This is my first post in the Alaskan forum and I'll be glad for advice on the following.
Am based in SAN and fly ~150-80K BIS miles/year with enough paid J class travel to be both United 1K and AA EXP. I do ~6 J class RT to India each year, 1-2 trips to Europe (Y and hence need SWUs), and 5-6 cross-country trips/year (in Y and I use RPU's and spare GPUs on UA or even unused SWU's on AA to get upgraded on these flights). I will keep UA since I value the EWR-DEL/BOM and new SFO-DEL flights. Have also been UA 1K for ~10 years and close to MM so will keep that.
I status matched to AA EXP ~5 years ago when my travel volume was growing, and because of BA/JAL non-stops from SAN to LHR/NRT and have since kept both 1K and EXP. I also do another BA RT in J to India every other year to keep BA OW Sapphire, which gets me free Admirals Club access and so I have preferred AA for US domestic travel and done 4 RTs/year to India on United and 2 on CX/BA (credited to AA).
But, AA standards have slipped a lot lately and IRROPS have been painful this year (maybe because of 737-MAX issues). Also, EXP upgrade frequency has dropped quite a bit on AA, and UA upgrade frequency is higher when I use RPU's (which will get easier next year with Plus Points since I don't use all the GPUs).
Since my main reason for AA EXP is access to OW partners (mainly BA, CX, and occasionally QR), I am now considering if it makes sense to switch to Alaskan. Main reasons include:
1) I do ~3 RT's/year on SAN-BOS and the only non-stops are on Jetblue and Alaskan. I've been connecting to use UA or AA, but would like to take non-stops.
2) Excellent non-stops to all 4 islands in Hawaii from SAN on Alaskan (I've mainly used Alaskan to date for family vacations there)
3) Also do 1-2 trips/year to Seattle and non-stop would be nice
4) Increased non-stop coverage from SAN after Virgin merger. I see many more non-stops from SAN on AS than on UA or AA
5) Opens up EK for crediting/redemptions (great for India travel) without hurting for BA/CX/JL (though I'd lose QR on OW)
6) Much better earning of miles - especially if flying on paid J tickets
Costs of giving up EXP include:
1) OWE access to FCL in HKIA and LHR T5 (including the expedited security through the First Class check in)
2) Loss of guaranteed access to LHR Arrivals lounge even if upgrade does not clear (I often use this when I get in on a red eye and hotel room is only ready after 2pm)
3) Loss of 4 SWU's (may not be a deal-breaker since I'll still have UA SWU's and have not used my AA SWU's fully in recent years since I am mostly in paid J in CX/BA)
4) Loss of OW partners like MH (used once) and QR
Main questions for the Alaskan regulars:
1) Do MVP 75K earn the extra 125% mileage bonus on ALL partners (including CX and EK) or only on a few like BA/Qantas/Hainan/Icelandair? Seems like this is only true for the last 4 below.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...rtner-benefits
Or are these 4 partners the only one with lounge benefits, while the 125% bonus accrues to ALL partners including CX and EK? This would be a key reason to shift to AS Mileage Plan since I'd be earning 350% miles on EK/CX J class and up to 475% on BA. Without this, it would be only 225% on EK/CX, which is the same as with AA EXP.
2) How easy is it to get EK J class award inventory from LAX to India (especially MAA) for AS MVP 75K?
3) Is CX J award inventory the same as for OW partners like AA or better/worse?
4) How easy is it to search for partner airline award inventory on AS?
Anything else I am missing? Would you recommend the switch? I am far from AA MM (having only matched to EXP 5 years ago, and in any case AA MM only provides lifetime OW Ruby status, which is worth a lot less than UA MM which provides lifetime *G) and so happy to let that go.
Thanks so much!