Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Why not? Star Alliance provides much more opportunities for award redemption, and CO has publicly stated they are not doing the Starnet blocking that UA does.
I haven't compared all aspects of the reward chart, though I did notice one big difference -- I redeemed AA miles for 2 First Class awards to South Africa -- 200K each. It's only 160k through CO.
YMMV depending upon where you go. For my destinations, I've found AA to have great availability for awards [none of the aforementioned UA StarNet blocking], OneWorld is great for Europe, I've never had a problem getting a MilesAAver award, and I love the flexibility of one-way awards. AA's online booking for AAwards (not OneWorld ones, yet
) is easy to use and I like the calendar option and displays. I also like being able to change the award flights/dates as easily as I have been able. Further, I frequently use the awards for family members without the same last name who travel without me -- on United forum, I've read that there are procedures and hoops (some form at the airport?) that I'd have to jump through for those with different names....does that still exist on United? I've booked United awards for a family member before but he shared my same last name.
Edit: I looked at the AA All-Airline chart -- you're right, it's bad for Africa -- Africa's the worst of any region. Come on AA, do a direct flight to Africa
.