Always Flyin

I just flew JL from NRT to LAX yesterday on a 77W in C.

It was better than UA in every single respect other than one: they had no Jack Daniels on board.

GeneralVeers

Admittedly I've only flown first on JAL and ANA, but those experiences were leagues better than the glorified business class service that United touts as "Global First".

Can you please name any SPECIFIC ways in which UA is better?

GeneralVeers

I sent in my status match stuff a few weeks early (I still had UA flights booked during those weeks) as I thought it would take a long time to hear back from them. In two days they gave me my EXP status. I actually had to have them remove it for a few weeks and reinstate it later to re-align with my flights. They had no problems doing this. In general, fantastic response time compared with UA.

tom911

If you fly AA partner BA on a premium award, you're going to be hit with a fuel surcharge that can be $400 or more each way across the Atlantic. Iberia has a much smaller surcharge (the most I've seen reported is around $50). You could make the case that the AA fuel surcharge on BA balances out the increased award miles for UA travel on Lufthansa in the same direction. I've only done one award with a fuel surcharge and it was from HEL to DUB via LHR and was significantly cheaper than a paid ticket and still a good value. You do have Air Berlin with hubs in Dusseldorf and Berlin that offer some US flights without a fuel surcharge, as well as AA metal (though that seems harder to find these days while the BA flights are readily available).

AA offers 40K off peak economy awards to Europe and South America (the season for Europe runs October 15-May 15). UA does not have a similar product.

Where there is a remarkable difference still is across the Pacific. Award travel in premium classes on both Cathay and Qantas do not have any fuel surcharges. This tends to be the direction I redeem. Photos HERE. AA charges 15,000 miles less than UA for an Australia RT in business (125K vs 140K), and you can fly anywhere in Australia that Qantas goes. AA also offers a 10K one way economy award (17.5K in business) between Australia and New Zealand which I think is the best value in their whole program (imagine starting all the way over in Perth and heading to NZ from there). PER-AKL is over 3,300 miles.

hamburgoflyer

Does any intelligence (or educated guesses) exist on when that will happen ?

golfingboy

My guess is probably not for a year. They want to get both programs merged first before they start making the big changes.

They are definitely taking more time with the merger making sure each component is sound before implementing. UA rushed through the integration process, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but it is has and still is biting them in the butt.

It was nice that they moved along rather quickly and it was nice getting the benefits of the merger sooner as a customer, but in hindsight I wish they took more time with a lot of things.

FWAAA

My only complaint with JAL is that the cabins are usually too toasty for me. I prefer the typically "too-cold" cabin temps of the USA-based airlines and not the typically "so warm they make you drowsy and/or nauseated" cabin temps of the Asian carriers.

Superguy

Agreed.

You can always put on a blanket, sweater, etc, if the cabin's too cold. Not too much you can do if it's too hot.

Flyer420

I've been ignoring this thread; partly due to a rising sense of indifference:
that is, UA's indifference to me (1K, 2+ mil miles) and my indifference to UA--just no incentive to chose them for flights unless if fits need absolutely.

I just looked and found my miles for 2014 are just over 6,000. Last year at this time: 68,000. But, of course, I 'just' bought affordable fares.

I 'hang out' on the list more out of a perverse curiosity as to what the present UA management will do next to drive the airline into the ground.

The "metric" that a "successful" company enhances "shareholder value" from quarter to quarter is, of course, the core of modern business practice. When most shareholders are institutions and hedge funds, there is no incentive to sustain the actual product. I mean, when did you last see a hedge fund board a 145 from ORD to MSN?

Flyer 420
increasingly in Seattle more of the time

mmack

How hard is it to find availability? That's the problem with UA: very difficult to find saver awards to Australia in business unless routing through Asia. New Zealand? Forget it.

oldsmoboi

Does it count if I was going to move to them after the US/AA merger but instead decided to stay away? I had planned on moving to MileagePlus because I was finding a lot of my US earnings were coming from United flights. Instead, due to the changes in the MP program, I'm just going to shift my non-US flights to AA.

tom911

Award seats to Australia in business/first on Qantas can be a challenge (less so with economy travel). If you route via Asia, its considered two awards and requires extra miles. Part of the problem here is that Qantas gives its own flyers access 360 days out, a full month ahead of when AA flyers get access to their inventory. On my trip over this past May there was business in both directions initially, but I sat on it waffling on dates while I was traveling in Europe and then the LAX-SYD flight disappeared on me. That business inventory never did come back over a span of a few days and I flew over in coach on the A380. Had a nice meal in the F lounge at LAX before boarding. I did fly home in business from Brisbane (BNE-LAX-SFO).

You also have access to Australia with Hawaiian via HNL though it's not a flat seat product in business. Those seats seem to be more available than QF. Last year I booked one of those and then cancelled when QF opened up.

hamburgoflyer

It's funny. I've observed mergers in the airline as well as IT/networking industry.
Very few take the time to get things right and rush through integration with next
quarter's results in mind and few things else. Let's hope you're right and this is
one of few exceptions.

No kidding.
I do too, but after passing 1mm I haven't set foot on any UA plane, sticking to OW
hoping they don't mess up as badly ... we'll see.

circitmage

Sorry its been so long to reply ... I've been busy flying weekly (entirely on nonUACO carriers ;-)

There is no, noooo, NOOOOOO chance I'm willing to accumulate any miles on UACO ... UACO employees/apologists please note well, its even harder to re-attract a disenchanted, former loyalist ... I know you will screw me ... even if I don't know how, I know where UACO's heart is as it relates to M+ - we're chumps, the cash pinata for M+ to whack whenever the balance sheet looks off (in my case a $70K chump, $370K when you factor in group spend) ... How many times do I need to subject myself to being bypassed on upgrades by metals with ToD bumps? how many times do I need to get subpar/surly/absent/distracted soft and dirty/old/fragmented hard products? how many times do I need to be stranded in mid-air with no WiFi, no/not working IFE? how many times do I need to be staring at a delayed/cancelled wall display? be offered "food"? find out that provisioning didn't stock enough entrees/drinks? be forced into the RJ shuffle/run/slump, since the route map has become so abysmal and connections are a recipe for disappointment? ... tell me again what those miles are worth?? ... seriously????!!

Like an addict/abused lover, I know that $mi$sek doesn't really love me, he just loves my pocketbook and for a time I was willing to buy a substandard product to get a bigger mileage balance ... He's just singing that old siren song "hey, baby - I'll give you miles" ... then he traps me in that abusive UACO island where a "bigger-mileage-number-balance-is-great" ... don't pay attention, UACO just made those miles worth a lot less "but hey baby, we'll give you more, just stick with us" ... Its too easy to be blinded by that siren song ("miles, miles, miles, miles, miles, miles - hey baby - the first 50K are free") ... I know with the certainty of 25+ years on UACO's straight dope, that accumulating miles now means NOTHING (it used to be something) ... Hopefully, those reading this board will see this and not be the addict/sucker I once was ... Those of you on my routes (NYC<> IAH/LAX/LHR/DEN/SFO/NRT/BOM) have one less GS/1K to contend with for upgrades - but watch out for that metal with a ToD!!

I'll be buying the best flight available and I'll pay for F, and that almost invariably means a non-UA airline ... my loyalty meant NOTHING ... I'm recovering from my UACO fix by spending down the miles on Walmart Air/UACO that I couldn't give away

tom911

Sounds like you have your mind made up. Thanks for coming back to post.