hginPHL

Yes, as a CP you get on the upgrade list on AA on routes to Hawaii. If available at OLCI, you get upgraded. It's almost always available as AA isn't as free with their upgrades in advance as US is. As someone who went back and forth to HNL from PHL about 10 times this year, it was a miracle. The US 757s that they fly on those routes, as well as no upgrades for elites, is just miserable. MISERABLE.

On a more general note, as a CP I have been treated well on AA. Some great crews, some cranky crews - but I find the same on US. The problems for me crop up when you book AA via US or vice versa - so I've tried to stick to one airline per trip and book my ticket on that airline. Mixing and matching is still a bit of an issue if you run into problems.

ubernostrum

That "formality" has cost me both time and actual money.

I've had AA employees, as noted, try to tell me I have to pay for a checked bag as a US CP. I've had AA employees tell me a connection was perfectly fine when looking it up myself revealed my connection time was down to 8 minutes (!) due to delay, and had to proactively initiate rebooking myself. I've had AA employees tell me a flight is on time when they know the hub it's flying to is in a multi-hour ground stop (and then they board the flight to get it out of their hands and just let it sit on the tarmac). I've had AA lose my bags multiple times, and after a real cluster(you know what) of a trip made me drive back an hour to the destination airport to pick up my lost bag (only to find -- surprise! -- nobody staffing the AA bag counter, and nobody responding to repeated pages from the US counter next to it).

But, y'know, they'd never stoop to stemless glassware. So they've got that going for them at least. Gotta keep the really important things in perspective.

BSBD

ubernostrum, you need to try DL for a while, where everyone is an "elite" flyer. You will enjoy sitting in Y with me and the 83 other elites who never made it off the upgrade list.

sdix

Amen to that. The grass is not always greener.

My biggest gripe is all the marketing hype about the new American and how great and wonderful it all is yet the actual interaction with either side leaves a lot to be desired.

Most employees at least give it some level of lip service but the reality is it's a cluster.

Superguy

I booked 2 trips to DFW for the first two weeks of November. Did I book AA for the nonstop? Nope. I'd rather deal with US thru PHL than fly nonstop on AA.

I already cleared PHL-DFW for Sunday. I can rest easy knowing I'm already in F rather than waiting until Saturday and hoping for the best. I already know what I'll get on US - it isn't as bad as people make it out to be - and I won't be disappointed by the overhyped AA product that disappoints. Not that AA is terrible in F - just that it doesn't live up to the hype.

I also know that my plane will have been built in this century rather than the last.

SFO777

You can thank Discount Dougie for that one.
Hey, I don't want to fly AA anymore either and I'm an EXP and get free upgrades.

Superguy

I flew it prior to 9/1 ... can't blame Discount Dougie for that.

Biggie Fries

Pretty much my take, too. I do appreciate not having to (always) wait until last minute to see if I clear.

Actually, to put it a bit differently: I've gotten acclimated to all kinds of seats and issues and what-not. But my spouse really doesn't enjoy flying so much when things are (figuratively) up in the air. Our leisure travel on US has been fun because the upgrades are predictable, they generally come ahead of time ... and she (Silver) basically is getting upgraded on my account (literally and figuratively). In addition to the last minute stuff on AA, I don't really grasp the companion situation (my fault, I know), but this is again why I am avoiding AA for leisure travel with her. Also, making sure that she gets to Gold (AA Plat) for the coming year ....

VickiSoCal

Clearly upgrades are better for both sides on their own metal and will probably continue to be so for awhile. Hitting the site every few minutes to try to score one in the last 24 hours for AA elites on US isn't all that much fun either.

ubernostrum

And another minor annoyance I was just reminded of:

When looking at flights on US' side, be careful about selecting F on a mixed itinerary -- I just got almost all the way through booking one before I realized only the segments on US were actually in F, the portion on AA was in Y.

outwrdbound

I guess I have been quite lucky. So far this year, I have flown 45-50 segments on AA and the only issue I ever experienced was being asked to pay for checked bags. This happened only once on the very first AA flight (using my DM number) that I took this year, just after they started sharing benefits. US was still part of Star Alliance at the time. The agent quickly fixed the issue, and since then, I have not had a single issue. In fact, I have been about 50% for upgrades, have always been able to land MCE seats, and have had no problems getting the free snack/drink in the main cabin when I wanted it.
Most of these tickets were booked through AA using AA metal OR US using US metal, however, I have had some that were booked through AA but on US metal and US on AA metal, and did not experience any problems as a result.
All in all, this merger has been largely problem free from my experience and I have no intention of leaving the new AA for anyone else.

BDL Flyer

A few thoughts....all based on my own experiences, and of course YMMV.

Overall I would not avoid AA as a US elite. I have been pleased with AA staff in several different locations. On board experience has been mixed - but more positive than negative. Certainly no worse than legacy US, and better than the current state of affairs with UA/CO.

One annoyance is that I have had three US ticketed, AA metal flights that were upgraded into "A" in the last 3 weeks. One was complementary and two were purchased with the $30/500 mi sticker system. None of them have posted to my DM account, and I have had no success in getting credit for them via the missing miles process on the US website. Ultimately, a few thousand miles that will chew up more time than they're probably worth.

Have had no problem getting Precheck, baggage fees, priority boarding, etc on AA. And AA counter or club agents at JFK, DFW, MIA, LAX, BDL, ORD & SFO have been helpful & friendly. Maybe a function of times/days travelling, but I have found the Admirals clubs to be much less crowded than the United Clubs and with better amenities.

All in all, I am shifting to US/AA/OW as the default for future travel instead of UA/star. Connection options from BDL (PHL, DCA, CLT, DFW, ORD, MIA) with more combined AA/US mainline equipment beat the UA options. (ORD, IAD, occasional EWR & IAH). Much better upgrade success this year as US gold than as UA gold (at least in part because I seem to always end up on ERJ145s and CR200's on UA). Have my first international AA/BA tickets purchased - looking forward to comparing AA/BA through LHR relative to UA/LH through FRA.

We'll see what the future holds...but based on my flights for 2014 -- AA/US is my first choice.

Superguy

Biggest difference: AA elites can be added to a waitlist on US. It doesn't work the other way.

GaryZ

..been saying that for awhile, actually since the merger was announced.

Makes one hope that another startup could replace the old US, as unlikely as that may be...

miffSC

True.

Saddest thing... after years of loyalty to US Airways, it all counts for naught now. With today's announcement, the final turn of the screw has left us with the short end of the stick.