Originally Posted by
unique1
10,000 miles with United and 1700 miles with American is assumed EQM and PQM for FY13. I have 27,000 total miles with United and 10,000 miles total with American. Eventually I want to get to Million Miler in my lifetime.
I'm a traveling MC, currently flying between California and Illinois, so 3500 round trip per week. There is an equal amount of flights for both United and American going to and from at the times I want.
Not any last minute changes usually. Upgrades are important, nonstops are important.
OK, well, you're flying to a UA/AA hub (read: lots of competition for upgrades if you are not top dog elite), assuming you mean ORD (the exact airports you use is actually a factor here, since equipment varies and affects upgrade chances). 10K PQM this year on United gives you a leg up on status there, but it's not a big one.
I'd probably go for the AA
Status Challenge because your travel patterns would theoretically get you to AA Executive Platinum, in my opinion the single best status achievable by mileage out there, and concentrate on AA. You'll also get more miles when you hit AA Platinum (100% RDM bonuses at 50K+, as opposed to 50% at 50K, 75% at 75K).
This assumes that you don't particularly care that oneworld is behind Star Alliance in terms of places you can redeem your miles in some parts of the world (the options for Europe aren't as good because BA, OW's primary European carrier, will stiff you for expensive fuel surcharges on TATL awards, for instance).