eponymous_coward

Not really. Better pitch than DL/UA/AA, the boarding process is sensible, I can change or cancel flights without a $200 penalty fee, can check luggage without a penalty fee.

Chugach

It all depends on schedule and travel patterns.

For me, the bulk of my travel is PDX-ANC/FAI/JNU, along with PDX-west coast. AS just makes the most sense for me.

C W

17" seats regardless of pitch and lining up like cattle headed to the slaughterhouse while inevitable rolling delays keep you perpetually stuck at the gate doesn't do it for me. But each to their own.

PV_Premier

if the majority of the OP's travel is SEA-JFK, DL is more sensible with multiple nonstop options. supplement flying with some spend on a DL gold or Platinum AMEX and don't look back.

the only place AS continues to look slightly advantageous out of SEA is to Alaska and the secondary and tertiary markets in the PNW. otherwise, DL has mostly caught up or surpassed them now.

to me, the main cabin experience on DL is entirely satisfactory, and if the OP can swing C+ on their longer flights, it beats AS 'premium class'.

MP is of course the only reason to stay. Personally, I didn't have the easiest time using MP when and where I wanted, despite some attractive redemption rates. The rates are only as good as the paper they're written on if you can't find what you need, when you need it. DL redemption sucks, no doubt...particularly for INTL travel.

metaldirtnskin

I guess I am in the not-quite-cattle category too; the past two years I have hustled a bit to make MVPG, as business travel has been feast-or-famine and unpredictable. The QX flight cancellations have pushed me to start looking for other options as well - I fly out of EUG, one of the PNW secondary markets where AS's hard product is now inferior to literally every other airline, and where the QX issues have reduced the number of flight options so DL and AA don't look so bad at all.

Here was my experience: A couple weeks ago I found out on short notice I'd be traveling, so took the opportunity to fill out the status match form at DL... after submitting the form, I got the "allow 7 to 10 business days" message. Which meant this past week's flights wouldn't count to allow me to keep status next year. Which meant I probably won't have enough flights on the books to keep it at all.

On top of that, the flight back to EUG diverted due to weather and DL made a complete mess of handling the reaccommodations - too many failures to even list here. So they can keep their status, I'll stay with AS a while longer... but it says a lot that my relationship with AS has gone from "undying loyalty" to "marginally less worse than the competition, for now."

jimmygottfredson

Flew out of T7 last Sunday and my VX flight had PreCheck. They did require me to pull the laptop out of my bag, but the rest seemed PreCheck normal (shoes on, light jacket, etc.). It was my first time out of T7, so this maybe an update.

steve64

That sounds like "Pre-Check Lite".
Standard at checkpoints that have Pre-Check, but is currently closed. Bag of liquids and laptop still come out, if there's a "magnetic scanner" turned on you can go thru it instead of the nude-o-scope. All other Pre-Check features (IE shoes on) are valid.

eponymous_coward

I generally don’t experience a lot of rolling delays on WN. I am fairly indifferent to coach or first class seating on 1-3 hour plane trips (I have changed flight more times to take me out of F more times than I care to count). I am much more interested in price, ability to change plans, and a decent coach experience overall. Given what I spend, were I to defect from AS, my choices are Y on WN, or Y- with terrible seats and no elite benefits on a legacy. It’s not a hard call for me to determine that WN has degraded their coach experience on cheap plane tickets less than AA/DL/UA.

I don’t expect that what works for you must work for me, but we started this exchange with my observing what I’d do if I defected from AS...

Also, the premise of this thread is "if you're 'cattle' or not really able to be a senior elite, and you defect from AS, where would you go?" If you're buying a ton of F because you can't stand 17" wide seats, or you've got good upgrade percentages because your business pays for enough travel for EXP/Diamond/1K or more, you're probably not cattle. You can easily get better experiences thanks to your business travel or ability to slap cash down on the counter for the nice seats up front. Which is great for you but that doesn't really describe me or fit in with the premise of the thread.

Bretmd

If your primary route is SEA-JFK, DL edges out AS in my opinion. The schedule, in flight, and ground experiences are better, particularly if you have skyclub access. Miles earned is worse, of course.

Even if you had trouble managing the EQD requirement I'd still go with DL with no status due to the more flexible schedule. But I have a particular aversion to eastbound red eyes and westbound flights that depart at the crack of dawn.

beckoa

It is indeed pre-lite ex-JFK. Just flew out Friday. T-7 seemed rather bleak arriving on the redeye, however flying out it was better- there are a few food places and shops. Now if AS could negotiate something with BA until it's lounge opens up, that would be a sweet add.

AS is also holding onto LGA as well- although it's a bit long of a day ex-SEA, I think upgrades for now might be possible.

C W

I'm glad whatever WN routes you fly are usually on time. That's not typical. As of this year, they have worse on-time performance than Spirit, about 70%.

In terms of the benefits of WN, I see two big ones. Free checked bags. Even the lowest elites like a Delta FO or AS MVP get free checked bags, well within the travel pattern premise of this thread. And waived change fees. This one is a little unique, although AS MVP 75Ks do get it as well. If you change a lot of tickets and fly enough to use all the credits I can see it being nice, but I'm not racking up a big change fee bill flying 125k BIS/yr on DL and AS.

Anyway, as we've both said, it's each to their own and I respect your preference. I would like to mention however, that what you describe above doesn't describe me either. I pay for 100% of my own travel and don't buy domestic F. But carefully picking flights, spending miles, and using upgrade instruments keeps me up front when it counts, not even a possibility on WN.

eponymous_coward

OK. In that case, you're also not the subject of the thread (senior elite on TWO airlines as opposed to just getting by into low-level elite on merely one). I apologize for the mischaracterization.

That simply isn't a viable strategy for someone who is going to be working hard to make 20k EQM/MQM on one airline. MVPs and Silvers don't get upgrade instruments. At best an MVP is going to have 3 or so flights they could burn miles to upgrade (at 15k per flight), unless they're just generating piles of AS RDM outside of flying. Not sure it works a lot different on DL if you're a Silver (and there's an MDM component of that, plus you can't pick the cheapest fares and get all your benefits, and yes, I know about the AMEX.. well, that means generating a bunch of AMEX charges. Quite a pain just for Silver if you ask me).

Us "cattle" are going to be flying significant amounts of coach and it becomes a major factor in our decisions.

beachmouse

Our limited experience with WN is that they definitely protect their core routes at the expense of their secondary and outstation routes. The Spousal Unit likes their soft product but kind of gave up on them a few years back when he had an extra two hour delay on a BWI-ECP flight because operations kept giving away 'his plane' to routes that had higher priority in WN's system. Now I'm sure all airlines do that to some degree, but when you're a single plane type fleet, it's easier for the airline to make those kind of manipulations wholesale, to the detriment of those of us in podunk. I think we're at about 33% getting back to ECP or PNS on schedule with our Southwest flights-somewhat limited sample size.

CAVU

In the late 80's I started flying AS north/south and DL east/west which worked well and I have been able to maintain MVPG and Platinum or Diamond with Delta almost every year since so I am pretty familiar with both airlines.

Delta appears to be moving toward putting much less value on loyalty and more on those willing to pay (probably a good business decision). If you fly an airline for the status and the benefits it brings I believe that anything less than Diamond on Delta is not going to be worth much and they just really, really raised the bar by increasing the Delta credit card spending waiver from $25,000 to $250,000 (not a typo). This is just the latest reduction in value of the Skymiles program and Bastion at Delta recently said they are not going to give away valuable real estate in the cabin just because someone is loyal. See the elimination of their award chart and "dynamic" pricing.

I am nervous about the Virgin merger and the lack of capacity and delays in Seattle but I went ahead and requested a match to 75K and am going to see how it goes shifting to AS whenever possible rather than splitting it up.

When it comes to just the flying, Delta is a better choice most of the time but I do value someone who respects loyalty. Let's see how 2018 goes.

C W

Yes, I recognize that MVPs and FOs don't have great upgrade chances. But personally I'd rather fly AS as an MVP or DL as an FO over WN at any status. Even with the entry level statuses you get free checked luggage and you can reserve ahead of time the seats you'll be lining up and battling for on WN. Unless you actually enjoy that process, the only reason I can see for flying WN at the sub-companion pass level is if you won't achieve any status and for some reason regularly check two bags.

AS and WN offer the same legroom while DL offers 1" less in normal seats and 2" more in C+, which FOs often, but not always, get. Delta also has many planes with wider Main Cabin seats than AS and WN's 737s. C+ also has free alcohol. AS is rolling out Premium with extra legroom and free alcohol, also a very possible upgrade for an MVP.

They all offer comparable drink and snack services. AS offers some free entertainment and all of DL's entertainment is now free for all flights. Not sure how that compares to WN.

Unless something very specific endears one to WN, like the 2 free bags or the campy culture, I just don't see how it's better than AS as an MVP or DL as an FO. I'll admit I despise the boarding process, but I just can't see the upsides once one has entry level status on another airline.