Originally Posted by
ByrdluvsAWACO
Well no one prefers an RJ over mainline(although I like to fly them sometimes), but don't fall into the WN mindset many have here. I would rather sit on a 100 RJ's knowing that its going towards my AA elite status, MM status, mileage balance, and intl rewards than sit on the same number of WN flights collecting Rapid Regrets points.
Sure it can be a pain to fly RJs, but at least I know my inconvenience is going to be rewarded handsomely. I'm not saying that every route you need to fly will be on a legacy carrier, and I know that WN will be your best bet in some cases. However, I would seriously consider consolidating a good chunk of your flying on one carrier whether its AA, US, or UA. From what you said, I can see you easily qualifying for mid-tier status and top tier if you put a little more effort into it.
Well remember that the legacies are now installing F seats on many of their regional aircraft.
AA RJ Seatmap
You may fly to get points and status. I do not care about the points. I know, FT heresy. I fly to get someplace quickly as cheap as possible. I have already looked at it and if I had to choose one carrier as the best for the places I fly it would be DL. I always compare pricing and schedules and they are the only ones that are consistently close. AA almost never. They left my luggage in ORD because it was raining and they wanted to minimize the weight on the RJ. I had to buy $200 worth of stuff to start work the next morning, stuff I did not need as the luggage finally got there. Since they abandoned hub service in BNA they have not been worth considering except for ORD, LAX and DFW, airports to which I do not fly.
Furthermore, RJ's require that I hand off $15,000 in tools to gate check and I have seen the baggage handlers throw my Pelican case twenty feet to the luggage cart. I hate RJ's for more reasons than the comfort.
US occasionally will be as good as WN.
I will only fly UA if they merge with every other airline and I can not drive to the one city that I need to get to and they are the only carrier. Then I may take them. If WN or F9 flies within 200 miles, no UA.
Okay, so let's say it is DL. How many times do I have to inconvenience myself, pay more money, get stuck in airports like MSP and CVG, risk my tools to gorilla baggage handlers at gate check to get status and points I really do not care about?
If you do not have a home airport like BNA or MCI, you really can not understand the difficulty of using an airline other than WN.
You may not like them, I understand that. But they do for me what I want them to do.