Originally Posted by
edgewood49
well that takes a little wind out of my sails on UA!. I typically purchase on AS 75k upgrade fare into FC. And would do much the same on whomever I move to.
On UA I really don't mind the stop over in SFO on my way to SAN which I do once month. I also do the Bay Area many times a year.
So why did you go to AS ?
reasons i went to AS (in no particular order) that are attributable to negative experiences at UA:
1) operational problems on several trips in late 2013 and difficulty of recovering from them
2) devaluations to the mileage plus program particularly award redemptions on partner airlines
3) fewer upgrades as a 1K post merger than a gold level flyer pre-merger
4) downgrades in onboard product and service quality especially in F, the food is terrible and the menus have not rotated in at least 18 months, maybe longer
5) a chronically broken upgrade system, and also the reservation system (SHARES) sucks
6) lower quality of service on the ground and on the phone
to be fair, i have flown about 20 segments on UA in 2014. in 2013 i flew 95% UA or partners, in 2014 i'm down to about 30%...with the remaining 70% being 60% AS partners and 10% AS metal. some of the reasons i went to AS are also for the positive aspects of the AS program (earning miles on many different airlines in a single program, for instance).
if you are buying instant upgrade fares on UA and are purchasing at least 7 days in advance you'll do fine on UA and ride up front most of the time. just keep in mind that there are fewer instant UP buckets on UA (YB for plat and below elites, YBM for 1K and GS elites). Y and B especially tend to be expensive, I flew a transcon M fare last week and it was >$750 one way. UA aggressively prices F through what are known as UPDI fares (they are coach fares that give an instant UP to F but typically have 7 or 14 day AP restrictions and book into P), so those are an option to get into F, but they come with caveats (that's a topic in another thread).
SFO as a hub is fine, except that it does have some weather issues that you are probably accustomed to flying right over. in addition, UA does not serve OAK and barely serves SJC, so you really are locked into SFO for your bay area trips...which can be a disadvantage depending on where you need to end up.
personally i would rate the quality of major US airlines right now as:
DL>AA>AS~B6~US>UA>WN>Spirit~Allegiant~Frontier
YMMV I guess.