MikeBOS

I know this topic is covered on a regular basis, but things also change about both AA and UA regularly (several of the points below, for example, were in UA's favor just a few months ago), so I thought anyone considering a move might be interested. I am sending this letter to United, though my expectation based on their general level of 1K customer service is that it will end up in the bit bucket in the sky.

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I am writing with the hope that this constructive feedback will be of use to you. About a year ago, United granted me 1K status (without my asking), as part of a promotion run earlier in 2005 involving faxing of competitive frequent flyer statements. At the time, I had just earned Premier Executive status on UA, and had Executive Platinum status on American.

A year later, I have decided to continue earning top-tier status on American, and will likely re-earn Premier Executive on United. I will not be requalifying for 1K, and I thought you might appreciate the feedback on why, for me at least, United’s offering is not as good as American’s. Roughly in order of priority, here are the reasons why I am keeping the majority of my business at American:

1) Phone service. United’s 1K phone service cannot hold a candle to American’s. For routine calls, both are fine; calls are answered quickly, by courteous, generally knowledgeable agents. But when calling with any kind of problem, American generally resolves the problem in a single call, regardless of its complexity. On United, I have had several issues this year requiring 5 or more calls to resolve, over a period of weeks. The agents just do not have the authority to do anything out of the ordinary, and the amount of bureaucracy they appear to have to deal with seems stifling. This translates directly into wasted time and unnecessary irritation for me, and is the single most important advantage American’s Executive Platinum program has over UA 1K.

2) Availability of upgrades. On American, there are more first class seats on all planes except for 757s (where the numbers are the same as United), and upgrades are far easier to get. United’s system is arcane, hard to understand, and my success rate on getting upgrades is much much lower than on American, even though on AA the upgrades are unlimited (no rationing with coupons of various types). Also, on AA Executive Platinums are first in line for upgrades, unlike the case at United where 1Ks are second in line behind UGS members.

3) No power ports on planes. American has power ports on every plane; UA has them only in first class on a small fraction of the fleet. This is a huge advantage for AA for me.

4) No service to Europe from Boston. To use any international upgrades requires a 4 hour detour in the wrong direction to either Dulles or Chicago.

5) Poor yield management software. I always buy discounted first class fares if they are available. On American, as flight time approaches, unsold first class seats are released into the discounted buckets, allowing me to buy my way into first class instead of taking my chances on the upgrade lottery. On United, the process seems much more inconsistent, almost like it’s completely manual, rather than handled automatically as appears to be the case at American, and often many F seats remain at the last minute without being released into the discounted first class fare buckets.

6) Much worse in-flight service in domestic first class. A year ago, United’s service (food and beverage) was consistently better than American’s. After a year of cuts from United and a year of improvements from American, the situation is now reversed. On transcontinental flights, American serves a full 3 course meal with printed menus, separate appetizer and salad course, a choice of desserts, two white and two red wines plus champagne, bottled water, and chocolate chip cookies before landing. United offers none of these – just a meal served all at once on a tray, with no choice of wines (just one white and one red) or desserts, and no snack before landing. The difference is significant.

7) A slow, unreliable web site. United’s site does not allow selection or viewing of seats, other than at the time of ticketing, and generally takes at least twice as long to perform any function as it takes to perform the equivalent function on AA’s web site.

The main item in United’s favor is Economy Plus, which is a major advantage. However, as an EXP on American I manage to avoid coach most of the time, or get an exit row when I do end up there, diminishing the advantage to some extent. If I were lower tier on AA, this would be a much stronger point in UA’s favor.

I don’t expect a response to this email, but thought that since I was granted the 1K status without asking for it, I would return the favor by providing feedback on the experience. I hope it is helpful to you in assessing the quality of your program.

X3Skier

Nice letter. Be interested if you ever get a response.

Cheers

elitetraveler

Thanks - good analysis ^ ^ ^

flippy110

Thanks for sharing. I no longer wonder if thÉ grass is greener...

ricktoronto

And 8) the shiny silver planes vs. the drab grey ones.

gleff

All legitimate reasons.

As always, the pluses and minuses of each carrier fit the preferences of individual flyers in different ways.

For example, if you were based out of DC rather than Boston you might choose UA. Or if you flew a substantial number of transpacs (given the ability to uprade).

I don't worry about power ports, my laptop battery lasts 6+ hours under heavy use and if I anticipate needing more I can carry my own power.

Though I agree about united.bomb. And Ted, which didn't even get mentioned. On the other hand, I really dislike MD80s and DFW.

wanaflyforless

What kind of laptop do you have? My Asus gives me 3-4 hours....can I get a >5LBS laptop with a 14" screen and six hours of battery?

TravelGuy1965

Or what type of battery. There are extended life batteries available for most types of computers that can last up to 5 and even 10 hours for one a friend of mine has at work.

Dr Bill SFO

Mike,

As a UA 1K for 8 years, with >1 million BIS miles, I decided to switch my business this year to AA and have finally made it to EXP this month. I agree with most of your comparative analyses.

However, living in San Francisco, where UA rules, getting to and from many places, particularly East Coast cities and Europe, has been more challenging with American, involving more connections than I had with United.

Nevertheless, I have decided to continue with AA through 2007, because I have been pleased with American's service and also because I am curious as to what life would be like as an EXP.

Another difference I found between UA and AA is in their VIP Lounges. It seems that the staff at the Admirals Clubs have more authority to make ticket changes than their counterparts in the Red Carpet Clubs. Additionally, the availability of computers with Internet access in the AC is nice for those rare occasions when I do not have my notebook with me. However, I must say that the snacks are better in the RCC, particularly at SFO. But that is no longer a consideration for me now that I am on a low-fat low-carb diet!

ContinentalFan

Thanks for this analysis. I recently started flying on AA too--I have flown Continental almost exclusively for fourteen years. In July, I started flying on AA, did the Platinum Challenge, and then became Executive Platinum on Wednesday.

So far, EXP is a big step over Platinum. IMHO, Platinum isn't really of much value. I've used that EXP number twice and it is excellent.

At the end of the year, I will post a comparison between AA and Continental. I've only been on AA for three months and I want some experience as an EXP to make a good comparison. I had thought of adding United to the mix next year too, but I have had problems on United in the past--and your post isn't that encouraging! For now, I'll probably stick with Continental and American.

DataPlumber

I actually had a working power port on a UA flight about two weeks ago. I could not believe it. However, it was the first encounter with one this year.

HeadInTheClouds

Yup - for example to me, the UA upgrade system has big plusses over AA's - especially in the transferrability of upgrades. It irritates me to no end to have to pay AA to buy stickers to upgrade a companion. Further, though everyone slams the life out of ual.com, at least it can process ticket exchanges and sponsor upgrades (most of the time at least ). But yes, to me too, EXP benefits outweigh 1K quite solidly on balance.

The one point that is completely undebatable is with phone customer service. AA is such a class act here, while UA is simply a disgrace.

In the end, both airlines earn my loyalty due to VIPs & SWUs. Without those, it would be a WHOLE different ballgame!

MikeBOS

Don't ever try to reverse an upgrade on UA though (apply for one then change your mind, for whatever reason). You're almost guaranteed an hour long conversation on the phone, with escalation to supervisors, before getting it resolved. This is one example of the kind of thing that you can resolve in about 30 seconds with the AA EXP desk, vs. endless frustration on UA.

Brentm76

nice email but it will probably end up in the junk mail folder knowing United!!!

HeadInTheClouds

I have and have never had any problems. But I would never argue that anything that has to rise to the customer service level is better handled by UA. This is where UA generally falls flat & AA shines.