msiamsia

Same deal.
We had a baby last year and wouldn't be ideal to fly for a while.
But, in a process of wait-and-see, we do not want to lose the chance to use Star Alliance previledge, as we need to trave to Asia on either UA or ANA route.

I'm afraid I have to cash in my divident mile soon.
Praying that my baby cooperates (i.e., doesn't become sick before long haul trip, etc.) as I anticipate that changes to the issed award ticket would be extremely difficult.

romadaro

I'm wondering the same thing as I am Lifetime Silver in the DM Program with 1.9m miles and Executive Platinum in the AA Program with 535K miles, which should qualify me for Lifetime Platinum when the miles are combined, according to the current qualifications in the AA Program.

cdepks

why?

LM225

I'm assuming he's referring to the very high fees charged for award travel through London. It's certainly enough to deter me from connecting there if I can help it.

thomwithanh

Connecting in Frankfurt was the best... so many options and you can truly get to anywhere in Europe or Asia with ease from there.

Now what will our EU options be:

• British Airways (LHR): Good network but as Alphaguy pointed out Heathrow is a pain in the you know what to transit thorugh. APD and UK's high YQ don't help either. (Speedbird 2 or 4 into LCY are the exception).
• Air Berlin (TXL and DUS): I've heard some great things about their longhaul J product (same seats as EY) though their network isn't huge IIRC.
• Finnair (HEL): I believe they have good coverage in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia but Helsinki is out of the way.
• Iberia (MAD and BCN): No... just no. They're about as close to a US domestic carrier as you can get in Europe - charging for checked baggage and catering.

Superguy

I'll throw my 2 cents in on this.

The whole DCA/IAD thing isn't a big deal to me as BWI is much closer to where I live. I'm not going to schleb out to IAD unless it's significantly cheaper or I'm going TATL. DCA isn't worth it to me most days. So that doesn't affect me.

However, I think this merger leaves choices if you're not happy with US/AA being in OW.

First is the do-nothing option, stick with US/AA and OW.

Second, if *A is important, that means dealing with UA. UA has gone downhill a lot since it tied up with CO. I jumped to US because of it, and I've often looked back and laughed at the suckers that stayed with UA. I'm not thrilled about having to go back if I want to stay in *A. I
Third is DL. DL would be tolerable as it serves the places I go fairly well, especially SLC. I'm really not thrilled with DL's spending requirement now. Even though with my work travel I'd likely easily meet the spend requirements, I don't like the idea that my level is capped by spending. I'm also not sure if the MQDs I'd spend from buying my family tickets would count toward mine.

To me, it's a difficult choice. The merger with AA itself doesn't bother me as I think AA can bring some good things to the table for US, and vice versa. I'm not confident that the best of both programs would actually be implemented despite promises to the contrary ... I keep thinking back to Jeff Smisek's "Changes we think you'll like" and seeing what a disaster that turned out to be. I could see CP actually improving under the system with getting more SWUs and actually having them be usable. And even if AA kept the stickers program, the price was reasonable ($35/500 miles ... much better than the $50/500 miles UA charged). If it meant at a lower tier I had a good chance of getting an upgrade when I wanted it, then it could be good.

I'm not thrilled about being dumped into LHR with BA/IB for Europe travel, and limited service to Asia without having to go thru NRT for everywhere I'm likely to go (especially with JL, and there's no direct service to ICN).

I'm also not liking the uncertainty of how long US is going to be in *A. Right now, it seems like they could bail as early as Q3. So this makes planning my international travel hard ... especially to Asia.

To me, *A has the most airlines I want to fly and can get me where I want to go easiest, and ST can do a reasonably good job though not quite as well. OW ... well ...

I could have accepted the merger a lot more if US stayed in *A. I knew it wasn't going to happen for antitrust reasons.

So I'm finding myself back in the same situation I was a year ago ... trying to determine if I should stay or go. At this point, I don't have much tied up in US ... I'll only have 8k PQMs by mid month next month as most of my work travel happens later in the year. So if I want to move, it would be better to do so now.

Decisions, decisions ... and none of them are great or easy.

Superguy

Not only that, they have a luxury tax for flying premium cabins. It's charged on awards and can be charged on upgrades.

dcAA

The luxury tax is only charged on flights originating in the UK, so you only pay it on the return flight, and only if you are originating at LHR that day.

IMHO, its not the APD that is problematic, but the fact that BA charges ridiculously high fees on award tickets. I simply will not book a BA TATL flight with miles (their intra-european flights have a low fee). It is only slightly more expensive to book a paid BA flight in WT+ and MFU with Avios transferred in from AMEX.

phlwookie

IMHO LHR T5 is actually a pretty good facility now that they've figured out how to operate it. London of course still shuts down with any snow, but that's a city-wide issue. I fly BA on PHL-LHR whenever I'm not on US 728/729 and don't mind them at all.

FRA has struggled in snow for me too, FWIW, and I'm honestly not a fan of the facility either. I'll miss the MUC hub, my favorite in Europe.

My big issue with US leaving Star is really coverage to secondary Eastern European cities, which I tend to need once or twice a year, and the loss of domestic Chinese carriers, which is handier for me than CX's presence in HKG.

OW isn't in any way a disaster for me at least.

IflyonAA

Seems as though we might be seeing some of you within our ranks in the future and perhaps some of you will be looking elsewhere (DL/UA).

It is quite interesting to see the disdain that some of you have for oneworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xF-j9h6us

mydreamvacation

I have over 300K in dividend miles I have been saving up as we fly envoy each summer to Italy. I have this summer's tickets but now I have no idea how it will work for next summer. I fly out of BDL or BOS and did a quick look on AA and they would be sending me all over the place. on *A I can go out of Boston and switch in either FRA or EWR or go from CLT or PHL nonstop on US. Now I am thinking I am stuck. No wonder they kept telling me to buy miles and they would double them.

cdepks

[QUOTE= UA has gone downhill a lot since it tied up with CO. I jumped to US because of it, and I've often looked back and laughed at the suckers that stayed with UA. ([/QUOTE]

Can you elaborate more on why UA is so bad? I rarely flew them, but never had any issues, I am considering the jump too for *A reasons to Europe...

lcove

What makes you think you won't be able to still fly direct from CLT or PHL? I haven't seen anything announced that new US/AA will be cutting back on TATL flights.

FWAAA

One unknown is what happens to those tiny bergs that are served by US Dash8s. Small turboprop service has been disappearing and there are analysts saying that as they become extinct, there will be more small towns without air service. Unless fuel prices decline dramatically, not every small airport can support even 50-seat RJs. And, of course, fuel prices have made them obsolete in many markets.

ronniefastback

Just not as many airline options. Star Alliance just simply has better options to Asia and Europe on multiple airlines. I honestly don't know a ton about OW, so I'll be open about it..... but most folks with US really like the options on *A.