transportbiz

I'm curious about the thoughts and observations of those US Air customers who migrated from *A to OW. Advantages (first lounge access for example) drawbacks (BA surcharges for example).

elliottishere

I was actually just thinking about this! In my experience thus far, my overall takeaway is OW is much more integrated than *A. The airlines just seem to be more like partners who actually like working together on OW.

Positives about OW vs *A
- Much better integration across the board. AA can print tickets for QF or CX no problem. On *A I would have to go to the gate after a connection and get my boarding passes from the operating carrier, not at origin. While this isn't a big deal, transfer immigration is a lot easier if you have your onward boarding pass. Same for the lounges.
- In case of irrops OW carriers have had no problem moving me around to other carriers. *A had less flexibility.
- I absolutely love first class lounge access. The F lounges in HKG, SYD, LAX/TBIT are stunning!
- Most OW carriers I've flown have thanked me for my loyalty by the inflight service manager/purser/what ever. *A never recognized loyalty.
- Protection on separate tickets is huge for me. As long as your entire itinerary is OW, you're golden all the way from origin to destination. As someone who regularly connects in Asia, I've taken advantage of this benefit a lot.
- In summary: just a much better integrated experience by companies who actually seem to like working together. *A airlines never really seemed to like working together.

Negatives about OW vs *A
- None of the airlines are co-located! This is so frustrating! Ie- CX and BA vs AA and JL at ORD, JL vs AA at JFK, or AA vs all others at LAX/TBIT.
- Less options. There are just fewer carriers in OW, especially getting from North America to Asia. However, as of recent, *A seems to be going for quantity or quality.
- In summary: please start co-locating OW carriers!

Overall I've been happy with the change from OW to *A and I've been able to really make it work for me and my travel. With everything I know now, I would not want to move back to *A.

remedy

Not as experienced as the previous poster, but have had good luck with BA for my European travel.

• Often get "relatively" reasonable purchaseable upgrades at the airport
• Like the longer TATL flight compared to long domestic and shorter TATL flight
• BA lounges are pretty good @ LHR
• DON't particularly like connecting through LHR, though
• Much more likely to get domestic upgrades on US/AA compared to UA

jsieds

Mixed bag thus far.

Highlight BA upgraded me to business on return flight from London. Don't know why but enjoyed the experience.

Lowlight AB did not allow me as Emerald to board until group 4.

JDiver

Er, I agree to some extent, but that depends on where you are; and this is being addressed at some airports. In others, terminal limitations prevent it.

DFW, BA, QR and AA all depart DFW-D.

HKG pretty consolidated.

JFK, airberlin, American Airlines / American Eagle, Finnair, LAN / TAM, Qatar Airways use T-8; until the originally planned terminal 8 expansion (stymied by 9-11), T-7 will continue being used by British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Qantas and Japan Airlines departs T-1.

In LAX, most international flights depart TBIT; AA is receiving four TBIT gates and international AA will largely move there (and an airside connector will make it easier for AA connections; AA - US already are connected, though I'd imagine US OP's moving to T-3 with AA use of TBIT.

In LHR, most oneworld airlines use T3, even a few BA flights; T-5 is all IB, most BA. the long term Heathrow plans will likely see further oneworld consolidation.

NRT has seen airline redistribution by alliance.

MIA is trammeled by terminal design and layout.

ORD airberlin, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways all depart, AA depart T-3; everything international arrives T-5.

SFO long term plan will consolidate all oneworld airlines (AA's current terminal is interim only).

fish114

As another US (and by extension UA far too often), I've noticed the following differences to OW vs *A:

Positives:
- OWE FC Lounge Access is very nice. Of course, LH would never go for that with their FC lounges, but this is a very nice perk.

Differences:
- Mileage accrues based on ticketing and not operating carrier. This can be bad or good depending on the ticketing vs operating carriers agreement. For example, if I'm flying on an AA ticket operated by CX, that results in 1.5x vs 1.25x accrual in J, but if it's AA operated CX ticket, it's 1.25x accrual in J vs 1.5.

Negatives:
- OW is under represented in key areas of the world (mainland China specifically).
- J/F taxes through LHR makes award tickets actually cost money to the point where it defeats the purpose of an award ticket. And of course, luck would have it that the large OW European carrier is LHR-based.

transportbiz

Interesting thanks, the casual observations I've made so far less than a month into the switch is that BA is the "exception" airline. Priority baggage handling "except BA". Awards to Europe cost so much on BA, that it's basically excludes them too. It's kind of strange BA gets to be in OW when it really goes it's own way, or is that an unfair perception?

superweak

The best part of OW for me is definitely the LHR lounges - nothing like a full English breakfast and wing chairs (or CX noodles) to make for a pleasant connection. Makes up a bit for the silliness of the security there.

OW Emerald is a very nice touch - I feel treated well by all OW carriers I've flown, while only being *Gold on partners was definitely a step down from US CP on the home carrier.

The worst part is the lack of connectivity in a lot of regions. OW is basically useless for flying in continental Europe unless you're specifically going to Madrid or Spain; Air Berlin is a pretty poor excuse for a network carrier, and all the other hubs are on the periphery. OW is also very weak in Africa compared to *A, which I care about.

aamilesslave

This is only an issue when flying FROM the UK. If connecting, you do not have to pay the ADP 'luxury tax' fees.

tommyleo

I have a very good feeling that you never took full advantage of the creative booking opportunities that US afforded us on *A carriers...

Mykle

I am so disappointed with OW vs *A. The lounge access is the big kicker for me. I seldom fly J/F, but I was still able to access the OW lounges because of the US Club membership...no more with OW (with few exceptions like Qantas). LH Clubs were consistently great, and the Swiss club in ZRH was very nice too. The AA club in CDG is very nice, but still below most of the LH clubs in terms of food choices/quality. And the taxes to go to Europe via UK on BA are absurd...it costs hundreds more vs. going via Germany on LH...I'm simply not going use BA unless the UK was my destination. Would love it if we dumped OW and went with *A. Not gonna happen, but a person can dream.

JDiver

Just another point that might make a difference for some: the probability Aer Lingus will rejoin oneworld, now that it looks very much like (BA and IB owner) IAG will be buying EI.

As to lounge access, it's good for those with oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status. For Club members, it's restricted to the 50 or so Admirals a Club (including rebranded US Airways Clubs) and a number of airline partner lounges (e.g. BER, FRA, ZRH, etc.)

That, by the way, EXCLUDES Qantas Clubs unless one is flying AA or an AA marketed (codeshare) flights after recent changes.

serfty

Er, QF's single daily 'turnaround' uses T7 and it's relatively poor BA First/Business lounges.

serfty

To be fair, that's more in relation to US DM itself (and the occasional compliant agent) rather than anything specific to *A.

davidl

I had great 'trepidation' regarding the switch from *A to OW, but so far it has worked out for me. I fly to Europe from PHL on business every 6 weeks or so, and have been flying premium economy on BA, connecting through LHR. Shockingly, BA has upgraded me to business class on a quarter to a third of my trans-Atlantic segments to or from LHR. Sometimes it happens in the lounge in PHL, but more often as I am boarding the flight I am given a new boarding pass and off I go. That certainly never happened -- at least to me -- on any *A carrier.

As mentioned, the BA lounges at LHR are quite nice, and so long as I am able to go through the fast track security due to being OWE, security at LHR is not too bad. And then I can go to Giraffe and have huevos rancheros for breakfast!!!

Best,

David