1) What is your home airport? YVR
2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Economy with a paid or free upgrade to extra legroom
3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 50k on Star Alliance, 10kon non-Star alliance flights
4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? United Gold
5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Upgrades (to extra legroom and/or business) and good award redemption
6) Which routes do you fly most often YVR -> SFO, YVR -> EWR, YVR -> Europe, YVR -> Random US city.
7) Preferred Airlines: Tallest midget. On Star I fly 50% AC, 25% UA, 25% LH.
8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Mostly work. I have almost complete freedom in choosing flights - however I have a tight budget that I need for other things.


I'm currently with United but debating on whether to switch to Air Canada since I fly 50% AC flights and 25% UA flights. What's holding me back:

A) It seems like AC's plan only makes sense if you purchase Flex fares. Flex fares cost significantly more, you get much of that back (but not all) through cheaper preferred seats (which I purchase anyway).

B) Air Canada upgrades seem like a worse deal (although I'd be happy to be convinced otherwise). I pay $100 more at booking to get into Flex which allows me to use credits to get onto a waiting list where I might need to pay per segment if I get it? It seems much more complicated than UA's system.

C) Switching programs seems like a hassle, with using one number of my bookings and then changing it at the gate. I also have a few hundred thousand UA miles and it's annoying to have multiple programs.

D) Aeroplan seems much worse than UA MP due to fuel surcharges, at least on economy flights (which is what I mostly purchase).

Based on the above, it seems like switching isn't worth it, despite flying AC most of the time. Am I wrong? Happy to hear feedback.