tommyleo

Since I'm considering switching my loyalties to UA, it's only fair for me to ask if there is anyone who used to be a UA elite who now prefers to be a US elite. Just trying to get both sides of the story.

So if anyone here used to be a UA elite, any comments would be appreciated.

fcn2121

I figured you deserve at least 1 (one) response. Here it is: By the sheer number of ex UA elites responding, you can certainly tell how popular the current Divident Miles Program is. !!!

AZ Travels the World

And here I thought he actually got one!

Somehow I knew better.

warbo

I would have thought being voted 'Best Airline Loyalty Program' for 3 consecutive years would be in their favour...

pieper

And US now invites you to vote for them and give them a Freddie Award (see site). Come on King, every vote counts

McFlyPHL

I'll bite. I was comped to 1P on UA and left after a month's worth of transcon flights. As much as other like 'em, I was equally unimpressed.

AZ Travels the World

Yes, and I would have thought that such accolades would have been met with something other than a gutting of the award-winning program. Those awards were for the old, pre-merger HP Flight Fund program -- a distant memory.

jan_az

I "deserted" HP for UA 3 yrs ago ( when they changed their awards on BA). I have never looked back. As a UA 1K , I have often been upgraded on US. Now that they have destroyed the HP program by merging it with US and taking the worst of the two - I cant imagine switching back

tommyleo

Interesting. Are you saying that transcons on UA are worse than on US, or just equally weak?

LAX1K to AmWest

I have been there before, the other way, I was with UA and a 1K, and became a HP Platinum. Then when US merged with HP I became a Chairman Preferred. When I compare my status and privledges, I see it has gotten worse and I miss UA many times. There are some good things (like alot more First Class). But UA seems to treat everyone better.

dliesse

I'll chime in from another direction. I'm currently Premier Exec on UA, and flew US the last two weekends on two different trips (one entirely US, one entirely HP), both times in paid -- albeit discounted -- first class. You won't find me flying US again anytime soon.

uva185

Well, I use to be 1P on UA. Each program has its good parts and bad parts. Overall I am much happier with US. On UA I had to constantly deal with the hell hole that is IAD, my bi-weekly RJ flight from CAE-IAD was delayed by at least 1 hour at least 10 trips in a row, while the Independence Air flight leaving at the same time also going to IAD left on time.
(That was the final straw that made me switch to US)

My travel is ALOT less stressful after switching to US. I LOVE using DCA as opposed to IAD. Iv'e had a 98% upgrade success this year (including a 20/22 companion upgrade success rate), my bag was not delayed or lost at all (which actually surprises me), and I do not fly via PHL ever which probably helps me avoid alot of potential headache.

Yes, the in-flight F service on UA is better and there alot of other things UA does that are superior to US. But IMHO it is not worth the extra stress and crap I would have to deal with. It really depends on your location and what you value in an airline.

(I am however looking at switching to Delta this year)

mechteach

I was a UA Premier level member for a number of years, and only switched my miles over to US a few years ago (and this is the first year I've been GP as opposed to SP on US).

I'm glad that I made the switch for the following reasons:

1) I live in Pittsburgh. This was the biggest motivating factor for me. E+ is great, but most of my flights are on US metal, and I'll take a chance of an upgrade to F on my 80-90% of US metal flights any day over a sure thing E+ on my 10-20% of UA metal flights. However, I've had a fantastic upgrade rate, and if that changed, or if those US/UA metal percentages shifted to, say, 50-50, I'd probably go back to UA.

2) I have been able to book award travel on UA (or the other SA carriers) to the destinations I want fairly easily. If US left the Star Alliance, and didn't join a comparable one, I'd bolt right away back to UA.

3) The US BofA and Juniper cards. Because of the Juniper 10K mileage conversion, I was able to make Gold this year (I generally fly around 45K/year, and have two small kids, which makes MRs up to 50K difficult). United has some similar offers, but none that fit my needs as neatly and cheaply.

LoLJammer

I fit your description, though I never reached higher than Prem on UA. I'm CP on US now. In my view, there's not a huge difference either way for things most folks find important, but my reasons for switching and staying US are:

- I live near GSO. I loath ORD and IAD for connections. Either connecting thru or driving down to CLT is a HUGE difference maker for me.

- I actually got upgraded as a US Silver. UA, not so much. I get upgraded > than 90% as a CP. I'm tall and I like this.

- People talk about how ratty US planes are, but to me they are equal or better to what I experienced on UA.

- Maybe I was unlucky, but I was always getting delayed on UA. I'm guessing this was a function of connecting through ORD and that tractor shed they use for RJ's at IAD. Rarely get that kind of issue in CLT.

So, for my situation, US makes sense. The only thing I sometimes miss from UA is Channel 9.

Jammer

sfo_jfk_flyer

I was a 1K on UA for 5 years, then dropped to gold, was 'soft-landed' to silver and in February will be GM.

When LAS was 'TED'ified, I got a comp to HP Platinum, and have not looked back. US/HP has more non-stop destinations than UA.

US/HP FIRST non-stop beats TED E+ with a connection.