Originally Posted by ubernostrum

The difference is, of course, that AA is a Premium Airline, as evidenced by its continued reliance on those ultra-high-end flying palaces, those Ritz-Carltons with wings, the MD-80s, of which we mere mortals are permitted to speak only in reverent whispers and while shielding our eyes from the brilliance of their glory. And, of course, much the same is true of those brave Adonises, those Cadillacs of men, the AAdvantage elites, who jet off to the world's darkest places merely to light them with the glow of their heavenly auras.

Meanwhile, US Airways is obviously the most ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-low-cost carrier in the country, if not the world, and its so-called "Preferred" members are the very worst sort of boorish nouveau riche riffraff, whose "status" comes only from their willingness to accept connections (rather than flying solely paid F nonstop transcon/TATL/TPAC direct from the bustling, cosmopolitan hub metropoleis in which AA elites live) and to whip out their wallets and pay Dougie for the privilege of flying in what US so laughably calls "first class". Why, they even use stemless glassware! Any real Premium(TM) flyer would faint dead away at the suggestion of such a thing.

Anyway, that's the difference in a nutshell.

Originally Posted by panjabi

Rather than culture it comes down to product and who is willing to pay for what level of product. If one is not insanely biased, one can clearly see that pmUS was a very downmarket product and priced (and thus frequented by) a different segment of fliers

Now, we all want to be politically correct and not flame anyone, and thus we all keep silent but we can all see how far pmAA has fallen and (even worse) how much further it is going to fall.

There will be no happy mediums here. The new AA will end up looking just like pmUS. It is just being done in stages. The final goal of the pmUS leadership is to FULLY CONVERT pmAA into pmUS. As a simple example look at what is happening with the 772 refit. After the first batch is done with a higher number of J, the next batch will have a lower number of J and then even the first batch will be retrofitted to remove J!

In a perfect world pmAA would have merged with pmCO and would have had a broadly similar set of products. pmAA would still have been superior (due to the availability of Premium First) but the harmonization would have been easier. Also, then the newAA would have ruled Texas

Whether one wants to admit it or not, pmAA was the most premium airline in the US. pmUA, pmDL, pmNW, pmCO were all far behind and pmUS was not even considered a "real airline" ... just a collection of shaky and rattling old planes held together by desperation..

Originally Posted by rrgg

Getting popcorn. Be right back.

Originally Posted by ubernostrum

The difference is, of course, that AA is a Premium Airline, as evidenced by its continued reliance on those ultra-high-end flying palaces, those Ritz-Carltons with wings, the MD-80s, of which we mere mortals are permitted to speak only in reverent whispers and while shielding our eyes from the brilliance of their glory. And, of course, much the same is true of those brave Adonises, those Cadillacs of men, the AAdvantage elites, who jet off to the world's darkest places merely to light them with the glow of their heavenly auras.

Meanwhile, US Airways is obviously the most ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-low-cost carrier in the country, if not the world, and its so-called "Preferred" members are the very worst sort of boorish nouveau riche riffraff, whose "status" comes only from their willingness to accept connections (rather than flying solely paid F nonstop transcon/TATL/TPAC direct from the bustling, cosmopolitan hub metropoleis in which AA elites live) and to whip out their wallets and pay Dougie for the privilege of flying in what US so laughably calls "first class". Why, they even use stemless glassware! Any real Premium(TM) flyer would faint dead away at the suggestion of such a thing.

Anyway, that's the difference in a nutshell.

Originally Posted by panjabi

Whether one wants to admit it or not, pmAA was the most premium airline in the US. pmUA, pmDL, pmNW, pmCO were all far behind and pmUS was not even considered a "real airline" ... just a collection of shaky and rattling old planes held together by desperation..

Originally Posted by panjabi

Rather than culture it comes down to product and who is willing to pay for what level of product. If one is not insanely biased, one can clearly see that pmUS was a very downmarket product and priced (and thus frequented by) a different segment of fliers

Now, we all want to be politically correct and not flame anyone, and thus we all keep silent but we can all see how far pmAA has fallen and (even worse) how much further it is going to fall.

There will be no happy mediums here. The new AA will end up looking just like pmUS. It is just being done in stages. The final goal of the pmUS leadership is to FULLY CONVERT pmAA into pmUS. As a simple example look at what is happening with the 772 refit. After the first batch is done with a higher number of J, the next batch will have a lower number of J and then even the first batch will be retrofitted to remove J!

In a perfect world pmAA would have merged with pmCO and would have had a broadly similar set of products. pmAA would still have been superior (due to the availability of Premium First) but the harmonization would have been easier. Also, then the newAA would have ruled Texas

Whether one wants to admit it or not, pmAA was the most premium airline in the US. pmUA, pmDL, pmNW, pmCO were all far behind and pmUS was not even considered a "real airline" ... just a collection of shaky and rattling old planes held together by desperation..

Originally Posted by boss315

There seems to be a real difference between these two cultures.. Thoughts/observations?

Mods: If this is in another thread or area, please feel free or just delete.

Originally Posted by morrisunc

Anyone who thinks there is anything premium about pmAA clearly has never flown private and spends most of their dining dollars at the Olive Garden.

Originally Posted by cmd320

Of course there's a huge difference. You're talking about two very different airlines serving very different markets with very different customer bases and very different onboard products with very different histories.

Originally Posted by morrisunc

This is a joke, right? Take a look at the majority of aa "elites" siting in their upgraded f seat - usually poorly dressed and overweight and excited about eating a $10 meal on airline china. The majority of these people are hardly elite. And they proudly put their baggage tags on their cheap roller bags so everyone can see they are "elite". I think most of these people are bitter from a life of being denied a seat at the cool kids table so they fly 100,000 miles to they can feel "elite" and "cool" and "included". Hey look - I couldn't get into a cool frat or country club, but did you know I'm a member of the Admirals Club?

Anyone who thinks there is anything premium about pmAA clearly has never flown private and spends most of their dining dollars at the Olive Garden.

I would say the best looking and bessex dressed people on the combined aa/us network tend to be on Clt-lga flights.

Originally Posted by sjpmurph01

Yep!



<-- written sarcastically

Love it! And in case that you wanted proof that your analysis isn't all that exaggerated...

written genuinely -->

Originally Posted by GotCalcio4

I think this could be one of my biggest gripes with this whole AA vs US nonsense. Since I live in DC and have flown US for the last 10 years due to the fact that they got me where I needed to go out of DCA, almost always in First class, and needed the Shuttle, I am looked down upon by those from AA. US was the carrier of convenience and just worked for me. I didn't know DC was such a backwater place to be that I am a very different customer base than those high class AA people.

Because Dallas is such a glamorous world-class city in comparison.

Originally Posted by panjabi

Whether one wants to admit it or not, pmAA was the most premium airline in the US. pmUA, pmDL, pmNW, pmCO were all far behind and pmUS was not even considered a "real airline" ... just a collection of shaky and rattling old planes held together by desperation..

Originally Posted by panjabi

Yes, it is written genuinely. Political correctness aside, pmUS was a worse airline in terms of hard product, soft product, age of planes, connections, destinations, clubs and every other measurable factor. In fact, I would be hard pressed to think of a worse "major" airline in the United States than pmUS.

(

Originally Posted by alex9654

My favorite AA employee equated this to the homecoming king being forced to dance with the ugliest girl in school.