Moving to SFO... Bye Bye AMR :(
 

I got a new job in San Francisco starting May 1st so it looks like I'll be leaving American Airlines for United - already sent them my AA statement to get my statues comped. Will be mostly flying SFO-NRT, SFO-EWR, and SFO-DEN so it makes no sense to stick with AA.

Thanks to the AA board and all the great people at AMR over the years who always treated me great! ^ :)

Sorry to see you go, but the reasoning makes sense. Good luck with the new job...and the new airline :)

Cheers.

JAL has a SFO-NRT flight that you'll earn AA q-miles and points on starting a little under a week from now, and I think AA codeshares on it in case the AA code is important. If it must be EWR and not JFK, and if your flights must be nonstop, then AA won't help there, but AA is second-largest at SFO and you won't be paying hub prices.

Good luck with the status match. Let us know how it goes. :)

If maximizing miles is interesting to you, then AA might still work. For example, SFO-DFW-NRT-DFW-SFO is 5500 miles longer than SFO-NRT-SFO, for example. If you end up doing mileage runs at year end to maintain status, AA could still be a good thing.

And a bit impractical, though I have done it, when not in a rush. Though, I prefer the red eye SFO-JFK-NRT rather than the redeye to DFW on the MD. Actually, SFO-LAX-NRT gets the FL in LAX and a bit longer flight, especially westbound. The JL option is certainly better than the UA or AA option though.

I would go with bmi for matching, as that can get you into all the RCC's, as Gold. And unless you are doing 100k on UA, you really don't get much benefit. I can usually count on E+ for coach, as BD Gold, though you can't access E+ at booking. A call to UA usually gets it done.

Actually, it seems like a big pain in the sit-down to me, but if done 4 times in a year, the extra 22000 miles could put some folks over the top. I guess I'd rather do it than spend every weekend in December doing transcon MRs on my own dime. I'd be kicking myself, though, if I could have made my status level easily without it. NRT is far enough on its own, without building a MR into it.

There's no way I am doing that... miles aren't worht THAT much to me. I'll be flying home at least one weekend a month (SFO-EWR) so that's 60,000 miles right there.

Of course, but if you can still fly SFO-NRT on JAL and get AA miles.

Of course but why would I want to split my travels like that?

My 4 NRT flights per year and the monthly Newark flights puts me into 1K.

Some of the FA's are upset about this , they will be sending you a card I heard .:)

Good luck with the new job .

Do what works best for you. You'll be more than welcome at any of the FT events we hold in the Bay Area, which tend to be predominantly populated by UA flyers that are really up on all the rules and routes. Hopefully they'll be able to help you along.

Tom in Melbourne, Australia, on the way to the pool (photos in the 2007 Melbourne folder)

Is EWR that much more convenient for you than JFK or LGA? Those options are available on AA.

Of course, if it looks like a permanent move and you're looking for the most convenience, UA makes sense. If you really don't want to give up AA, then you can still do OK from SFO.

Just my 2 cents: I grew up in Bay Area and use to fly a lot out of SFO and OAK (sometime SJC) and never had to deal with UA. Matter of fact, I've taken just 1 round trip in my life on UA. The best option for me was AA on longer trips and WN for short hops...
^

As a Bay Arean as well, I concur. Being out of SJC makes it an easy choice, even with the cutbacks. I can get my transcons out of SFO, and the rest (including the WN flights where the AA schedules and/or equipment suck). Works very well for me. Just seemed that the OP had already made up his/her mind, so I was all for wishing her/him well :)

Cheers.