flyingdervish

I'm going to be flying another 50,000 miles before the end of the year. (Yes, that's a lot!) I have about 50,000 each so far on AAdvantage and United. I'm a Million Miler on AAdvantage (and probably never going to get a second million), if that matters. I'm nowhere near that on United.

I'll be leaving mostly from SFO, and traveling to NYC and various places in Europe. So there are flights from both and no hub issues.

I'm trying to decide if I should try for 1K or Exec Plat. It looks like AA is a bit better as I would get 8 SWUs (handy for European trips) and I have TSA pre-check with them (It never seems to work for United. Can it only be for one airline?)

Any particular reasons I should choose one over the other at this point?

SFO777

Pre 9/1 I would have said AA for sure. But now with US-ification of AA and the apparent race to the bottom, it's a more difficult choice. While AA EXPs do get 8 SWUs, MP is a better program, generally better partners and easier to find award seats. I'd go with the one that offers the best schedule to your destinations.

BTW, PreCheck should work on all airlines. I have a Known Traveller number and have had PreCheck this year on AA, AC, UA, DL, US and WN.

Often1

Your KTN will work on both AA & UA. If it's not working on one, go into your profile and make sure that it's correct. If not, call.

JDiver

It appears that you are slightly more invested in AA, but look at network: UA vs AA+US, Star vs. one world, and see what's a better fit for your usual travel. If SFO JFK is fairly frequent, compare products as well.

Kacee

Well UA will have much more frequency ex-SFO, as well as several non-stops to Europe (LHR, CDG, FRA), whereas AA has none.

One thing to keep in mind though if you will be doing SFO-JFK frequently is that UA has effectively killed upgrades on that route. It's selling all the empty J seats at check-in for $200-$350, even with long lists of 1Ks and Plats waitlisted on instruments.

Also pretty difficult to use UA GPU's for TATL's from SFO. Asia is considerably easier.

billgrates3

If you are willing to fly to Europe or other international destinations via LAX, DFW, ORD, JFK, or MIA, then AA is your better choice. As a lifelong SFO traveller I've looked at the AA-EXP vs UA-1K issue many times. I chose AA because of the 8 SWUs per year. Over the past 8 years, I've flown 70 TATL trips, but only 3 were in economy. All the rest were upgraded to J.

There's no way that any UA 1K flyer from SFO could claim that upgrade percentage!

But if the shortest travel time is what you need, then UA/LH are your best bets from SFO.

Exec_Plat

When compared with colleagues that are 1k with UA, they seem to fly coach domestically and TATL quite a bit....

Ive missed one domestic upgrade this year with ~120 segments total (ive not broken out how many are eagle or intl..but still)

boss315

BINGO...you've hit the nail on the head..UA will find you in E+ or E-

SFOPhD

Are you booking business or economy? Note that there are no complimentary upgrades on UA for P.S. routes like SFO-JFK. On AA, you can still get complimentary upgrades.

mcgahat

They may not have a known traveler number. They may be operating off the individual airline submission which only works airline by airline. If they aren't getting it on AA they probably aren't eligible to ask for it yet or just haven't done so. They should see an option to request it on their AA profile if I remember the process correctly. I would recommend just getting global entry so they do have a known traveler number and can be used on all airlines especially if they are going to be doing international travel.

With regards to AA vs UA. I have moved my flying to AA and enjoy life as an EXP and if I was in SFO I definitely would as 1K doesn't mean much out of there.

Shareholder

There should be a space on the passenger information screen of all US airline bookings where one can insert a Trusted Traveler number. Once that's in the PNR it should reappear on all subsequent bookings on that airline. This detail is not automatically transferred between airlines on joint bookings, so one must ensure each airline flown has this entered and then PreCheck will appear on boarding passes.

As for the second point, agree that being a top tier elite (or any elite) on another airline where there's a overwhelmingly dominant carrier (UA at SFO, DL at ATL) is better than being a top tier of the dominant carrier. There's less competition for upgrades (and one gets a few hours advance on those starting off at that airline's hub that you'd likely have to fly through).

While I maintain top tier at both AA and UA (and will requalify both for 2015), I have found many more benefits from AA, including almost 100% comp upgrading on NAmerican flights, whereas on UA these seldom clear.

krlcomm

You are correct, if you are an airline opt-in (Pre Check eligible because you are a top-tier member of a given airline's FFP) you will not have a Trusted Traveler number. You have to get Pre Check, Global Entry, Nexus, etc. to have a TTN. If AA opted you in to the program because of your AAdvantage status you will not have a TTN to use on a UA reservation. I was a DL opt-in originally (100% Pre Check w/ DL) and when I came over to AA I had a terrible time getting Pre Check (even though AA continually told me that they had opted me in as well... numerous times in fact!)... since I got Global Entry and put my TTN in to my profile I have been 100% with AA and US.

tom911

Price out what it will cost you to use your systemwides at UA, something you don't need to worry about at AA. UA requires W or higher on international economy, if that's what you're buying, and there's a cost to do that (and no refund of the extra fare paid, compared to the lowest in the market, if you don't clear). You could spend thousands of dollars more buying higher fares and still end up in coach. Make sure you know what you're getting into. Price out a couple international routes you fly and let us know how much extra those UA W fares are.

I gave away 7 of my 9 systemwides my last year as a UA 1K because I refused to buy up. The two I used for myself were on a domestic route.

Also, take a long, hard look at the revenue based system UA is using for Mileage Plus come March 1. If you're not the right revenue mix, you might end up losing miles there. No changes at AA so far with your 100% bonus miles in effect at both the 50K and 100K level.

Tom in Amsterdam

UNITED959

On AA, you will fly up front much more than UA, at least for the next 4-6 months.

I'm sure program changes are on their way as Dougie moves to "enhance" the customer experience slash create shareholder value, but until then, AA is the best game in town.

Also, if redeeming miles means anything to you, AA hasn't messed with their chart...yet.

I'm still going for another year of EXP. I'm a million miler on UA, so depending on how AAdvantage changes next year, I'll make up my mind. I'm guessing it's going to be fly the most reasonably priced premium cabin fare and not worry so much about collecting miles in a particular program.