3Cforme

DL's fare-based earning for 2015 may mean big earnings if someone is buying you high fare tickets relative to distance. Reward availability across five different levels remains to be experienced.

McGowan06

For what it's worth, if your travel includes Los Angeles frequently, the Delta Shuttle is tough to beat. Weekday frequency on the hour in each direction on comfortable E75 planes (rollaboards fit in overhead). I get upgraded as DL Gold about 75% of the time on this route. The complimentary snacks are terrific on the shuttle, and they do offer free beer and wine as well.

Katlor

Thx for the advice re high-fare-to-distance and also the Delta Shuttle.

I had my first experience on the Delta LAX-SFO shuttle this week and it was great-- like you said, very comfortable and free wine/snacks. I just missed an upgrade on that flight but the bulkhead coach seat was perfect-- it even had space under the First Class seat in front for my bag. The snacks were strangely good-- apples with organic peanut butter.

PaulInTheSky

It should have been AA over DL program for any airport of flyer.

In all fairness, however, it depends on what you are really looking for out of these FFPs. If you are looking for the awards, then AA is clearly a better candidate, even after the award changes took place on April 8, 2014.
If you are looking for the unlimited upgrades without paying any additional charge, then DL, as you need to pay for the stickers to upgrade on AA flights; if you are looking for the hard product, which I would suggest you to do so, then AA and DL are head-to-head. Some say DL aircraft are newer, which is true, but their seats are very hard to sleep on.

AA_EXP09

AA. DL's programme is already rubbish for redemption and will be even worse for earnings come 2015.

SoCal

I've been able to find coast-to-coast first class trips on AA for 25k miles. Delta at least twice that. But, of course, assuming you pay for the majority of your flights, you could first look at typical fares for your typical routes, realizing fares can change. I don't know if UA being dominant means fewer upgrades. They also have more flights. But AA seems a bit better on mileage flights than UA, much better than DL. I should add we are taking DL on an upcoming international trip because the fare was so much lower than UA and, even more so, AA.

ericcheung

don't forget about AA's nice admirals club and T2 compared with delta's offering in T1.

Transcon service to JFK is quite nice on the A321T. Fare purchased is important as well as AA allows sticker upgrades on this route while DL does not. The smaller planes AA has will allow them to increase frequency

Katlor

Thanks all, these are all good points. Between the better miles rewards, SFO T2, and possibility of sticker upgrades with AA, AA is probably the better domestic airline program option. I still may fly Delta to Europe as the flights seem significantly less expensive, but AA for domestic seems like the right choice.

tom911

AA does have a pretty nice lounge at T2 at SFO. Unlike their old lounge in T3, you can actually find seats in the new one at peak times.

Microwave

I'll go ahead and merge this into the extant consolidated thread on this topic.

~Moderator

theskunk

I'm switching as well - anybody have any feedback whether it's overall better to go to US or AA?

dtremit

Mostly depends on what routes you fly -- upgrades are not reciprocal yet, so you're probably better off favoring the carrier whose planes you're actually likely to end up on in the short term.

Most of the non-upgrade benefits are more or less reciprocal, at this point.

BusTrav8yrs

revenue based qualifcation for status and staring Jan 1 revenue based for accruing redeemable miles.

My question to OP is do you really want to jump into another merger? One is enough to last me a lifetime.

Katlor

Hello all,

I posted earlier in this thread about trying to decide between Delta (where I am currently Gold Medallion) and AA (where I am currently Platinum) for my FF program, since I have just moved to San Francisco.

The consensus on that thread is that AA is better than Delta on all counts (better mileage redemption, upgrades, terminal, etc).

However, I have just been offered a mileage challenge to do 12,500 miles on United before July 30 to get United Premier Gold status for next year. So now I am wondering whether I should commit to AA or United for my next years' frequent flyer program.

Any thoughts? I have found a $1500 United flight to Lima for a mileage run to do before July 30 to accomplish the challenge.

HSaxa

What perks matter to you?

On UA, you can get lots of places nonstop from SFO. You can also use your miles easily with a lot of options to get to those places. But as a Gold, you will likely very seldom see an upgrade.

On AA, the story is reversed. (Generalizing, but you get the point)