I have been a happy camper till recently with the UA/LH/*A combination, but am now seriously considering a move to AA/BA/OW, and so this is my first post to the AA board – looking for advice and thoughts on the move.

Travel patterns in brief:

Based in SAN – travel ~125K-150K BIS miles/year and ~175-200 EQM with CoS bonuses.

3 trips/year to India (usually DEL or MAA) – usually in paid Z (but sometimes in Y)
2-3 trips/year to Europe (all in lowest fare Y available at time of purchase)
2-3 trips/year to North/South East Asia (all in lowest fare Y available at time of purchase)
8-10 domestic US trips (half east coast and half others) – all in lowest fare Y available at time of purchase

So far, I make 1K each year, and make SEN every other year (since it’s valid for 2 years) and the combination of 1K and SEN has worked really well. Key features include(d):

a) Ability to use UA SWU’s to go from Z to F on LH. Can access FCL in FRA/MUC if even one of the 2 legs (US – FRA/MUC or FRA/MUC – India) clears, which typically happens (and I’ve used my LH SEN e-vouchers to confirm new First on LH in advance)
b) Free access to United Club with SEN (*G) card – so have never paid for a RCC/UC membership
c) Direct flight to IAD from SAN (make 3-4 trips to DC/year); can use LH lounge there – having SEN card means I have even used it once as an arrival lounge after a red eye to shower and get to a meeting and taken an evening flight back to SAN without needing a hotel!
d) Crediting to 1K while flying UA and SEN while flying LH (most of the time) ensures better treatment than just being *G
e) Miles on both MP and M&M mean that award bookings are easier to get (cheaper rates on MP, but no *Net blocking on M&M)

So, why am I considering leaving for AA/BA/OW – both pull factors from AA/BA and push factors from UA/LH:

1) Direct SAN – LHR on BA means I can get to most places in India and also more obscure places in Europe with just 1 stop
2) Direct SAN – NRT on JAL in the 787 will mean similar one-stop connections to most places in Asia (hate changing in LAX and the SFO elite security line for UA is now a circus – have twice missed SFO – SAN connections after an inbound international flight because of how long the security line there is)
3) OW treats top-tier elites a lot better – especially First Class Lounge access to OW Emerald members (should get access to BA First lounge in LHR as EXP and to the Spa since I’ll be flying CW on BA to India). Will have access to F lounges in NRT and HKG as well.
4) Ability to use SWU’s on my lowest fare Y tickets to Europe (and route willing – to Asia) without playing the “buy W+ and play the upgrade lottery” game with UA
5) In cases, where CW is too expensive, looks like WTP can be bought for around $3K RT from SAN to India, which can be upgraded to CW for 40K mile RT (which will equal the mileage accrual on the trip)
6) Have close family in DFW, and so will be nice to take free stops there en route/back from the East Coast a few times/year
7) Looks like EXP treatment is considerably better than 1K after COdbaUA. Especially like the free drink and snack box in Y even if the UG does not clear. Compare with UA that makes you pay for a snack box even in F (this when I asked for a snack box as a vegetarian in F after they have STOPPED catering special meals in domestic F and have NO vegetarian option at lunch).
8) Dramatic fall in upgrade rates after CO took over UA (have not cleared SAN – IAD even once in 4 flights, while batting .9 earlier). It’s quite clear that ToD’s are largely to blame (and perhaps the prevalence of government Y fares, which now trump elite status for upgrades). I also book my tickets a fair bit in advance and so the AA upgrade algorithm will probably work a lot better for me than the UA one.
9) Can no longer use UA SWU’s to fly F on LH Z fares (has to be D or higher). This is a big blow; also Z-fares now only accrue 150% EQM’s on LH as opposed to 200%.
10) Other gradual weakening of 1K benefits (needing companions to be on same PNR for E+ is absurd if I am on a revenue ticket and family is on an award ticket)

So if I switch, I will easily fly enough to make EXP each year, and will also probably be able to make BA Silver each year for AC access as a OW Sapphire.

Main concerns with making the switch:

i. Cannot use AA SWU’s on BA (unlike UA/LH)
ii. Dropping of ORD-DEL means no way to get to India on AA metal (where SWU’s can be used), while EWR-DEL and EWR-BOM on UA are good flights to have (though not sure how good SWU’s will be on these flights given CO’s tendency to sell upgrades under elites)
iii. Will have to qualify for BA silver each year for free AC access unlike SEN which is valid for 2 years (though SEN will get harder to make now that Z fares only accrue 150% instead of 200% EQM’s, while one RT CW to India gets 560 BA EC tier points making it close to BA Silver)
iv. Most of my US/Europe/East Asia fares will probably only qualify for 0.5 EQP’s on AA, and so am likely to have to fly 100K BIS for EXP, since my Z-fare CoS bonuses from India trips will just about cancel out the 0.5 EQP earnings on US/Europe/Asia trips (will also need to credit 1-2 CW tickets each year to BA EC). 1K is much easier that way with all cheap fares counting 1x and Z+ fares counting 1.5x.
v. I believe BA fees for award tickets (using AA miles) are very high – but don’t know how much. Anyone know what the fees are for a RT award ticket to India on Y and on C? My main use of award tickets is for family to/from India
vi. Uncertainty about the Chapter 11 and what a new US-AA may look like (not to mention integration issues)

My initial plan was to seriously consider OW next year after Main Cabin Extra was in place, new planes started arriving, the JAL non-stop to NRT started, and after there was more clarity on the Chapter 11 proceedings. But COdbaUA has gone south so quickly that I am trying to figure this out now.

The match to EXP (confirmed today) is expediting the consideration!

But I can’t make up my mind since the pros/cons seem to balance out quite a bit. Are there any considerations I am missing? The main unknown for me is what are the BA award fees like and what is availability of BA awards to India like for EXP’s? The other of course is that it seems prudent to wait a year till the new UA settles and the Chapter 11 uncertainty is resolved. I’ve also put 40K EQM’s on MP so far this year and 45K on M&M – and am on track to make both 1K & SEN this year. I could (just) keep EXP if I completely switched to AA for the rest of the year, but will not be able to also make BA Silver, so won’t have the AC for a year or so.

Without the EXP match, I’d just wait it out – but having the match makes the switch more painless than it’s ever likely to be, so I’d like to figure this out quickly.

Anyone else with similar travel patterns with advice to offer? Or even just thoughts from veteran AA/BA users.

Thanks for reading all of this – and your thoughts are most appreciated!