Except for one year when I dropped to Platinum, I've been both EXP and 1K for the past several years. First a few comments on blueslip's comments, then some additional kinds of comparisons:
Originally Posted by
blueslip
The big difference is on the redemption of award tickets.
1. AA gives you more options and availability while UA gives you nothing despite of the number of *A members serving the region I want to fly.
I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that UA gives you nothing, but nevertheless I basically agree with the thrust of this comparison. AA is generally much, much better re availability of award tix, including on its OW partners, as well as VIP upgrades for that matter.
2. AA allows one way award redemption, while UA does not.
OTOH, UA allows free stopovers as part of an international award ticket. AA does not. If you want to add a second destination to the trip, you have to fork over more miles on AA.
3. AA has lower miles redemption (at least for the award I would like to redeem)
As the comment implies, this may vary according to class of service and destination. For one trip I recently checked, UA required fewer miles.
A few other points of comparison:
1. AA EXP CSRs generally are better than UA 1K CSRs in terms of knowledge, helpfulness and authority to take the initiative.
2. UA 1Ks get to change or cancel award tix for free. AA charges to do so.
3. AA will let an EXP hold an outbound award reservation as soon as the 330-day window advance booking window opens, and later let you then book the return at the time of the window opening for the return trip. As a UA 1K, you have to ticket the outbound along with a fake return booking, then change the return date and possibly the routing (depending on what's available) when the date on which you actually want to return opens up. Not a huge problem since the change is free, but still a bit more of a hassle.
4. As an AA EXP you get access to its own and its OW partners' F lounges even when on an award ticket. As a 1K you only have access to regular UA and its *A partners' regular lounges.
There's lots more, but I'll leave it at that.