1) What did you like most about fkaUA or fkaCO?
Never flew CO and have been flying primarily United only the last four years or so. (Was using other US carriers prior to then.)
2) What changes have had the greatest negative impact on you?
The domestic United Clubs have gone downhill over the past few years, and I didn't think they could get much worse.
Other than that, not sure that I have been negatively affected. I almost never use award tickets so the recent devaluation is not much of a problem for me. Having to ticket everything on 016 stock might be a problem in 2014 but others here believe United can ticket anything on 016. PQD won't be a problem for us.
3) What remains about the current UA that makes it hard for you to leave?
Their international network and the ability to consistently upgrade to lie flat seating on TPAC and TATL flights. I almost always have some flexibility in scheduling and using instruments can almost always upgrade to BF, at least for the longest segments of our trips. I believe we have only flown a couple of pure award tickets on United (emergency domestic situations).
If not, I'll pay full fare for BF a couple of times a year. For domestic trips, I don't really care that much if I fly in an RJ for three hours. Even a 5 hour RJ wouldn't bother me too much. But for an overnight 8 - 17 hour trip, I want to lie flat (my wife even more so). And I don't really care that much about the meals or lack thereof ... I'ver never flown airlines for the cuisine or for the amenities kit.
Our daughter lives about 5 miles from EWR so a number of daily CHS-EWR flights are convenient for us (although in the summer United Express is anything but
).
4) What airlines are you considering switching to? Or kayaking?
The new AA/US Air. Based in CHS, I have to fly to either IAD, EWR, ORD or IAH to go anywhere. We're doing more S. American travel in the next few years, and flying through Miami (AA has CHS-MIA flights) makes a little more sense than going through IAH.
5) What benefits / improvements do you expect on your new airline?
Some people here have commented that AA is a big upgrade in terms of flight experience. I have flown US Air quite a bit over the years, and haven't seen that much difference with United. Haven't been in AA lounges (ever) but the domestic US Air lounges I've visited were marginally better than domestic United Clubs (which sets a rather low bar). Fortunately in EWR and IAD we can use LH. Skytrax rates AA, US Air, UA, DL three star carriers and the fact that they rate ANA, Asiana, CX, SQ, and Malaysia airlines 5 stars gives credibility to their ratings (to me). So I'm skeptical that AA is a big improvement (or even an improvement in terms of what I want as a customer).
6) What aspects of the new airline make it hard for you to switch to them?
No nonstops on US/AA to EWR.