pbarnette

I'm sitting on 750k BA Avios and, frankly, they aren't worth anything more than DL miles. OneWorld availability had gone down the tubes the last couple of years, led by AA.

Supersonic Swinger

At least you have experience with SkyMiles, which will give you an idea of what AAdvantage will look like once they turn their attention from merging the airlines to maximising profits out of the program.

Or AA/US will look to what BA have been doing, or worse than either of those, look at Qantas' total gutting and filleting of any value out of the program over the last decade.

akcae

A little non-sequitur, since the comparison invitation was AA-to-DL miles.

OTH, I just booked FOUR business class seats CLT-MAD for my family - in July! - at 50K AA miles per person. That's after I spent two months looking for similar availability on DL (for non-direct, and at DL's 62.5K rate).

So far, no complaints about OW availability.

tvnwz

Went TPAORD twice in last 10 days. Just as good as DL. Left and arrived on time. Attentive staff up front. And I am just a kettle on them.

acvitale

I fly both and have top tier in both. ATL for AA is difficult at the moment as the ATL airport authority is renovating the T gates and squeezing in another gate for UA making the area a massive construction zone. I have club membership in both and actually like the Admirals club in T gates at ATL over the Skyclubs.

With both a lot depends on the agents, crews, and aircraft. I like DL for more WIFI including everything but 50 seat RJs (AA is WAYYY behind here). The new 763, 77W and 772 business class seats on AA is great for long hauls and has a wider seat then what I get on DL with the A330 and 767s

In LGA the AA gates are in the main terminal and they suck. If you do not have Admirals club membership it sucks.

As for F&B options in the terminals. At the moment the OP is correct but when the renovations are complete they should be on par at ATL. In LGA it will take a miracle with the port authority running that place.

As for delays... Both airlines have them and frankly it is hit or miss. DL kept me stuck in ATL at the beginning of the year for 6 hrs and AA did it to me in LAX last week. Everyone has good days and bad days we deal with it and move on.

YMMV

HDQDD

Off-topic:

FWIW, I booked RDU-MAD for June in B/E for 125K R/T. It took less than 30 minutes of searching. Didn't require any crazy routing either.

GregL

Delta never does that on-board or while walking through the airport concourse, right?

Same thing DL would do for a non-status flyer.

You do realize that DL has half of the T concourse -- which AA is on in ATL -- right?

AA's sticker policy allows lower tier FFs to decide if an upgrade is worth the extra cost to them... much like Delta's FCM.

Things really aren't as different as you make them sound...

Greg

CMK10

- Delta does not do onboard credit card announcements the way American does them
- Delta is great for non-status flyers during IROPs. Last year when I was flying with no status, every time I had a delay, even ones that were only a few minutes, I could go on DL.com and select a new flight at no additional charge. Their website is miles ahead of AA's in this regard.
- Delta's half of the T Concourse is far nicer than the pit where AA and UA are

SFO777

Our DL FA was flogging the DL Amex card last week on my DEN-ATL flight.

Symmetre

Back to the original topic, I could not agree more with the OP. Ever fly on one of AA's Airbus 319s? Even in the small economy comfort section (claimed to be 34-inch pitch) the design of the seat means your legroom is still basically zero. After 2.5 hours on that thing flying DFW-YYZ, I couldn't deplane fast enough. I half expected the knees on my pants to show abrasion from constantly rubbing against the seat ahead of me.

Even worse is Air Canada's 777-300, with a whopping 458 seats in it. No, that's not a typo. They even removed washrooms to achieve it. Talk about a cattle car. Imagine spending 14 hours in a CRJ on your way to Asia and you get the idea.

Delta may have its issues, and the FF program may not provide the value it once did, but it still trumps the competition hands-down.

pbarnette

Low level availability with BA miles should be identical to AA miles for OneWorld partners. I think it a perfectly valid data point.

akcae

Whereas DL gives us a wonderful flexibility of redeeming 325K for BE itin that includes one short-haul ST partner segment after a DL long-haul, available at "lower levels".

pbarnette

I have managed to redeem over 500k DL miles at low levels over the past 18 months (indeed, I just booked two tickets to Vietnam in J on the exact dates I wanted). In every instance, DL had low level availability and BA/OneWorld did not.

Perhaps my travel patterns are abnormal, but I simply do not see this massive difference in availability at this time. There used to be a difference, but AA has reduced availability, IME, as have BA and CX. JL has always been incredibly stingy, IME. Ditto for QR and QF, at least for premium cabins.

1200GS

x2 .... I've heard the Amex announcement several times. Seems 'optional', or route specific, as its not on every flight. I believe the last time I encountered it, SLC-PHX, the FA even [tried to] hand out applications.

SFO777

Wanna talk lounges?

The ATL B10 SkyClub is depressing and today, crowded and dirty...





... and so much so that I took the train to T to spend time between my DL flights in the spacious, pleasant and empty Admirals Club.