MilesBuzz! - Moving to BNA; help me decide between AA & DL

Hey everyone,

I am moving to Nashville this fall and am subsequently looking into changing airline FFP. I am currently US Silver, but there is NO chance I will be sticking with them. My understanding is that WN has the largest presence at BNA, followed in no particular order by AA and DL.

I am a traveling IT Consultant; we have clients spread throughout the nation, so there is not any particular region or city that I can focus transportation.

My question(s) to yall are in reference to how you would weigh the pros and cons of AA vs DL. Below is my list of pros/cons for each; feel free to add to the list.

My list of pros for DL would be as follows:

Silver Status Match (to FO)
Nearby hub cities within driving distance (MEM, ATL, CVG)


My list of cons for DL would be as follows:

Devaluation of SkyMiles (see FlyerTalk threads)
Lower mileage/segment requirement for each tier (influx of elites?)
ATL International...need I say more?


My list of pros for AA would be as follows:

Better airline/program in my opinion
Better use of miles
Lifetime PLAT/EPLAT


My list of cons for AA would be as follows:

Distance between hub cities and BNA
Status challenge; no match of Dividend Silver
Higher mileage/segment requirement for each tier
ORD/DFW


With these pros/cons in mind, if you were in my shoes, which airline/program would you go with?

You won't want to drive to CVG, MEM, or ATL from BNA for a flight.
MEM is the closest and it is still unrealistic.

If it were me I would do Delta and hub through ATL.

You won't want to drive to CVG, MEM, or ATL from BNA for a flight.
MEM is the closest and it is still unrealistic.

If it were me I would do Delta and hub through ATL.

I wasn't necessarily saying I would drive to any of those airports for my flights. I was just saying that if, for whatever reason, my scheduled flight was cancelled and I had the option of either spending the night in the airport or driving home, those three options wouldn't necessarily be awful. AA would not provide that option.

As a NW Platinum seeing the effects of the program change first hand, I would recommend AA. The AA miles seems to be quite valuable for making trips to Central and South America. The only disadvantage I see with AA is that trans-atlantic flights on BA get you no miles.

I would go with AA as my primary and then UA as my secondary.

What you didn't mention in your list of pros and cons was the routing it would require to get to many cities in the northeast or southeast on AA or whether you can get there at all. How would you get to BTV, PWM, PVD, ALB,or MHT on AA, for example? And do you want to backtrack to ORD or DFW or STL to get to a lot of others. On the other hand, Eagle has direct flights to DCA, LGA, BOS and MIA.

Maybe I am not focusing enough on the pros and cons of a FFP, but to me, ease of getting from origin to destination is my #1 criterion.

My suggestion is to look at the list of cities you are most likely to travel to and check out the routing on each carrier before making your final decision.

Here is my story and while it might not exactly address your questions, it does give food for thought. I have nearly 1M on both DL and AA as over the past ten years I have split my travel almost 50/50 between the two airlines and always based out of BNA. This is based on my work also in the IT industry.

For almost five years, I was heavily traveling to LAX, DFW, ORD, and LGA and AA became a no-brainer due to directs to all. Prior to that (and currently) I travel to every part of the US, with an emphasis on (stay with me sports fans) Big-12, SEC and ACC country. And that has meant DL for me. While WN has the most destinations, coverage isnt good enough to make a huge difference and the departure times always seem odd to me for business purposes.

With all that said, I have never been very price sensitive, prefer mainline equipment that accommodates upgrades, and for the most part do not mind reasonable connections. Keep in mind that I fly alot, not as much as many on this board but qualify for PM on segments by mid-year and mileage by OCT, so I find obtaining status not really a problem.

Lastly I have found that with the NWA addition, DTW and MEM has opened up some improved routing options for my needs (who knows if they will last). And with SLC services returning, the west coast options will improve.

Good topic: As I also go BNA once in a while, I find it to be a tough airport to get in and out of, especially from where I am based. I also agree with the PP that while WN gives the most coverage, the flight schedules are just plain odd and not-very-accomodating for business travellers.

At the end of the day, I've tried a few CO-IAH and AA-DFW flights, but for the most part, I've found that getting into BNA is pretty much the same from the west coast: with the exception of WN, you're going to be connecting somehow, somewhere that may not be the most convenient (IAH/DFW makes more sense, at least), so I've just resorted to sticking with US and doing the redeyes to CLT for my EB flights and UA-DEN for my return WB flights. If I go CO/AA I don't have the redeye option, and for redeyes if I'm going to overshoot and connect in ATL, I mind as well connect in CLT with the higher possibility of an UG as a US Plat.

At least from the west coast, I find BNA a particularly hard city to get in to. Not sure what everyone else's experiences are. I'm not the singer-songwriter type, and so the WN timetables are incompatible - with the M&A schedules I'm on.

To the OP: Depends on where you fly, of course. AA has the biggest mainline presence, but if you need east coast coverage or SE coverage, US may serve you in a few places. Those DL BNA-ATL nonstops are VERY expensive. (But then again, so are those US BNA-CLT nonstops). BNA is hard, unless you're strappin' a guitar with "B20" on your BP.

Hey everyone,

I am moving to Nashville this fall and am subsequently looking into changing airline FFP. I am currently US Silver, but there is NO chance I will be sticking with them. My understanding is that WN has the largest presence at BNA, followed in no particular order by AA and DL.

I am a traveling IT Consultant; we have clients spread throughout the nation, so there is not any particular region or city that I can focus transportation.

My question(s) to yall are in reference to how you would weigh the pros and cons of AA vs DL. Below is my list of pros/cons for each; feel free to add to the list.

My list of pros for DL would be as follows:

Silver Status Match (to FO)
Nearby hub cities within driving distance (MEM, ATL, CVG)


My list of cons for DL would be as follows:

Devaluation of SkyMiles (see FlyerTalk threads)
Lower mileage/segment requirement for each tier (influx of elites?)
ATL International...need I say more?


My list of pros for AA would be as follows:

Better airline/program in my opinion
Better use of miles
Lifetime PLAT/EPLAT


My list of cons for AA would be as follows:

Distance between hub cities and BNA
Status challenge; no match of Dividend Silver
Higher mileage/segment requirement for each tier
ORD/DFW


With these pros/cons in mind, if you were in my shoes, which airline/program would you go with?

There is no lifetime EPlat...only Gold and Plat.

I would go with AA as my primary and then UA as my secondary.

I'd go with UA as my primary, AA second. That's based on my perception of value.

I'd go with UA as my primary, AA second. That's based on my perception of value.

Out of BNA, flying UA means "I place no value on the space/comfort that some find when on a mainline jet". The few mainline flights are operated by US to CLT (the "direct" flights on the schedule stop there).

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm one of the BNA-based DL flyers but still carry the AA credit card; I have an itinerary booked on AA for later this month. Even as a low-level elite, I have a phenomenal upgrade rate on DL and tons of scheduling flexibility (the rate is maintained in my signature at the time of posting). I would share my thoughts via PM for anyone interested.

After an extended PM conversation with icurhere2 (who has provided valuable insight in regards to the AA vs DL comparison, as well as the respective airlines' flights in/out of BNA), I believe I have concluded to proceed with Delta.

The reasoning behind this decision is two-fold:

Status match: As most of you are aware, AA is unwilling to match elite status of a competitor airline (in my case, US Silver). While FO with DL will not provide much assistance in terms of upgrades, the fact that I am guaranteed FO through 2/11 is extremely beneficial. Sure, I could pay $80 (or $150 if attempting the PLAT challenge) and fulfill the requirements for AA Gold, but then again, for me to offer my business on a consistent basis to an airline at a time when the entire industry is struggling, the least I expect is to receive some immediate benefit in return; Quid pro Quo.
Domestic outreach: As some of the PPs pointed out, AA’s domestic outreach leaves a bit to be desired in regards to mid- to small-sized airports. In the pasy year, I have been required to travel to Concord, NH (via MHT) for two full months. As AAdvantage elite, I would either have had to fly to LGA or ORD and finish the trip on UA or US OR I would have just decided to make the entire trip on US/DL/UA/etc. This restriction on domestic outreach is a much larger negative for AA than any of the other cons I listed for DL, IMO. Also, the addition of MEM and DTW will provide improved routing options, as previously mentioned.

As a final question, are there any of you that strongly disagree with my final verdict? If so, could you please explain your reasoning?

Thank you again to all of you who have contributed!

I totally agree. It's the decision I would have made in your situation.

I did share positive aspects about both airlines and the operations at BNA, including the lounges. The Admirals Club at BNA deserves the excellent reputation it has among many.

I would under no circumstances choose United from Nashville. The operation is the laughing stock of the airport. It is poorly run by DGS and the employees have little to no training. If you dont' believe me, try to buy a ticket at the counter, and they wont even attempt to do it. The station manager was fired last week and DGS corporate is in town trying to clean up the huge mess. It will be too little too late. The flights are constantly delayed and the customer service is the worst I have ever experienced at any airport, with any airline.

I forgot to welcome you to BNA....... I am surprised at how many flyertalkers are in our city.

I forgot to welcome you to BNA....... I am surprised at how many flyertalkers are in our city.

Thank you for the welcome. I am actually moving back home; born and raised in Music City. Left to attend college at Indiana University and landed a job as an IT Consultant for a company based in Indianapolis with the stipulation that I work out of Indy headquarters for at least one year, and then I would be able to live anywhere in the nation. So I chose to go home :cool: ^

Why wasn't WN an option? Is it because they only serve 28 cities non-stop from BNA? Even if you don't want to fly WN as your primary carrier, you may want to familiarize yourself with the Rapid Rewards program, in particular the car and hotel partners, it is often much more lucrative to credit rental cars and HHonors double dips to WN than to other airlines.

Anyway, you may want to apply for the AMEX Platinum Card which will allow you access to both the AA and DL airline clubs when you're flying them, of course the catch is you can't get access if you're flying another airline.

Why wasn't WN an option? Is it because they only serve 28 cities non-stop from BNA? Even if you don't want to fly WN as your primary carrier, you may want to familiarize yourself with the Rapid Rewards program, in particular the car and hotel partners, it is often much more lucrative to credit rental cars and HHonors double dips to WN than to other airlines.

As a fellow road warrior I have flown WN many times, not by choice; rather for price due to last minute travel. My conclusion is that although they are a nice airline with good operations, I could never see myself committing to WN, based solely on these two things (all related to the FFP - which was a main concern for the OP):

-No true elite service -- I achieve top tier status fairly easily each year. The perks are amazing. Not only boarding before the masses but the >90% upgrade to F is truly a treat. Obviously with WN you're not going to get this as its one class throughout. And the fact that Joe-off-the-street can pay a few more dollars and board ahead of me is frustrating (from a road warrior perspective)
-No alliance and no international reward program -- Saving miles for those once in a lifetime vacations to me make life on the road worth it. WN offers no once in a lifetime destinations IMHO.

But like I mentioned, WN is a fine airline and has great operations. But from my perspective, flying WN leaves so much on the table.

I think Rudy pretty much covered my response. I don't hold anything against WN and I love the fact that they are the one program that has stayed tried and true to their mantra of 'low fares, no hidden fees'.

WN to me would be a great option if (and only if) I was flying to one of the 20-something nonstop destinations and/or was booking last-minute or travel that could be subject to change.

The thing about WN is that, while they are great in regards to their abundance of domestic nonstops, the lack of an international prescence and that tiered elite program are not qualities I desire in my quest for a primary provider.

As I have previously said, I will definitely consider WN as a backup whenever a situation requires, but for me to consider investing my time and resources, the least I can expect is some sort of recognition (beyond a free flight every 8 RTs).

But thanks Beckles for the suggestion; I had previously considered WN and will continue to do so.

I did also note that WN is good for certain purposes / routes out of BNA (and that I'm flying them in two weeks). I'll also fly WN to visit my new nephew later this summer. However, WN doesn't protect me in the case of IRROPs as DL/NW would ...

But like I mentioned, WN is a fine airline and has great operations. But from my perspective, flying WN leaves so much on the table.

Agree 100% ^

I was faced with the same choice and went with AA when I moved here. Most of the reasons have already been covered. Neighbors told me they all used WN, but they don't seem to fly much. I needed something with overseas possibilities and upgrade capabilities.

I have taken non-stops to/from LAX to BNA and to/from LGA. But they are not always convenient, with scheduling changes./ I believe the only current nonstop from LAX departs around 3:00PM, putting you in at BNA well after 10:00PM. For more convenience, even though it sounds counter-intuitive, it is often better to go via DFW or ORD.

Speaking of which: I know I wasn't dreaming when I was able to fly BNA/ORD and ORD/BNA in F last year, M-80, several times. Not anymore. I could be wrong, but if you are flying AA BNA/ORD now, it will be in an RJ, no first class.

The Admiral's Club at BNA is nice, great people.

I was faced with the same choice and went with AA when I moved here. I needed something with overseas possibilities and upgrade capabilities.

Have you experienced any issues with AA's slightly limited domestic coverage? Have you ever had to fly to MHT, ALB, BTV, etc?

If so, have you just sucked it up and flown with another airline, or have you decided to fly to a nearby airport and drive to your final destination?

Speaking of which: I know I wasn't dreaming when I was able to fly BNA/ORD and ORD/BNA in F last year, M-80, several times. Not anymore. I could be wrong, but if you are flying AA BNA/ORD now, it will be in an RJ, no first class.

BNA-ORD is ER4's and CR7's only (no first); BNA-DCA and BNA-STL are all ERJ.

BNA-ORD is ER4's and CR7's only (no first); BNA-DCA and BNA-STL are all ERJ.

So AA to DFW is the only opportunity for mainline updrades? BNA to DCA/STL provides 10 first class seats on the ERJ?

And if I recall correctly, DL to ATL/DTW/MEM all fly mainline metal?

So AA to DFW is the only opportunity for mainline updrades? BNA to DCA/STL provides 10 first class seats on the ERJ?

And if I recall correctly, DL to ATL/DTW/MEM all fly mainline metal?

You can go from BNA to ATL and DTW all mainline on DL with a little due diligence.

BNA-ATL, some CR-1's, 7s and 9s thrown in with the MD's, although the 9's don't bother me at all, and it's fun to get the u/g to the one seat side in F.

BNA-DTW, mostly DC-9's with an occasional A320 or EMB 175.

BNA-MEM, look forward to 60 mins. of CR-1 goodness. About 60 mins. too long in my opinion. :D

Have you experienced any issues with AA's slightly limited domestic coverage? Have you ever had to fly to MHT, ALB, BTV, etc?

If so, have you just sucked it up and flown with another airline, or have you decided to fly to a nearby airport and drive to your final destination?

Haven't experienced those issues at all. Just lucky, I guess, everything so far and everything planned seems to be to places that I can reach.

I have lived in Nashville for the past 2 years and I am very glad that I stuck with AA after moving here from NYC. They offer more than any other carrier save WN in terms of nonstops (DFW, ORD, LAX, LGA, MIA, STL, DCA) and I have found their fares and schedules to be at least competitive with everyone else.

For the record, DFW, LAX, MIA, and LGA are all mainline (although LGA is switching from 3x mainline to 2x mainline + 2x RJ daily).

Upgrades are incredibly easy, especially on the LGA routes (I never missed an upgrade at the 24 hour mark, even as an AAdvantage Gold).

The Admirals Club is one of the best in the system IMHO and this alone has been enough to make AA my preferred carrier. Last October I was scheduled to fly BNA-ORD-SJC when the club staff called me the night before on my cell phone: "I see you are scheduled to connect through Chicago tomorrow. Your flights are still on-time but we are getting a little concerned for our club members about the weather up there so I made you a duplicate booking through Dallas that will get you in at the same time. Would you like me to cancel the original one?" This kind of pro-active, personal service can be invaluable to a business traveler.

DL may be a better option in the immediate term as they will match your status but I would keep AA in mind long-term, as most people would agree that AAdvantage is a better program and seems more committed to its elite customers.

So AA to DFW is the only opportunity for mainline updrades? BNA to DCA/STL provides 10 first class seats on the ERJ?

And if I recall correctly, DL to ATL/DTW/MEM all fly mainline metal?

No first on AA's ER4s or even the CR7s. The upgrade options on AA are DFW, MIA, LGA (couple flights a day), and the LAX flight.

On DL/NW, there are mainline flights to ATL, CUN, DTW, MEM, MSP, and SLC but there are some regional jets without F in the schedule (which one can work to avoid). Although there are non-stops, there is no DL/NW mainline service to CVG or JFK. Throwing out CUN, there are seven cities offering legitimate connections, and I'm OK with a CVG or MEM segment on an RJ.

Twelve of my 51 flights this year have been on jets without F (four of them on one four-segment trip to IAH). Throwing those four out, I get one non-first RJ about every six segments due primarily to cost / schedule, but I do go places like MCI and PIT.

DL may be a better option in the immediate term as they will match your status but I would keep AA in mind long-term, as most people would agree that AAdvantage is a better program and seems more committed to its elite customers.

The more and more I think about it, the more I tend to lean towards this line of thought. It would seem beneficial to maintain silver or gold on DL, but it appears to me that I should strive for Plat or EPlat on AA in the long-run. Just doing a quick recap of the DL forum threads pertaining to SM devaluation can cause one to have nightmares. On the other hand, AAdvantage is the oldest and largest FFP in existence for a reason.

This all begs the question: how much effort needs to be put into booking flights during a challenge? Would you schedule the maximum number of segments or book the highest possible fare class?

Fare class appears the winner in my book. An increase in segments would contribute to an increased risk of ops or weather issues, and might not be necessary unless the increase in segments correlated to an increase in EQMs. However, full fares collect 1.5 points per EQMs, which would make it much easier to fulfill the challenge requirement.

Sorry to all for the back and forth mentality; choosing a FFP is much more difficult than I could have expected! :(

This all begs the question: how much effort needs to be put into booking flights during a challenge? Would you schedule the maximum number of segments or book the highest possible fare class?

Elite Qualifying Points are the key in an AA challenge - depending upon the fare class, a ton of segments earning EQPs at 50% of flight miles could get tiresome (e.g. BNA-ORD is invariably 205 EQPs when I fly that route due to cost).*

* I would be booking an itinerary with really long segments, perhaps associated with a large RDM mileage bonus ...

When I was going to college in BNA, I was a WN flier (the frequency and cheapness of MDW flights was great). Now that my parents no longer live in Chicago, but abroad (Canada) and my travel is much more varied, I am a NW (and now, sadly, DL) flier. While I'm not happy about the devaluations to the program which have occured since DL's takeover, I'm sticking with them because they still represent the best options for me.

The more and more I think about it, the more I tend to lean towards this line of thought. It would seem beneficial to maintain silver or gold on DL, but it appears to me that I should strive for Plat or EPlat on AA in the long-run. Just doing a quick recap of the DL forum threads pertaining to SM devaluation can cause one to have nightmares. On the other hand, AAdvantage is the oldest and largest FFP in existence for a reason.

This all begs the question: how much effort needs to be put into booking flights during a challenge? Would you schedule the maximum number of segments or book the highest possible fare class?

Fare class appears the winner in my book. An increase in segments would contribute to an increased risk of ops or weather issues, and might not be necessary unless the increase in segments correlated to an increase in EQMs. However, full fares collect 1.5 points per EQMs, which would make it much easier to fulfill the challenge requirement.

Sorry to all for the back and forth mentality; choosing a FFP is much more difficult than I could have expected! :(

I completed a challenge for plat status on AA last year and I would be happy to answer any questions you have via PM or otherwise.

As icurhere2 already mentioned, its all about Elite qualifying points (EQP), not segments or elite qualifying miles. 10,000 EQP is really not very hard to achieve if you do any long-haul travel. I just scheduled my challenge around a trip to SCL (~10,000 miles), booked the outbound in deep discount (0.5 EQP) and the return in regular discount (1.0 EQP). It wound up costing me about $120 more than booking the whole trip at the cheapest price. With the rest of my scheduled travel I hit the 10,000 EQP mark with the 3 months without a problem. If you ever take 2 long-haul trips (>10,000 miles) within 90 days then no adjustment is needed.

I had been asked to reply to this thread and had dragged my feet--I think it's basically a wash between the two; it really depends on where you need to go and when. My wife traveled nearly constantly between BNA and LAX for about for years, and took the nonstop Sunday evening AA1307 on a regular basis, coming back either on a Thursday redeye through ORD or DFW or on a Friday's nonstop AA1974 from LAX-BNA (WN and AA are the only two carriers to offer nonstops between the two). She made EXP fairly quickly and was upgraded nearly every time. I took DL between Nashville and Seattle for a while and was generally happy with DL, although I found getting upgrades very difficult with DL as a Silver and not much easier as a Gold. (I can count the number of times I've ever been upgraded on DL on one hand.) For our (especially her) purposes, I'd probably go with AA, but it's not a slam-dunk. I would only fly UA out of BNA under duress--I can't think of any circumstance under which it ever made sense for me.

Now I live in SoCal and don't have to fly for work, so this is not nearly as important to me as it used to be.

Just a quick update:

Last week, I received notification from Northwest that my Silver Dividend status has been matched through the end of the 2009 program year. I currently have a whopping total of 4 EQS on NW/DL (yes, combined), and will not be traveling until mid-September at the earliest. This leads me to believe that if I were to go with DL/NW, I would not meet the FO criteria by December 31st. I would have to request status match by Delta (as I believe that my status match with NW is not shared with DL) at the beginning of 2010.

At the same time as I put in my request of status match to NW, I attempted the same with AA. The response that I received falls in line with AA's policy in reference to status challenges:

Dear Mr. XXXX,

Thanks for contacting AAdvantage® Customer Service. We're sorry you've
been kept waiting.

We understand your desire to achieve the same elite status in the
AAdvantage® program that you enjoy in the frequent flyer program of US
Airways. We are eager to accommodate your request.

First, permit me to clear up a misunderstanding: In fairness to our
AAdvantage members who qualified on their own, it is not our policy to
automatically match elite status from another airline. On the other
hand, we are always eager to welcome new customers, especially if they
are dissatisfied with their current carrier.

To that end, we would greatly appreciate the opportunity to tailor a
plan specific to your travel needs. To get started, please contact
AAdvantage Customer Service at 800-882-8880. (Speak 'AAdvantage Account'
at the Main Menu to reach us quickly.) We are available weekdays from
7:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Central Time, Saturdays from 7:30 to 7:00, and
Sunday from 10:30 to 7:00. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

Thank you for participating in the AAdvantage program. We appreciate
your business.

Regards,

TXXXX FXXXXXX
AAdvantage Customer Service
American Airlines

This past week while on vacation with my father (who frequently travels out of BNA), we discussed my current dilemma in choosing between DL and AA. He has been a member of the Admirals club for over the past decade and mentioned that he will continue to do so. He recommended, without hesitation, that I choose to fly with AA out of BNA. He obviously prefers to travel on AA when cost-effective and feels it would be the right decision for me.

Moving in just about one month from today; can't wait to get home! :D

Thanks again to everyone for your feedback and recommendations! ;)

I live in Chicago, but have been traveling to BNA regularly since 1997 on business. I refuse to fly anything but WN on Chicago-Nashvile, and I have Gold on AA and PremEx on UA. Too many IRROPS to justify higher prices on lousy RJs. In general, AA's mainline route network to points NE of Nashville is garbage since DFW is not a realistic connecting city. You're looking at 2 RJs to virtually anywhere except LGA, BOS, or PHL.

OTOH, Delta's is a bit limited to the west. MEM/CVG are lousy connection cities due to the RJs, so you're looking at Atlanta (lots of service), Detroit, Minneapolis, or the lone non-stop to SLC (6am out, 9pm back).

The wild card is WN. WN has non-stop or one-connection service to a lot of cities, including very good coverage to the west coast.

With all of this in mind, I'd probably pick DL. More cities with F service, far better coverage east of the Mississippi via ATL/DTW, reasonable options to the west coast without backtracking via SLC/MSP. A better chance at getting through your work week without killing somebody, offset by higher redemption rates for when you want to go on vacation. But if you end up doing 40 4-segment trips per year with at least 1/3 of those trips to points west of Nashville, you'd be well-served by getting Platinum on AA as well.