Originally Posted by
ijgordon
It's all a shame, especially if it does get worse (in NYC?). I generally like AA (they've all eff'ed me over at some point, even DL-majorly), and I think AAdvantage in combo with OneWorld is pretty good. But they've definitely made it harder to be loyal out of NYC given my flying patterns. My company dropped AA as a preferred carrier, moving from DL/AA to UA/DL, so between that and the nonstop cutbacks it's just become more difficult. Fortunately I just made lifetime Gold, so I'll have something when AA is the best option. But a lot of my EQDs have moved over to DL. Can't say I love that (Skypesos, etc.) but we all just have to weigh a whole bunch of factors in deciding what works best for us. If UA (and EWR) weren't so bad, I'd probably move over to them for Star Alliance.
As much as I hate UA, I have to give them credits for the new lounges at EWR. Given that my location is closer to EWR, I might be biased. OTOH, I am not asking AA for every Europe destinations, but for some major business cities like ZRH and FRA (include PVG for Asia), there isn't any excuse for taking a connection from NYC. And to be perfectly honest, I like LHR as a destination, but hate the extra time taking the connections. Lounges or wonderful inflight experiences can't make up for my lost time (and hence why I don't go to Europe via HKG
). AA's reasoning is the lower yield pax get worse AC, but 763 for JFK - ZRH is just a joke.
Similarly, if CX moves to *A or introduces lifetime status, I would most likely move my credits to CX.