pl804

My home airports are SJC and SFO. After several years of AA EXP or PLT, I've finally fallen back to basic Gold (Million Miler). Given the downhill trend of AA customer service, and that while I'd be willing to pay $2K for EXP, I'm not willing to pay the $1500 they're asking for, for the GLD->PLT buy-up – and the impossibility of ever getting from 1.6M miles to 2M miles for lifetime PLT – it just doesn't seem worth the hassle of always taking 1-stops on AA when I could be flying AS/VA or UA nonstop to most of my destinations (primarily DCA (2-3x/yr), NYC/EWR (2-3x/yr), RDU (1-2x/yr), AUS (1-2x/yr), SEA (1-2x/yr), etc.).

I matched my AA PLT to AS/VA MVP Gold, and have United Silver via Marriott. Now, I'm trying to figure out where to move my loyalty to. My work has shifted from int'l to mostly domestic, so if I fly UA, for instance, so I might only fly 50K miles a year. 3 considerations, though, wrt UA: (1) I have the United Club Card and am just realizing that their lounges are pretty good; (2) I'm getting too old (and enjoy time with my family too much) for mileage runs, so I might do 1, maybe 2, tops, per year; and (3) I'm increasingly willing to pay $250-500 extra r/t for transcon premium class.

So my assessment of the relative benefits, and how much weight I put on each one, on a scale of 1 to 10 per benefit (which includes some thought to how much better each benefit is relative to the other airline):

AS/VA:
- (6) Better customer service (on the plane, but also whether they bump, and how they handle requests for flight changes, or standby)
- (5) Greater likelihood of premium class upgrades
- (4) Better FF benefits at a level I'd maintain???
- (2) AS credit card companion offer
Subtotal: 17

UA:
- (7) Better scheduling and more nonstop routes out of SFO???
- (6) *A award redemptions (int'l family vacations)
- (5) *A reciprocal benefits (premium seats, lounges, etc.)
- (5) Better lounges??? and can access via UA Club Card
Subtotal: 23

And for kicks, AA:
- (5) Better planes???
- (3) Better European/African coverage via partner networks
- (1) Plodding toward 2M miler before I die, maybe...
Subtotal: 8

So, as you can tell, I'm leaning toward UA.

Am I missing anything?

Anyone out there recently spent time on both AS/VA and UA, and have an opinion on what I should do?