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LATAM Pass or American AAdvantage?

LATAM Pass or American AAdvantage?

Old May 28, 2017, 9:43 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 2
LATAM Pass or American AAdvantage?

Hi folks,
I'm a newbie on FlyerTalk. I'm currently a United 1k and a few months ago moved to Puerto Varas, Chile. I'm considering going for a status match to either AAdvantage or LATAM Pass. For the record I have seen threads discussing the two but I haven't seen any since major changes have taken place to both programs, so I figured it's worth a new thread. The backstory with my reasoning is below, but I have three questions basic questions which you may be able to provide feedback on without the backstory:

1) Which one is a better program, considering 75% of my travel will be between PMC in Chile and the US with 25% being to other parts of the world.
2) When they do a status match do they ever offer to match upgrades (or equivalent) as well? Or just the status?
3) What status would a United 1k likely be offered in each program?

Here's the backstory:
My home airport is now PMC, which is not served by any Star Alliance partners. Every few weeks I have to travel internationally, mostly to the US but occasionally elsewhere. Star Alliance is terrible in and out of South America forcing me to usually fly through the US first to get out of the Americas, resulting in very long trips. It recently took me over 40 hours to get to Amsterdam. OneWorld has excellent access in and out of South America.

While I can get itineraries through United that include the PMC - SCL leg on LATAM, I obviously don't get Premier mileage credit for it and it counts against my PQD, and often they are inconvenient itineraries with long layovers in SCL. So sometimes I buy that leg separately, but this causes problems with baggage since I often have to travel heavy and don't get my baggage allowance on the PMC - SCL leg unless I book through United. It would be nice to be able to get credit for this leg and get better itineraries.

I have taken advantage of registering my address outside of the US on UA to now have the PQD requirement waived, which is nice, but since I usually fly business class (either pay or with upgrades) the PQD waiver hasn't really benefited me yet.

All that to say I've been considering jumping ship from MileagePlus to LATAM Pass or AAdvantage. I've been studying LATAM Pass and AAdvantage but can't figure out which one makes more sense in my position. Any feedback would be really helpful. Thanks!
nocturnalgringo is offline  
Old May 28, 2017, 10:02 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: Delta Gold, Alaska Gold 75K, LATAM Black
Posts: 3,393
I believe LATAM will match you to their Black, which is Oneworld Emerald. I recently status matched to LATAM (to Platinum) and received 6 upgrade coupons, which was nice.

Both programs are revenue based.. fwiw
Mauibaby2008 is offline  
Old May 28, 2017, 10:15 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: MAD
Programs: LATAMPass Gold, AA Gold, DL Silver Medallion
Posts: 456
For what is worth: if you get AA equivalent to 1k (Exec Plat, OW Emerald) you will have Admirals Club access in SCL and any destination in the US where you arrive (DFW, JFK and MIA) if you are flying in an international ticket (meaning not only within the US)

From OW's site:

Access to more than 650 airport lounges (with one guest) when travelling internationally*, including premium First Class, Business Class and frequent flyer lounges, regardless of the class of service flown that day

*North American itineraries within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean are not considered international destinations.
From the Admirals Club website:

Qualifying AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Platinum

Includes customers on qualifying international flights marketed and operated by American or a oneworld airline (regardless of cabin).

Qualifying international flights
Flights between the U.S. and:

Asia
Australia
Central America
Europe
Mexico City (MEX)
New Zealand
South America

Guest access

1 guest (children over 2 count as a guest)
LA equivalent (Black Signature) gives you:

Access to more than 600 airport lounges (with one guest) when travelling internationally*, including premium First Class, Business Class and frequent flyer lounges, regardless of the class of service flown that day

*North American itineraries within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean are not considered international destinations.
But from the Admirals Club website:

oneworld EmeraldSM and SapphireSM

Includes customers on all flights marketed and operated by American or a oneworld airline (regardless of cabin).

Guest access

1 guest (children over 2 count as a guest)
Which means being Black Signature would have lounge access in the US when you are flying domestically, which AA's Exec Plat does not offer.

AA has a status challenge for this cases (see the thread on that in AA subforum), which involves paying a fee and flying a given number of MQM and EQD during a 3 month period. However, they won't match you to higher level elite status (Plat Pro or Exec Plat), you will have to fly to reach the status.

LA on the other hand, seems to be more erratic on doing status matches, which means maybe yes or maybe not, but there is one case reported on Statusmatcher in the recent past –note, using social networks– of a match from United 1k to LATAM Black Signature, which gives you more bennefits than lowly Platinum that AA would offer for a match –the only trick appears to be that you have to show them having flown LA in the past 12 months, which I'm guessing you did to get to PMC–.
MfromL is offline  
Old May 28, 2017, 8:45 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: UA*S, AA Plat, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 256
As a AAdvantage member I'd like to share my experience too.
I've looked into the LATAM program and its revenue-based model is much different than what AA provides, the first requirement being that you have to fly a certain number of premium cabins on LATAM each year to qualify for anything meaningful (Platinum/oneworld Sapphire and above). Depending on your airline preferences, this may or may not be very easy for you to attain.

In AA's revenue model, if you fly partners you can get EQDs (Elite Qualifying Dollars) at a percentage of your flown miles. The EQDs is harder to earn on AA code as it only counts base fare + YQ/YR, but if you fly mostly partner airlines like I do, a few runs on CX Premium Economy, etc. very good routes for EQD (e.g. LATAM IPC-SCL) the EQDs are no problem at all to attain.

I'm not sure whether LATAM allows accruing "Elite Dollars" on non-LATAM flights, so I cannot comment on these.

If you often fly in North America (pure domestic itinerary), note that AAdv will not provide you with lounge access, whereas other carriers' oneworld Sapphire/Emerald will.

If you often fly Y on LATAM you can try and get upgrades using the coupons every year, but I am not sure about the upgrade odds too. On AA, you're only going to get decent changes for domestic complimentary upgrades if you're Executive Platinum/Emerald if you fly busy routes. No upgrades on int'l flights, except Emerald which gets 4 one-way systemwide upgrades per year, which is valid for up to 3 segments one-way on AA metal.
jimmielin is offline  
Old May 28, 2017, 9:24 pm
  #5  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 20,920
nocturnalgringo Welcome to FT

Originally Posted by nocturnalgringo
I'm a newbie on FlyerTalk. I'm currently a United 1k and a few months ago moved to Puerto Varas, Chile. I'm considering going for a status match to either AAdvantage or LATAM Pass. For the record I have seen threads discussing the two but I haven't seen any since major changes have taken place to both programs, so I figured it's worth a new thread.

The backstory with my reasoning is below, but I have three questions basic questions which you may be able to provide feedback on without the backstory:
1) Which one is a better program, considering 75% of my travel will be between PMC in Chile and the US with 25% being to other parts of the world.
2) When they do a status match do they ever offer to match upgrades (or equivalent) as well? Or just the status?
3) What status would a United 1k likely be offered in each program?
What is your definition of best?
What do you want from a ffp?
How long will you be in PMC/Chile? A year or 2 or forever?

AA will not status match. They offer a challenge. There is a dedicated thread in the AA forum.

Look here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
Mwenenzi is offline  
Old May 29, 2017, 10:44 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: LAN COMODORO
Posts: 522
I think you will have a US ID, so register on the Latam US site. Then ask for a status match.... If they do match you (i have read on statusmatcher that this year are not matching a lot).

You will be able to get upgraded always , since you will end up as a Black status (i dont think they will match to Black Signature since my uncle got match to Black from EXP and over 25 flights with Lan) Statusmatcher you can write anything, even that you dont have status and you send a nice email and they give you good status (dont use them as source just a reference)

If you do register in the US site it will be more easy to keep your status next year, since on Chile the new rules are crazy.
PABLOCO is offline  
Old May 30, 2017, 12:01 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DEN
Programs: Double OWE (AA EXP, QF Plat), FI Gold
Posts: 1,887
If this move to Pto Varas is permanent, then I'd say go with LATAM, since you'll be flying them almost exclusively to/from PMC (stay away from Sky!), and over time alliances/partnerships can change and you may find that AAdvantage isn't beneficial while living in Chile.

Ultimately the choice is based on how you will use the program - free flights in Chile? Free international flights? Upgrades on long-hauls? In my time as Comodoro Black I found LANPass to be much less rewarding for me than AA, and I switched to AA. But that's me - everyone travels for different reasons and in different ways. That said, my time living in Chile is temporary, so AAdvantage makes sense for me knowing that I'll be living back in the USA eventually.
zpaul is offline  
Old Jun 3, 2017, 2:07 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 2
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the welcome and your feedback. I've been traveling and just realized I had notifications off so I didn't see your comments until now. To answer some of your questions:

I don't know how long I'll be living near PMC. It could be a couple of years or it could be permanent.

My interest in a ffp is international upgrades and miles. I basically don't sleep at all in economy so since my travel is for work I try to travel in business to get a few winks before walking into meetings. I pay for it when the price is reasonable, otherwise I try to use upgrades. All of my travel is out of Chile, but a good amount is domestic in the US. But I don't care all that much about domestic upgrades. I have a family of 6 so I rack up miles from business travel to use for personal international travel for my family. Lounge access is nice, but I almost always have access to a lounge through Priority Pass or otherwise so I wouldn't go out of my way to have more lounge access.

But I just realized an important factor. A lot of my clients are government-funded non-profit organizations. To get reimbursed for travel with them I have to be on US flag carriers (or codeshared partners) due to the Fly America Act. So that basically eliminates LATAM as a reasonable option. Really my choice is to stick with United or jump to AA. I'm not considering Delta because they also don't serve PMC and between UA and Delta I would stick with UA. So really this is just a question of whether AA is worth the switch.

If Star Alliance served PMC and had better routes from South America to Asia and Europe I would stay put. Because apples to apples I consider Mileage Plus to be a better program. At least for the moment. I'll give it some more thought and make a decision by the end of the year.

Thanks again for your feedback.
nocturnalgringo is offline  
Old Jun 3, 2017, 11:12 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: MAD
Programs: LATAMPass Gold, AA Gold, DL Silver Medallion
Posts: 456
I fail to see how that invalidates your looking at LATAM, are you sure that you can't use codeshares (flights sold by AA, and with an AA flight number) as a way to get around, and then credit them directly to LATAM?

Also:
Travel between points outside the U.S. Use of a non-U.S. carrier is permissible if:

* Travel by non-U.S. carrier would eliminate two (2) or more aircraft changes en route; or
* Travel by U.S. carrier would extend the total travel time six (6) hours or more than would travel by non-U.S. carrier.
* Short Distance Travel. For all short distance travel, regardless of origin and destination, use of a non-U.S. carrier is permissible if the elapsed travel time on a scheduled flight from origin to destination airport by non-U.S. carrier is three (3) hours or less and service by U.S. carrier would double the travel time.
MfromL is offline  

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