Originally Posted by
2NDCITYBOY
3. That Delta and American do not fly to other west coast cities from SFO, except LA.
3a. I probably won’t have many flights along the West Coast, but that’s segments and miles lost to another carrier. (A feather in United’s cap).
Actually, no, they wouldn't be. AA flies SFO-LAX, and AA's partner Alaska (AS) flies to SEA/PDX out of SFO. You won't be upgraded on those segments, but they are fairly short flights, and you won't lose qualifying miles/segments (this would also be true on DL).
One other thing to note: AA eVIPs to upgrade those longhaul business class flights are considerably more useful than UA SWUs, if you suspect that you won't be able to outright buy business class.