when I had to).
I think UA will serve you as well as anyone else.
Welcome to the Bay area!

United, without question. It is awesome. ^

AA is awesome, too. I'm just back from my second Ireland trip this year upgraded with systemwides each way at no additional cost on a cheap fare. Don't think that works with UA systemwides, and the partner award availability issue still seems to be an issue there. Make sure you look at all the fine points that will impact you.

We've discussed this topic recently in the AA and UA forum in these threads:
AA vs. UA (from SFO) (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage/844508-aa-vs-ua-sfo.html)

AA vs UA (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage/843365-aa-vs-ua.html)

UA vs AA (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileage-plus/843360-ua-vs-aa.html)

Ok i'm starting to lean united, for starters AA's web site is absolutly hideious. I know that's a silly reason but it's really a bad web site. But in all honestly, the real reason is star alliance.

I called up united and they would give me premier executive but not 1K, my guess is because the qualifications for Delta Platinum are 75k miles. I haven't pulled the trigger on getting the status because it starts a 90 day countdown where I have to fly 15k miles to keep the status.

Has anyone had a luck getting united to give 1K status if you can prove you flew over 100k miles on another airline?

United hands down. They maintain a hub there and it's the most convenient.

My question is, what airline do I pick? United? American?

UA has a huge hub in SFO, with lots of non-stop flights everywhere. Unfortunately, SFO frequently has weather delays... and very little UA presence in SJC (three non-stop destinations on United Express).

AA once bought an airline that had a hub in SJC. However, the AA presence in SJC has been declining; although it is still one of the two biggest carriers in SJC, it flies non-stop to only five destinations from SJC.

WN has a large presence in OAK and SJC (12 non-stop destinations from SJC), with some in SFO.

AS has a large selection of flights on the west coast, and may be useful as a secondary airline if you choose UA as your main airline, since AS can mop up AA, DL, and NW miles (and CO at least until CO joins Star Alliance), plus miles from a selection of foreign carriers.