Originally Posted by
ChinaShrek
I just don't understand the disdain for UA by many people on this board. I love their E+ (you get up to 5 extra inches of leg room in this section). I don't find their flight attendants any less friendly than on other American carrier. I fly about 25K a year and I think at this bottom rung elite level they give pretty good benefits and service.
UA gets complained about more by those without any status at all. The common complaints include poor phone centers, poor on-time record, dependence on delay-prone hubs, lack of in flight amenities.
As far as what airline to pick from each alliance (for the original poster's question), the usual choice is to pick the one that will be flown most, since status benefits tend to be better on one's "home" airline than on alliance or mileage partners. For *A from NYC, it would seem that CO is more likely to be used than UA or US, due to the hub in EWR offering more non-stop destinations, but the person choosing needs to figure out her own flight patterns.
Of course, there are also the airlines not in the alliance; might as well have accounts in those airlines if they are used. Though from NYC, B6 is probably the main such airline.