FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - UA's 737-900 Aircraft With no Entertainment System
Old Jul 28, 2012 | 9:38 pm
  #61  
Azmordean
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Boulder, CO
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 120
Originally Posted by LarkSFO
Do you have elite staus on any airline yet?

If no, I would try kayaking to begin with (price / schedule / convenience drives your choice in carrier).

If you start traveling more, and decide to focus on a single airline to gain status, then your time as a kayaker will hopefully help you determine which is your best choice.
Not yet. That said, I'm an experienced traveler - I use UA a *lot* mainly because they basically own IAD for all intents and purposes and are close in SFO. I always check Kayak, but flying out of either airport, UA simply offers the best selection of non-stops. Price wise, they are usually within a few bucks of being the cheapest.

I also have the excellent United Select Visa (the old one that earns 3miles for United purchase, 2 for dining/gas/grocery, 1 for everything else). That plus a few transcons and the miles rack up fast.

For those reasons, I usually focus my travel on United unless the price difference is meaningful. I am actually VERY close to status this year on United. If I push it, I could probably hit Premier Silver. That said... I'm not sure how much Premier Silver is really worth. E+ at booking would be huge, but since that benefit was removed, I'm not sure Silver is really that much of an upgrade, esp on elite heavy SFO-IAD. I could get most of the benefits and then some with the Club credit card.

On SFO-IAD, UA and VX seem to be about the same price most of the time. I prefer UA for the miles (Elevate being based on spend rather than miles is not good for long flights, especially a long flight at a good price) and for E+. But the WiFi thing may push me to VX for at least some of my trips.
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