scryer999

I'd be interested in opinions from posters who have recent experience across both American's EXP status and United's 1K status.

Being a very frequent flyer in a dual-hub city (ORD), I have the luxury of picking either or both programs through provider selection. In the past I've stuck with AA, having never forgiven UA for their pilot slowdown of 2000-2001. But with the recent merger activity I decided this year to give UA a shot.

My experience so far between AA EXP and UA 1K:

-- Service levels have been about even. American has been making a much stronger effort lately with top tier fliers; UA has been pretty solid. I've had a couple of rocky UA flight attendant experiences but AA is not free from those either.

-- Checkin and ticketing seems to be better on American. Both have dedicated 100k flier lines but American has generally been better staffed. Phone service is very good with both.

-- UA is *much* better on boarding. AA's chaotic and poorly-managed boarding process is a real aggravation every time I fly them, and it's a principal reason I decided to give UA a a shot.

-- Upgrades have been easier to come by on American, though in fairness I have not been in UA 1K long enough to have a deep track record. But UA has a lot of planes with very limited First Class seating so my prediction here is not good.

-- Fleet condition is a clear win for American. A lot of the UA long haul flights have been on very old planes with lousy seats and zero entertainment options. C'mon, we're still watching big TVs on LAX-SYD?

-- The premium economy product appears to be a wash, though AA almost always provides seat power and UA seems to not be doing that.

-- Hubs are mostly a wash. At my home airport ORD they are equivalent. AA's made a nice investment in JFK and LGA, but I don't like DFW's layout much and have never liked MIA. UA's SFO is great and I like DEN but don't fly there often; unfortunately these are balanced out by the abysmal NWK. Neither airline has solved the LAX mess.

-- Lounges a clear win for AA. They both have their problem areas (AA's abandonment of PHL is particularly irksome) but the AA lounges are generally in much better shape, marginally less crowded, and have better food. Plus, AA lets EXPs in to their Flagship lounge on any international; UA does not.

-- Partners so far I've been happier with AA on the whole. Lufthansa is efficient but not as nice an airline, they make me check a second bag, and their lounges are subpar. I generally have preferred BA, although the interterminal transit issue at LHR is a huge minus. UA does have Singapore as a partner but Cathay is no slouch for Pacific routes.

-- Flight availability - UA has some clear route wins, but I expect that to even out post-merger.

So what am I missing? Anyone really finding that UA is competitive in the top tier status game? Right now I'm hard pressed to find a reason to throw UA another 100k in 2014, though I suppose USAir could tighten up AA's program detrimentally post-merger.

Seems like the optimal strategy might be to throw United and Delta 50k apiece to earn alliance status and then stick with AA otherwise.

[apologies to the moderators if I'm posting in the wrong place or reposting -- I searched as best I could and paged through the first few pages of results and did not find this topic covered]

izzik

I think it's really hard to make conclusions or comparisons until AA releases their loyalty program changes, post-merger. Upgrading was a lot easier with the 500-mile system on United because not everyone chose to upgrade their flight.. then they merged with CO, let all elites get upgraded, and now you have these upgrade lists of 50+ elites.. will AA go the same route of auto-upgrade for elites like USAir has now? That would be a game-changer.

One under-appreciated aspect of UA is their same-day confirmed change option (free for Gold and higher elites). I wish AA would adopt something similar for their elites.

For now, I think AA is overall better across the board but mergers typically produce worse outcomes for loyal fliers, not better. What if AA decides to go with a 4-tier system like USAir? Who knows?

tom911

My final paid UA flight was just over 2 years ago, the very time they devalued million miler status.

Two areas I'd look at: systemwide upgrades and fare basis for international travel.

As you know, UA will not let you upgrade most international fares without buying up to a W fare, and then no guarantee of an upgrade (and no refund of fare difference to the lowest fare if you don't clear). What's your risk tolerance of playing the upgrade lottery at UA? What's your track record of clearing at booking there? I walked away from 1K as I just refused to pay extra to use my systemwides there (gave away 7 of my 9 the last year and used 2 on domestic).

Although you may not clear at booking at AA, you don't pay extra to get on the upgrade list with a systemwide for international. Downside, and this could be an issue depending where you fly, is that AA does not have the vast route network UA does, so less opportunity to upgrade with systemwides. You're going to have to balance out route network with systemwides. If you're going to places like SYD or MEL where AA doesn't fly, UA may be the better choice if you have good success with upgrades.

You really have to look at the type of fares you're buying, as well as the routes and carrier on international, as it may cost you more to fly AA and partners if you want to accrue miles. An example would be the lowest priced economy fare on Cathay which accrues zero miles. You can purchase the AA codeshare and get full miles, but you will generally pay more for that.

mre5765

1K domestic upgrade rates are in free fall. I went from 80% pre-UDU (that was the 500 mile "sticker" era; but as a 1K my upgrade rate for upgrades I wanted was 100%) to 90% with UDU (which means sometimes I failed to upgrade flights I wanted to upgrade), to under 50% with CPU.

If sitting in the front on domestic planes matters to you, then stick with AA/EXP.

Switching to UA because of boarding is stunning. UA used to have the best boarding in the business. Now I think I among the USA majors, it is in this order: WN, DL (boards F before Sky, the way it should be; when you pay for F on DL, which is the only way I ever get to sit in F on DL, you better board first), AA, UA.

The shower rooms at ORD Admiral are simply stunning. As nice as the shower rooms in the LH First Class Lounge.

NiceLanding

As an ORD-based former 1K, I'd agree with much of OPs comments, except for a few points:

1) At ORD (and most other places I've tried), AA's lounges are indeed quite a bit nicer in many ways, but I don't find them to be as conveniently located as UA's. For one thing, there's no lounge where I can wait upon arrival from which I can get to the street in 2 minutes when my ride gets to the airport. Also, I'd almost always pass a UA lounge on the way to my gate, but now I'm regularly finding it necessary to go quite far in the wrong direction to reach a lounge.

2) As already mentioned, I can't believe that an EXP would really prefer UA's boarding process. On AA, I'm boarding with just the F & EXP group before any line gets started. Last few times I flew UA (award tickets only!), I was relegated to the middle of the "Group 1" cattle chute, along with at least a third of the other passengers. Perhaps AA's boarding process "is a mess" after I get on, but I never see it. I do still long for the pmUA boarding process, which was more like AA's, but they were usually very careful at ORD to start boarding exactly on schedule.

3) Has the OP really tried AA's terminal (and lounge) at SFO? Hard to believe he likes UA's better. Ten years ago, I did think it was pretty nice, but in the last few years, it has been consistently over-crowded and uncomfortable, looking increasingly decrepit. I especially loathe the long waits for security in the "Premier Line", although I suppose precheck has now made that moot. Over at AA, the feeling to me is spacious, modern, and relaxing.

phlwookie

AA shares the BA lounge at PHL opposite gate A14. That hasn't always been the case - there used to be an AC outside A-East security as memory serves - but there is now.

whimike

I am both AA EXP and UA 1k, and based at SFO. UA should be the clear choice based on location, but I do all I can to fly AA.

My CPU success on AA is in the 90%+ range. With UA, unless I can apply an RPU upon booking, I set my expectations on rarely getting a CPU, unless I am on some off-day to an uncommon destination. The few times I tried for a CPU I was usually more than #10 on a list of 50+, which just seems crazy as a 1K.

Shareholder

No longer relevant after January 6th when AA fliers will have access to all the US lounges at PHL. With the limited flights AA operates from that terminal it made no sense for both BA and AA to operate separate lounges. And UA's UC there is a pretty small one.

Shareholder

I still made 1K this year (for 2014) because of some late year, uber-cheap MR fares on UA but didn't particularly enjoy the experience. I find very little comparison after 1-1/2 years as an ExecPlat. AA blows UA away in servicing its top tier elites. Have been upgraded on every two/three-cabin NAmerican flights since I took the status match (save for two flights on which I voluntarily took an earlier flight knowing there was no F space), got my first CPU this year on UA two weeks ago after more than a dozen flights! So it would have been nice if 1Ks got a comp alcoholic drink(s) and BoB as ExecPlats get on AA when seated in coach.

At least UA had E+ going for it, but now most of AA's fleet has extra space in coach. And on my flights from/to YYZ, AA has upgraded the aircraft to CR7s, E175s, B738s and A319s...some of the newest planes in the fleet meaning just about every flight (there are still a couple of E145s) has F. UA is still flying mainly E145s and Dash8s with no F.

I know changes are coming to AA and am bracing for the worst. But I also have seen what happened to UA and that makes it hard to consider flying them more than flying AA. This will be an interesting year though, so I am hedging my bets once more.

relangford

I am both UA 1k and AA EXP. On almost every count, AA is better. My problem is that I live in Korea which only has one AA ICN-DFW flight a day, but I'm on it often. UA has more flight options, but I have been avoiding them for almost a year now.

omegadeal

My experience is coming from being AA EXP about 5 years ago and UA 1K now, so things may have changed.

Overall, AA had a higher domestic upgrade percentage, and easier to use international upgrade coupons. AA had better service in my opinion.

UA had a better website, but keep in mind I am comparing it with AA.com from five years ago.

I am going to switch back to AA, which is why I read this forum

hiltonlondon2009

I'd rather be EXP on AA every day of the week than 1K on UA. I am both right now, although I'll miss requal on AA by 10K miles.

UA has its upsides. Award availability, lounge access for Canada travel, but AA is hands down in most of the other areas I care about - complimentary upgrades, premier phone desk, SWU usage on all fares, 8 SWUs instead of 6, no need for RPU usage etc.

ijgordon

Really not sure what you're trying to say. Both AA and UA have free upgrades for 100k+ flyers. The long tail of the list shouldn't matter form those at the top.

But then I guess you need to dig in - AA prioritizes upgrades by elite status then time of purchase (with some intricacies) while UA puts a much heavier emphasis on fare class, with lower level elites on full fare upgraded over top tier on cheap tickets. One scheme isn't necessarily better than the other, really depends on your purchase patterns. I think FT skews toward discount purchasers which is why we tend to hear more about great upgrade %s for AA EXPs and lousy ones for UA 1Ks.

ORD_UA1K

I respectfully disagree. I have found AA (and even DL, as a PLT) to be 80%+ for upgrades domestically, while on UA I can't recall the last time I was in F. On UA I am left stranded on the uncleared list somewhere in the #1-5 range. This is despite my company having a negotiated contract with UA so we're steered towards them, and often booking last minute. Our purchased fare classes are in the upper end of the hierarchy.

I guess this issue is because of the GS explosion, and the algorithm does not properly track revenue on metal-neutral JVs like LH. Our corporate policy permits business class for most "over-water" travel, so I'm referring to domestic short / mid-haul.

The last straw for me was earlier this week on UA EWR-DEL (leisure trip) -- $3000+ r/t in economy, B-fare -- and sat in a middle seat in Economy Plus on the 15 hr flight despite trying to use a GPU. I was #1 for an upgrade at check-in ~5 hrs pre-flight... and steadily dropped to #5 by the time of departure. 3 people cleared -- and I was stuck at #2. This is on a B772 with 50 business class seats.

I still make 1K since I fly enough international business class on quality Star carriers like NZ, SQ, TK, SA. However the devaluation of partner PQM earn on high fares will make this much more touch-and-go than in the past...and I frankly don't care.

I find AA's EXP program, including the outstanding phone support, to be hands down better than UA 1K. On the rare occasion I'm in the back on AA, the comped meals and drinks help. I too am nervous that the AA program will be "US-ified" post-merger.

That said, I have several colleagues who are UA GS and they love it.

I know I've only got my personal experience to cite, so take it for what it's worth...

ijgordon

Fair enough - I guess this could be considered a difference, and although AA also has Concierge Key, I don't know the finer points of comparison between the two. That said, I'd have thought that most GS are in paid premium class anyway so shouldn't be stealing upgrades, no?