Originally Posted by
frozennorth
AA EP or AS 100K?
Best Oneworld Frequent Flyer Program for you?
- do you value miles/points (or equivalent) for redemption over gaining status? Currently, no.
- what do you want to use the miles/points for (award, upgrade, hotels, what ever)? AS miles used for booking award tickets. Currently credit all AA flying to AS to make status.
- what sort of flight award is of interest? – First/Business International.
- do you have other ways of earning points in the various programs, e.g. credit cards, shopping, etc? CSR, VentureX, Most major branded hotel cards, AS credit card.
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades to First Class when flying domestically.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Actual flight miles ~100,000? 2023 was 80 airplanes, work and personal travel. 2024 will be about the same
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
On AS, I always purchase MAIN. Since I’m 75K, I can select Premium Cabin seats free at booking. GGUs are basically worthless for any AS flights book. On AA, I usually choose BASIC, since with OWE I can select a Comfort Class Seat and get a free checked bag. If the cost difference is low, sometimes will choose MAIN if the booking class earns more EQMs. Usually end up on a few Southwest flights due schedule.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Both. I pay for most of my flights. This is the main reason free domestic upgrades are the most important.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
ANC-SEA-DFW. Other U.S. domestic all over. MIA, TPA, MCO, JAX, CMH, BHM, LAS, MTJ, GJT, DEN, PDX in the last couple years. Hubing out of DFW with American (and Southwest as a backup) pretty much ensures no layovers in the Continental US. Will start flying at least one international trip (vacation) per year on mileage again this year. Have a five-country trip booked with AS mileage upcoming in a couple months. The wife flies international once or twice per year, and I would like to be able to spend miles for her tickets as well.
(6) What is your home airport?
DFW, DAL, ANC
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
75K on Alaska since 2016, on track for 100K this year thanks to CC spend. Currently 240K AS miles.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
75% AS, 15% AA, 10% Southwest and other.
Having to hit credit card spend to make top tier status is the main reason I am considering changing loyalty programs. Would plan on getting the Citi AA Exec World Elite and the Barclays Silver cards to earn the additional loyalty points needed to make Executive Platinum. Alaska seems to be slowly devaluing their program, and I expect the 100Ks to explode now that they are offering EQMs by spending. Considering switching to the AA DFW-ANC direct if there was a high probability being upgraded. Looking for some Executive Platinums to weigh in on that.
My personal spending on flights averages about $9K per year. 25% of my BIS mileage is work tickets are booked by my employer on AS.
By my math, I need to spend a little over $18,XXX a year on AA flights, or make up the difference with other spending on AA branded credit cards as an AA Executive Platinum to keep Executive Platinum.
If I get the Citi AA Exec World Elite, it looks like it’s good for 20,000 bonus loyalty points. The Barclays Silver looks like it’s good for 15,000 bonus loyalty points, if I spend $50,000 on the card. That’s 85,000, with $50,000 spending on the Barclays Silver card. IF I’m Exec Platinum and I spend $9,000 on tickets at 11 loyalty points per dollar, that’s 99,000. This leaves me to find 16,000 more points to make top status. Should be easy through CC spend or booking a couple hotels through an AA travel portal? I always tought it was a lot harder to make top tier on AA instead of AS, but it looks like it is pretty close.
Also, from looking at international mileage tickets, it seems like AA has a lot more availability than using AS mileage with partner airlines.
You've got a pretty interesting scenario.
I do pretty well on AA upgrades as an EXP and I think the customer service on the EXP line is generally great. But I fly a lot of less prime routes, my home town is in Ohio so I do a lot of CMH, CLE, or DAY routes, I go to St. Louis a lot so that's also one I frequent, those are easy upgrades. I believe the only upgrades I've missed when I was on an economy ticket were PIT-ORD, LAX-DFW, and DFW-LAX. But hub to hub upgrades don't seem to be easy and I generally buy first outright on those if I want it.
I have a feeling your ANC flights are difficult, even as EXP. I haven't been there (yet) so can't speak to it personally but I recall a lot of chatter in the UA forum when I was 1K that their ANC route was typically full of paid F oil folks up front, pretty much zero upgrades to be had. I know DFW isn't IAH in terms of oil, but still I imagine that front cabin is a tough one if not buying it. How's your upgrade ratio on SEA-ANC and v.v.?
Since you mention 25% of your flights per year are booked on AS by your employer, a consideration is how they'll earn on AA. AS credits all except basic at 100% of distance (plus your status bonus), AA does not and many fare classes are in the 25-50% range plus EXP bonus. That still "might" be better than you'd earn on AA metal flights based on revenue, or might not be, you have to weigh your average ticket cost vs. distance at the appropriate multiplier if switching your employer funded flights to AA metal is even possible.
AS Credit on AS
AA Credit on AS
In terms of award chart for long haul international, AA beats the heck out of AS since they went distance based. In theory partner availability should be similar if not the same from both programs, but I do believe that QR has some favoritism for AS vs. AA in their availability if that makes any difference. You'll have to look at both carriers non-Alliance partners to see if any are relevant to you or not. I've been able to take advantage of FJ awards from AAdvantage and definitely appreciated they were there.
One thing I also don't know is how the upgrade ratio is for AS elites on AA and AA elites on AS. I have my first ever flight on AS this summer but it's in paid D class, so already up front.
One other thing I can think of that is advantageous about AAdvantage is that as an EXP you get the 120% bonus on all OW flights, where on AS your status bonus is only for AS flights. That can make a huge difference depending on the airline flown, but AS has better multipliers for some premium cabin partner travel... 6 of one, half dozen of the other maybe.
I don't know there's a clear answer for your question, as a global traveler I really like AA's program, but sounds like you're primarily regional aside from some international holidays using miles. The downside of regional / domestic travel is that you don't get lounge benefits but sounds like you plan to make up for that with the Citi Exec card. The Citi card benefits BTW are pretty horrible in the US credit card market, so aside from the Admiral's Club membership and any needed status miles, I wouldn't choose it as my primary spender. It has zero travel insurances on it anymore either, so definitely don't buy travel with it if that coverage is important.