Often1

+3 - Time is money in business. If your goal is success, pick the carrier which makes the most sense for the specific trip.

demkr

Things you'll like:
-Better upgrade chances as an EXP than a 1K
-More seats in F on average most flights
-EXP desk
-Food in F generally
-International eVIps on any fare
-Lounge access policy
-Free snack/meal item AND alcoholic beverage in Y for EXPs.

Things you'll dislike (and these are the reasons I originally left AA for PMUA):
-More mechanical delays
-More weather-related proactive cancellations
-Weaker route network
-Lack of pre-departure beverages most of the time (Trivial, I know, but compared to other airlines it's ridiculous).
-Less widebody aircraft domestically

I chose PMUA over AA. These days, I might choose AA over COdbaUA. Time will tell. I have to see what happens when they get out of BK. If they become like UA and start prioritizing single-flight revenue over elite status 90% of the time, then it's basically a new industry reality and I'll end up going with the airline that serves my destination & operational needs more (UA).

AA_EXP09

I would probably become a 75K on AS if they went back to EQP.
After all, most of my lifetime miles were my fathers CC spending.
And I have LT PLT.

lobo411

Not entirely true--Golds and Plats are revenue-positive due to earned and purchased stickers. When it comes to u/g revenue, EXPs are the albatross around AA's neck.

AA_EXP09

What if they are cheap and want to sit in Y to save $$?

Photonerd71

[QUOTE=WChou:18216850]You might be jumping of the Titanic only to find you are climbing aboard the Britannic.[/QUOTE

Wow, that is a deep reference (which is a nice change of pace). Does that make Delta the Olympic?

MtRoot

I can't switch completely (due to company travel policy and frequency out of PIT) but this week I had a chance to try AA J for the first time. I was supposed to fly PIT-DFW-NRT and NRT-LAX-DFW-PIT. Also signed up for PLT challenge so I made PLT after the outbound.

For the flight experience itself, I'd say both have pros and cons. I really liked AC and noise-cancelling headset but I prefer UA's (new) seat and IFE.

But it was how they handled the IRROPS situation I had inbound that impressed me the most. NRT-LAX was delayed more than an hour due to the bad weather and subsequent congestion at NRT. Upon exiting the a/c at LAX, they handed an "express connection" tag to everyone with tight connection, which I've never seen on UA. Unfortunately I couldn't make it even with the tag (we had to use the immigration at TBIT) and reached AA check-in counter only at my flight's departure time.

I knew that there was another possible connection through DFW on AA later in the day that gets me to PIT a few hours late, so I assumed that was the best option they'd have for me. I checked the mobile app while waiting for an agent and, to my surprise, I was rebooked on a direct UA flight (in F, no less) that lands only 20 minutes after my original flight! ^

Probably being in J and the new PLT status (although the NRT folks couldn't update my status on the b/p) helped. Or maybe all AA options were full. In any case, this was quite impressive especially given the delay was not AA's fault.

elitetraveler

When and if AA gets the new J seat in its fleet, they will be in pretty good shape competitively.

scstrider86

AA170 yesterday? I was on that flight. I kinda wished they had delayed the flight pre-boarding so that I could've stayed in the Sakura lounge longer instead of sitting on the tarmac for as long as we did haha.

jayer

For many to most of us, where we live makes the choice obvious. Living on the west side of Fort Worth the only good option is to fly AA out of DFW and pray they continue on in some manner that does not screw things up. When I lived briefly in north Houston, Continental made the most sense. Long ago when I lived in the Kansas City area, the lack of any dominate hubbing carrier dictated take the best schedule and don't look at the paint job, because brand loyalty just meant extra stops.

So I'm guessing if you say west coast, it must be Los Angeles area if you really have options. So the question becomes which airline serves the destination cities you most often fly to. Now if that is Chicago and New York, well, never mind, you have lots of choices. Other than that the decision probably becomes obvious even if you don't really like the answer.

ksweeney

Its not just the UA ship that is sinking. DL's frequent fly ship is sinking as well. In the past I've been happy with DL (have not missed an upgrade in the past 250,000 miles) but I've been seeing reports that McKinsey has recommended that DL revamp its business model in a way that would result in Diamonds be bypassed on upgrades in favor of low mileage passengers who are willing to pay small upgrade fees. Only after no takers on the paid upgrades at the kiosks will Diamonds have a chance at upgrades. The example would be that some guy on an STL/ATL segment who almost never flies gets an upgrade offer at the check in kiosk for $80 to upgrade on the segment. The result will be that people like me who fly 160,000 miles a year on DL will be in the back of the (Air) bus. I'm switching to AA now in advance of this expected slap in the face to DL frequent flyer. Currently on AA as a lowly Platinum, I still find that by selectively checking FC inventory before booking, I'm still getting upgraded 80-90% of the time. The only downside to AA's program for lower level people like me is that I have to purchase 500 miles stickers (don't UA low level flyer have to do that as well?). The cure to the sticker issue on AA is simple, fly enough to attain Explat status. While I usually am skeptical in the "grass is greener elsewhere" threads on the various airline forums, I am beginning to believe that the grass is greener on AA compared to UA and DL.

MtRoot

Yep, that one. At least they distributed the headsets on the ground so I could watch a good portion of a movie before takeoff .

scstrider86

I, too, am a "lowly" PLT, and have been selective about requesting upgrades. So far, I'm 5 for 5 this year, including an HNL-LAX, and LAX-HNL, and an OGG-LAX, all on 763s. I actually do like the way we do it. In terms of the paying-for-stickers issue, it keeps people like me being choosy about requesting upgrades, and I think it helps our chances when we do actually put in our requests. So yeah, I'm quite content with my AA PLT (especially since I just got back from an HNL-LAX-NRT-LAX where I accessed ACs at all 3 and the AWESOME Sakura Lounge at NRT).

That said, I'm definitely shooting for EXP this year :-)

Ah, well, I was in Y. And unlike my outbound, I couldn't snag row 31. So I was definitely better off in the Lounge. Hahaha. But yes, I was pleasantly surprised that we could use the IFE pre-takeoff (though again, being in Y, IFE wasn't awesome since we had to wait for showings of movies to begin every 25 mins or so, and the selection was significantly more limited...)

ORD & LAS

[QUOTE=NauticalWheeler;18218183]

To further illustrate, one can't expect to buy 50 cheeseburgers in a year and then receive a complimentary fine dining meal complete with filet mignon, drinks, and dessert. (I realize not not all frequent fliers buy just the cheeseburgers, however, many do.)


I agree with your point but the flipside of that coin? Some of us eat lots of
filet mignons in a year but also enjoy that juicy greasy cheeseburger!

tjpatte

I am United Premier Gold, after merger with Continental. I'm not happy with the level of service, 50% miles vs 100%, and the fact that upgrades are nonexistent now that I'm competing with more freq fliers. I am considering switching but am unsure of best time:

1) Will American match my United status if I do switch (I plan to fly 60k miles this year)?
2) What is best month/time to switch?
3) Do you feel American has better benefits overall (I fly to Chicago, Seattle, Miami, San Fran, act). I am based in NYC and also fly to Egypt and China yearly for business, along with the Caribbean.

4) Any other suggestions for making the switch to take advantage of the situation since UA has been so disappointing?

Thanks in advance