Difference in culture: AA and US Elites
 

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.

"Elite" is a term made up by a bunch of marketing cookies to make people feel that a shiny plastic card makes them special. It doesn't and they aren't.

Doesn't mean that getting freebie UG's (or "stickers") or a free ticket and better boarding position isn't important. But, lets not overrate what it all means.

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.

Hence why you're seeing AA elites miffed by the degradation in product and US elites generally indifferent about what for them is mostly an upgrade in product.

Is it any different from what happened in 2005 when US and HP merged? :eek:

Spoken like an AA elite. As a US elite, I love the idea of 'stickers' for upgrades I otherwise received without the need to request the UG via a sticker.
And let's not get too carried away with the "superior" AA product either...
Pretty faulty characterization of all US elites.

Or when US and PI merged. Or when PS and US merged.

Or when NW and DL merged. Or when WA and DL merged.

Or when CO and UA merged.

And most likely when Air Tran and Southwest merged.

I think what some are failing to realize is that many of us "elites" have status with more than one carrier. There have been years where I have had elite status with four different airlines at once. I think the philosophical question should be: "Do some elites have blinders on?"

Getting popcorn. Be right back.

Yet, many FTs buy into it and brag about it ;):D

--J

Why would you be concerned about stickers as a CP? Or did I misdetect sarcasm? If anything you should be happy about them since they tend keep the F cabin lighter and make an open neighboring seat a much stronger possibility.

I was about to say, nothing good can come of this thread - but it might be entertaining to watch.

I think the old adage "always go with your first instinct" comes into to play here.

I think airline mergers are most successful at reminding us that most people don't like change. Even when the change is an improvement many people will resist it.

Edited to add: I do not mean to imply that I think airline mergers are improvements.

Not sure there is any basis for saying anything about the two "cultures". I don't know any US elites and the joint AA/US thread seems to be dominated by comments from AA elites. That said, I would guess being a US elite was probably akin to being an AirTran elite. Probably better than not being elite but otherwise meh.

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.

Many elites are business travelers in a hub city. If you live in Dallas/Fort Worth area likely you fly AA; CLT you fly US. And don't forget despite what many FTs would like to believe scores of business travelers fly what their corporate travel department books them on. Alliances mean each airline can probably get you to just about anyplace in the world.

The number of heavy personal flyers only/mostly is a small percentage of the FF population (particularly at the highest level) but over represented here on FT.

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..