When I first started traveling on business, I was based in Dallas, so AA was the obvious airline of choice. But around this time last year, I moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since SFO is a big hub for UA, I was concerned that I might have to switch, and lose the benefits of my hard-earned EXP status. To my surprise and delight, I was able to stick with AA, and by early September, I realized that my holiday travel alone would be enough to requalify me for EXP.

But the more I read FT, the more I wondered whether I was making the right choice by sticking with AA. I heard so many complaints about Silly 80s, LRTC, first class food, grumpy FAs, pillows (or lack thereof), fees for the littlest things, and on and on. So I decided to try a little experiment: I would avoid AA for the rest of the year. I would request status matches on UA and CO, the two airlines that I had heard the most "good press" about, and try them for myself. At the end of the year, I would decide which airline I wanted to use going forward.

Since this is the time of year that other folks might be thinking about the same thing, I thought it might be helpful to post the results of my experience.

First off, I quickly discovered that CO is not a viable option for me. In 12 trips during my "experiment," CO metal was only an option on one -- a trip to DAY, which would have required a nearly-1000-mile segment from IAH to DAY on a regional jet. There were some codeshares on DL or NW available on other trips, but I wasn't particularly thrilled about flying either of those airlines. So I never bothered asking for a status match on CO. It was down to AA vs. UA.

I easily received a status match to UA's 1P status (PLT equivalent), good through Feb 2007. Out of the 12 trips during my "experiment," I ended up flying UA on 6 of them. Of the remaining 6, I took four on AA (two at my husband's insistence, two to take advantage of the West Coast/Denver promos) and two on AS (both trips to SEA where UA's options were too expensive -- more details below).

AAdvantage vs. Mileage Plus
The two frequent flyer programs are really more alike than they are different, so I'll just highlight the differences here.

• Elite qualification. Both airlines use a 25k/50k/100k tiered qualification scheme for miles flown. But while AA does qualification on points or miles, UA only does qualification on miles, with all fares earning at least 1 EQM per mile flown, and more expensive fares earning 1.5 EQMs per mile flown. This makes it easier for people like me, who fly a mix of fares, to reach a given level.
• Low- and mid-tier upgrades. GLD/2P and PLT/1P flyers earn 4 500-mile upgrades for every 10,000 miles flown, on both airlines. On AA, all EQMs count towards upgrades, while on UA, only miles flown on UA/UX/Ted count. AA 500-milers never expire, while UA's expire after a year.
• Top-tier upgrades. AA EXPs get unlimited domestic upgrades and 8 eVIPs (system-wide upgrades) per year. UA 1Ks earn 500-milers just like 2Ps/1Ps. They also get 6 system-wide upgrades per year (plus 2 more if they fly over 150k), and for each quarter where they fly at least 10,000 miles, they get 2 CR-1s -- confirmed regionwide upgrades, good for any flight in Region 1 (North America, Hawaii, Carribbean, Central America). For a 1K who travels internationally quite a bit, all that might be enough to put them in first on most or all of their flights, but for an all-domestic traveler like me, it would still mean quite a bit of time in coach.
• Purchased 500-mile upgrades. Now $30 on AA (up from $25 last year), $50 on UA.
• Economy Plus. All UA elites can pre-reserve seats in the E+ section, which offers 35-36" of pitch (depending on equipment). This is a nice benefit for lower-tier elites who would be stuck in Y anyway, but as an EXP on AA, I'm almost always in F and can reserve an exit-row seat (which has at least as much pitch, or more) on the flights where I'm not, so E+ is more of a consolation prize.
• Million mile status. AA offers lifetime GLD at 1 million miles and lifetime PLT at 2 million miles. Miles from all sources (elite bonuses, COS bonuses, credit cards, Kellogg's certificates…) count. UA offers lifetime 1P (PLT equivalent) at 1 million miles, but only UA/UX/Ted BIS miles count. I have over 700k lifetime miles on AA, so 1MM is within striking distance for next year -- this is a big plus in AA's favor right now.

Advantage: AA for me, although others might feel differently.

Partners
AA's major North American partners are Alaska and Mexicana. UA's are US Airways and Air Canada.

Neither airline offers any sort of reciprocal upgrade arrangements on partners, although there are reports of UA elites being able to use their 500-milers to upgrade on US flights.

UA's partnerships benefit from the fact that both AC and US are *A partners, so UA elites get priority check-in, priority waitlisting, priority boarding, pre-reserved exit row seating, etc., when flying those airlines. (In theory, at least... on my one trip on US, my UA MP # somehow got booted out, in favor of my US DM #. Since I have no status with US, this got me booted out of my pre-reserved exit row window seat, in favor of a middle seat at the back of the plane, for a transcon red-eye flight. By the time this mistake was discovered, at the airport, the only better seats were middle seats closer to the front of the plane. It was not a fun flight ) Neither AS nor MX is a OW partner, so the benefits for AA elites are limited -- AS does allow AA elites to pre-board, but that's about it.

As already noted, UA elites do not earn miles towards upgrades or million-miler status when flying partners, even when they are flying on a UA codeshare.

UA elites flying on AC metal do not earn elite bonuses unless they are on a UA codeshare. AA elites flying on MX metal do not earn EQMs or elite bonuses unless they are on an AA codeshare.

Advantage: Neither.

Schedules and fares
I am a 99% domestic flyer; my only two international business trips this year were to Mexico and Canada. My company's travel policy dictates that I must book through our corporate travel agent and I must choose a ticket that is within 10% of the lowest fare on that route. I usually fly on discount economy fares, although I do occasionally book full-fare economy.

I've gotten fairly good at manipulating our online travel booking tool, so I can usually find a ticket on either AA or UA that is within policy. But I expected that UA would offer far more convenient flights.

To my surprise, this was not the case. This is partially because SFO (UA's big hub) is not my airport of choice; I don't mind flying out of there, but all else being equal, I prefer SJC because it's about 20-30 mins closer.

I went back and analyzed all 45 trips (to 20 different destinations) that I took this year. Here are my most frequent destinations:

• SEA (8 trips): UA offers nonstops out of SFO. AA offers no flights on its metal, but this route is very well-covered by AS, which offers nonstops out of SFO or SJC. Furthermore, AS is so cheap that I'm usually forced to pick it under my company's travel policy, since the UA fares are well over 10% more. Advantage: Neither.
• AUS (7 trips): UA offers one nonstop out of SFO. AA offers 3 nonstops out of SJC. Advantage: AA.
• DFW (4 trips): UA offers 2 nonstops out of SFO. AA offers about 7-8 nonstops out of either SJC or SFO. Advantage: AA
• DEN (3 trips): UA offers nonstops out of SFO and SJC. AA requires connecting through LAX. Advantage: UA
• SAN (3 trips): Both offer nonstops, but AA's are out of SJC and UA's are out of SFO. UA's are mostly on mainline jets, while AA is all-RJ. Advantage: Neither.
• LAX (3 trips): Plenty of nonstops on both. Both operations are all-mainline out of SFO, all-RJ out of SJC. Advantage: Neither.

To most of my remaining destinations, neither airline had a clear advantage. The exceptions were PHX (UA has nonstops, AA requires connecting through DFW), PHL (UA has 3 nonstops, AA requires connecting), and YYZ (UA has 3 nonstops on AC metal, but to stick with either AA or UA metal, you must connect through ORD).

Advantage: Neither. Perhaps a slight advantage to AA for me, due to better schedules out of SJC to my most-traveled destinations.

Planes
I've heard so many complaints about AA's ubiquitous MD-80s, and I knew that UA flies many more widebodies domestically, so I was excited to try them out. Well, after six trips on UA, I'm less than impressed.

First of all, I only found widebodies on the hub-to-hub routes, SFO-ORD and SFO-DEN. On routes like SFO-SEA, SFO-ATL, and SJC-DEN, UA uses 737s and A319s. These planes only have 8 first class seats, compared to 16 on the MD-80s, which can mean less opportunity for upgrades. Also, they are 3-3 in coach, rather than 2-3 -- I really like the MD-80's AB side when traveling with someone else, and it's nice having one less middle seat to get stuck in when traveling alone. Also, AA's MD-80s seem to have slightly bigger overhead bins; on UA's smaller planes, my rollaboard didn't fit in wheels-first, and I often found myself having to trek back several rows to find a spot for my bag. The 737s/A319s do have the advantage of audio IFE, including Channel 9. The A319s also have video.

I actively disliked flying on UA's widebodies. The sheer number of passengers turns the boarding process into a real pain. On a 777, you can get stuck in the middle of a 5-seat section in coach, which is most definitely not an enjoyable experience, even in E+. First class is no better than on an MD-80, with only 38" of pitch, although there are more seats (34 on a 767, 36 on a 777). Movies are offered on the widebodies, but I never watched them, because they showed Bewitched on every single one of my widebody flights.

One huge advantage of AA is powerports. I have no control over what laptop I receive from my company, so I cannot pick a laptop for its battery life. When I started my experiment, I had a Dell Latitude laptop with two batteries; it would die shortly before final descent on an SFO-ORD run (about 3.5 hours). In early December, I got a new laptop that has a battery life of around 2 hours under the best conditions. I often need to get work done on flights, especially longer flights, and I know that's no longer possible on UA.

There have been lots of complaints about the cleanliness of AA planes, but I found AA and UA to be roughly the same in this area. AA seems to have improved a lot in the past few months.

Advantage: Neither. Perhaps a slight advantage to AA for me, due to powerports and no widebodies!

Seats
With an upgrade rate of around 95%, I'm rarely in coach on AA, and these trips were no exception. Out of 12 segments, my only missed upgrade was on a DFW-SFO segment with my husband on the Mon after Thanksgiving; we snagged 21AB, so it was not much of a hardship.

UA was a different story. Out of 14 segments, I sat in coach on 11. I was able to get E+ on every segment on UA metal. Now, if you're going to be stuck in coach, E+ is a good place to be; even for a shorter person like me (5'6"), the extra legroom is noticeable. But E+ does not compare to first class in any way, shape, or form. Mostly, I like being able to work on my laptop without bumping elbows with the person next to me. That's not possible in E+ unless the seat next to you is free, which it usually wasn't.

I did upgrade on three segments: ATL-SFO, SJC-DEN, and DEN-SJC. The ATL-SFO flight was an A319; the DEN flights were both 737s. The seats were comparable to AA first class.

Advantage: Neither.

Service
Coach service: Acceptable on both airlines. You basically see the FAs only when boarding and during the one or two drink services, so there's not much of a chance for them to leave an impression, good or bad. I did have one experience on UA with a not-so-nice FA -- with the overhead bins full on YYZ-ORD, she asked an E+ passenger to put his bag under the seat in front of him to make room for an E- passenger's bag, and when the E+ passenger protested, she snapped back, "It's a 55-min flight. Deal with it." But again, I'm rarely in coach on AA, so I'm sure I'd have a snippy FA or two to complain about, had I been in the back a little more.

First class service: This is where FAs really shine... or not. On AA, FAs do pre-departure drinks and offer to hang your coat about 90-95% of the time; on UA, this didn't happen on any of my 3 upgraded flights. I'm not sure if I had bad FAs or if that's just the way UA works. Also, UA gives you the entire can of soda in first class, while AA does not, which means that the AA FAs have to work harder to make sure your glass stays full -- and, in my experience, they usually do a good job of this. FAs on both airlines were a little too eager to disappear into the galley when the food service was finished, rather than continuing to walk around to see if anyone needed drink refills.

First class food: I had a breakfast flight, a dinner flight, and a snack flight in UA's first class. On the breakfast flight, I had the hot breakfast option, which wasn't much better than AA's typical omelette. I also greatly prefer AA's hot bread selections (biscuit or bagel) over UA's cold ones. The "dinner" flight was a prepackaged turkey wrap; it was quite tasty (better than the egg salad that I got offered on two of my AA flights!), but I expect more from a true "dinner" flight. In fairness to UA, the flight was SJC-DEN, which is only about 2.5 hours long. As for the "snack" flight, I was expecting to get a wrap or something else semi-substantial, like on AA, but the "snack" consisted of just a little bit of fruit and cheese.

Ground service: About the same on both. I did have one excellent experience on UA with some ground staff in MDT (and this was before I was even elite with UA!), as well as one terrible experience with a GA in ORD who refused to let me into E+ the day after my status match came through -- he kept insisting that I have my 1P card or some other proof of status, rather than just looking in the computer. I had a great experience with an AA GA in ATL who somehow managed to make two adjacent F seats appear for my husband and me on a flight that was showing F0. Other than those isolated incidents, the ground staff from both airlines was average.

Advantage: Neither.

General
Flying UA out of SFO, even as an elite, is no fun. The elite security line was often long (although it moved fast), and sometimes closed. In contrast, on AA, I rarely have to wait to check in or to clear security at SFO. In fact, I used the AA security checkpoint one time when flying UA -- even with the extra walking required, it was much faster.

United Express at ORD is horrid. If you're not on one of the new "eXplus" planes, which only fly selected routes, you have to come into a remote terminal and take a bus to the main concourse. The remote terminal is small and was jam-packed with people when I tried to make my way through. American Eagle is much more civilized, with its ORD concourse (G) directly connected to the mainline concourses, just a quick walk away.

Finally, I noticed right away that there was something "not right" about flying UA. I just didn't feel comfortable. I started to dread going to the airport, which I never did before. After reading FT a little more, I realized that this is a typical reaction when you start flying a new airline. I've heard DL people talk about the "DL feel" (which I certainly didn't feel when I flew DL!), UA people talk about the "UA feel," and so on. I decided that this is normal when you move away from your usual airline. I went through the same thing when I switched from Hilton to Marriott with hotels, but as I stuck with Marriott, I missed the "Hilton feel" less and less. I'm sure I could get over the "AA feel" if I stuck with UA... which brings me to...

My Final Decision
I've decided to stick with AA for now. The two main reasons are: 1) I'm so close to 1MM status and could achieve it this year (this is very important to me, as I plan to stop traveling and start a family in the next year or so, and I would like to have lifetime status to fall back on when I'm no longer traveling heavily), and 2) unlimited domestic upgrades for EXPs.

I do think that E+ on UA makes it a better option for lower-tier elites. So I plan to reevaluate around June of this year. AA's "soft landing" ensures I'll be at least PLT in 07, even if I don't fly a single mile on AA, so there is no point in flying AA unless I'll reach either EXP or 1MM. By June, if it looks like they're both out of reach, then I'll switch over and put at least 25k into UA, so I can qualify for 2P and therefore E+ seating.

What I did learn, through all of this, is that no airline is perfect. Sure, I saw a lot of good things about UA... but there were plenty of bad things too. And unless you're totally fed up with your current airline, making the leap to a new one is a hard thing to do. If you're happy where you are -- be it on AA, UA, Hooters Air, whatever -- you should think carefully before switching, no matter how many complaints you hear on FT.

Well, there ya have it... flame away!