mre5765

I've been a 1K through fall of 2006 until January 31, 2015.

I earned (not a challenge) EXP status for the first time in 2014 on EQPs, flying long haul business class. It was just the third time I earned elite status on AA; gold in 2013, and in the 1980s I think had some sort of elite status because AA sent me 4 500-mile stickers once, which I never used because a job change cut my travel back dramatically.

The bad of EXP vs 1K:

• AA.com and the smart phone app are quite primitive compared to united.com and the UA app. (In fairness though, UA is far and away the leader in empowering customers to do business with the airline website and app.) I've used TY, DL, US, CX, AF, BA, MH, QR, ... and they are all pretty bad. Examples:
  • One can't apply for SWUs (like GPUs) online, whereas on united.com this works pretty reliably.
  • The upgrade list is available just four hours before departure, and even then only on the app.
  • Awards with an international origin and destination cannot be searched online.
• PDBs are inconsistent. This is inconsistent with my comments on a recent thread, but I've have a lot of segments on AA this month, and now have more data points.
• Meal orders don't appear to be consistently prioritized by status. So some FAs take orders back to front or front to back, and so the last EXP in row 1 or the back row loses. I didn't get my choice on one segment this week as I was in bulkhead due to an irrops.
• No regional upgrade instruments. EXPs get 8 SWUs, 1Ks start at 6 GPUs and 4 RPUs.
• Just one destination (DFW) from COS on AA, whereas UA has LAX, ORD, DEN, IAH. However, UA is shedding destinations (SFO, IAD, SAT are gone), and I can envision a point when it will be just LAX and DEN.

The neutral of EXP vs 1K

• While EXP has a truly dedicated EXP line, unlike the 1K line where you can get a premier silver agent or a GS agent depending on the roll of the dice. However, the competence of the EXP agents varies. Some are as good as GS agents, some are simply stupid or stupidly simple.
• While AA new C is better than UA new J, there is still lots of AA old C in the system. But AA old C > sUA old C (the seat is much more comfortable for sleeping) and one of the last straws for me on UA, was that despite there just being 1 or 2 birds with old C left, UA refuses to convert them, and it seemed like a last minute equipment substitution burned me a lot.
• Can't use SWUs on non-AA metal. However, UA has fully gutted the GPU on LH benefit to the point that I consider it useless.
• In explicably, the new A319s like UA's old A319s, have just 8 F seats. As compared to the CR9s that AA uses which have 9 F seats. I do fear for my domestic upgrade rate as the A319s replaces the MD80s.

The good of EXP vs 1K

• Any fare aa.com publishes on AA metal can be upgraded with an SWU.
• It is very easy to find flights with SWU-able inventory compared to UA (where I always had to google for Lucky's blog post on how to do this arcane activity). When an EXP logs in, and searches for flights, the website simply displays with segments that can be confirmed with an SWU. Of course it is possible that between the time the flights are purchased and the SWU applied, the flight loses SWU inventory. But there is a subtle work around which I think is superior to the united.com process of purchase, wait to ticket, try to upgrade, fail, repeat cycle. Next item:
• AA.com lets one book and hold. Moreover, AA lets one call the EXP desk to apply an SWU to a held itin BEFORE ticketing, and the SWU will stay applied. Moreover the SWU count is not decremented until ticketed.
• SWU upgrade inventory to Asia is plentiful unlike GPU inventory. Other than HKG, I found lots of availability to NRT and China. I travel to Bangalore India 3-4 times a year, and have already leveraged this. Shanghai is the nearest AA metal gets one to BLR. I easily found upgradable flights to Shanghai, and booked tickets on CX to get me to BLR. Which leads me too:
• AA has a powerful misconnect policy. If a pax has a connection but the flights are on two different tickets, if one ticket is AA and the other is oneworld, AA will own the problem of rebooking the pax without fees. Whereas I recall a nightmare of a 1K where I work, where the M+ lied to him and said that Aegean was not a *A partner, so he booked 4 business class tix SFO/FRA, and four revenue tix FRA/ATH. Naturally, Aegean was impacted by one of Greece's infamous labor actions, and they were going to misconnect in FRA, and lose their business class awards. UA insisted there were no business class awards for the next day, despite 4 revenue seats available. It took several threats, DYKWIAs, etc. and UA relented. On AA this won't be a problem. So as I noted above, I cheerfully booked separate CX tickets for a connection on the outbound and return through Shanghai. And this week I have SJC/DFW/COS today, and COS/DFW/DOH/BLR tomorrow. Speaking of flights to DOH ...
• AA is in oneworld, and one of the gulf airlines is a full oneworld partner, unlike *A. This is very powerful, as the gulf airlines tend to have very low business class fares to India. *A and Sky reject the gulf airlines as parasites, whereas AA, due to its inferior international network, has to embrace one of them. I wish it was Emirates and not QR, but I'll take it.
• EXPs have first class lounge privileges when flying long haul from the USA, and when flying anywhere else in the world. And reviews of the oneworld F lounges are good. I haven't had the opportunity yet, but will in March.
• My EXP domestic upgrade rate thus far is exemplary. Just one upgrade missed in 2015, my second segment, DFW/SFO, on a Sunday night. I was number 2 on the upgrade list. Except for that, I've always been number 1, and I don't book high revenue fares. I will avoid SFO as a destination, as I am 3 for 3, DFW<->SJC.
• Upgrades clear after irrops causes a rebooking. I was scheduled to fly DFW/LAX/SJC, and DFW/LAX went MX. I got off the plane, rebooked on the non-stop to SJC, and was number 1 on the upgrade list. I cleared ten minutes after I arrived at the gate.
• AA flies LAX/SJC; UA dropped it.
• AA uses planes with first class cabins between DFW and COS. UA will often provide 50 seaters between COS and ORD/IAH/LAX. Don't care about whether COS/DEN has F class.
• WiFi is very plentiful.
• Status expires the end of February. This reduces angst waiting for credentials for the new year. Whereas my gold M+ credentials had not arrived at the beginning of the week. Are they waiting for me?

Thus far, I am pleased with the experience. I do have to fly a long time to get to California, as I refuse to fly out of DEN due to unpredictable winter conditions. But that time is spent in F cabins.

mbarreto

Very nice summary. I'm on the same boat, currently EXP and 1K, but will drop down to UA Plat on Sunday. There are pros and cons, but all and all I'm more than happy with the switch.

jabrams72

Just to note that it's not about not consistency, but AA does not prioritize orders by status. Used to be FEBO (from the Front on Even flight numbers and the Back on Odd), but now based explicitly on direction. Link

NickP 1K

I'm suspecting one of the reasons why GPU's/SWU's became more difficult on UA was they made it to damn easy to apply them online. Grinding my teeth that if AA.COM allows them to be placed online would that cause SOME who don't call in time to now see it easier and more people now waitlisted earlier causing me to be further down the list. One big plus for AA on waitlist for SWU is that request date/time affect position on list more than farecode. UA's ... backward approach meant someone last minute swithing to your flight can alter the list greatly. You want to waitlist for an SWU; great - get in the back of the line behind people who requested it BEFORE you.

Many a time I bump into EXPs who don't get upgraded with an SWU - I ask them when did they request and it's normally "oh, 3 days ago"... [Advantage to me requesting more than a week out]

I HOPE AA doesn't change this; with preordering online, the AA approach is better. Pick what you want online as long as 24 hour lead time = who cares about status.

goingbananas

I would add if you are chasing AA lifetime status, OW partners count towards it whereas over at UA it is just UA and the express carriers now that count.

Welcome to the dAArkside...been here full time for a few years now and don't miss "flyer friendly."

Stumblefoot

Thanks for the excellent comparison mre5765. As a 1K refugee, your post reminds me that I made a good decision to leave UA all of those years ago.

no1cub17

Even as a non-EXP I appreciated your summary. Did I read it right that you haven't been in a oneworld F lounge? Well in that case, the Wing F at HKG - WOW. Pretty amazing.

Just curious also what are your thoughts on AA's catering? Of course that's a huge source of consternation from the pmAA side to the sad state of things now (relatively speaking).

UAPremierGuy

As a fellow Colorado 1K refugee, I can also say that I don't regret the decision to switch to AA. I agree with much of what you said. Also, the AAdvantage Program is VASTLY superior to M+ now.

mre5765

I was in error; I've been in the BA F lounge as an arriving AA F pax (upgraded with friends' SWUs last year when I a mere gold or plat) in LHR several times (not the Concorde lounge). It was ok. BA lounges don't wow me ... the LH Sen lounges in FRA are better than BA non-concorde F and C lounges. So forgetable; so crowded. I avoid oneworld business class lounges in LHR when possible (not possible when leaving out of T5), and use my Priority Pass to get into better lounges.

I've yet get into a Flagship lounge mainly because AA doesn't have one in DFW [ :roll eyes: ] and it is hard to rig the fare engine to route me COS/DFW/{ORD,JFK}/LHR/BLR without overnighting. The DFW Amex Centurion Lounge is more than adequate though. Maybe this summer I will drive to DEN to do DEN/ORD/LHR/BLR, but really BA C is at a disadvantage to QR, so I might not be flying much AA or BA long haul this year.

If AA added COS/LAX, or COS/ORD, I would be in excellent shape. Even bringing back the US COS/PHX flight would be a boon, but Doug made it clear he hates COS when he discontinued service ("people prefer to drive to DEN" :roll eyes: ).

I will be using the Wing F at HKG twice in March.

As it is easy to book one ways on UA COS/LAX, I expect this year to try the oneworld F lounge at TBIT which Lucky did an excellent review of recently flying CX to HKG in business class. The business lounge at TBIT in October was abysmal but I understand that it has been replaced or expanded; not that I ever intend to try it again.

On the catering I like being able to order a meal up front, and I find the domestic food to be better than UA's domestic food (this morning I ate a crepe ... UA never serves crepes ... and it was decent). However COdbaUA does have soup which adds a some class. However, my upgrades on meal flights rarely clear before T-24 hours, so the pre-order is mostly when I am in paid F as part of a long haul business class journey.

iflyuaaa

Lax sjc was a big factor in my switch but I love all the other aspects. 3 flat beds to jfk this year already all for free. Aa rebooing has been great in irrops. I hope not too many more SJC folks switch cuz I love my upgrade rates.

coolcoil

I did the same this year, and just dropped to M+ Plat this morning. I agree with everything in the summary.

I will add this: I really appreciate that I can either bring food into the AAdmirals Club or buy decent food there at a reasonable price. On UA, I have often had to choose between getting a decent meal or going to the United Club on a layover.

IWontRegretThis

+1

phil_flyer

A very good writeup. I would add that award ticket availability on UA seems consistently better than on AA/US, to the point where I now have to often borrow a ticket from one of my 1K/GS coworkers for my short notice domestic personal travel.

economyplusfan

I am a fellow Colorado AA elite. AA has a really nice F product in a CRJ that flies nonstop DEN-LAX. The front row in Y is also excellent. If the weather looks good you might consider a drive up to DEN for those trips. Then you get to hang out in the AA lounge at DIA if you have access! Free drinks and some great food for a reasonable price. They have a USO lounge as well right next door.

IWontRegretThis

As a DEN based flyer.... something like 45 flights out of den last ~year and a half on AA, only 2 were ever impacted by weather, and they were due to conditions at the destination not in DEN. I dont mind the CRJ-9 on DEN>LAX either, but gate checking my roller gets kinda annoying when I almost never check any bags.