Originally Posted by
Bear96
Thanks DHAST. I think I will be making UA MP my primary program for the reasons you said. Plus I may be on LCC a fair bit and I credit those miles to UA as well.
Oh, don't forget that UA also has E+. Although UA gives upgrades to 1K's now, when you don't get them, E+ is a nice "consolation" prize.
I used to be a plat on NW, and one of the things I didn't like about that was status was all about the upgrade (and free changes to award tix, but I digress). If your upgrade didn't clear, you may as well have had no status. (Ok, you got early boarding and special checkin lines, but if you had a seat in the front of the plane, checked in online, and didn't check bags, it really truly didn't matter.) At least UA status gives you something meaningful on every mainline flight.
Re: LCC -- you may find you're better off skipping the "express" segment of your journey and driving straight to PHL. It all depends on the reliability of your commuter carrier.
Also, I used to be a UA employee (and was even based at IAD, like you were with UAX). It will be fun to go from whiny, self-entitled airline employee to whiny, self-entitled FFer and run into my old co-workers!
You know, I thought it was funny when a person with 2000+ posts and almost a decade on this board wants to know what program is best for him/her... and now that you mention it, I recall that you used to be an FA, right? There's an ex-UAX'er whose now a 1K, but I think he's out in SFO or something like that.
I'll never run into my old co-workers, at least with my former company, because it no longer exists! One thing that amuses me to no end is that my aviation employment has come full circle (I still work in the industry, just not for the airlines). When I left UAX, I worked for another employer at the airport, then moved out to LA, then to Cincinnati, and now my current office is adjacent to the IAD north employee parking lot. That said, I have run into some of my former co-workers -- people I haven't seen in 7 years. It's been kind of funny.
One last thing... when you think you're having a bad trip, just remember, you could always be traveling NRSA. Something about that thought always made me feel better.