jfks35

I did a search on status match but didn't find info I was looking for. I'm an EXP that usually flies out of BOS. I book my own travel for work & can fly on many different airlines. I was thinking about doing a status match with either DL or UAL. I fly over 100K each year & typically bank my miles & use cc's to bump them up then book international F/J trips on partners. Flew EY Apartment for 221K AA miles this month.

Here's the info I could come up with for pluses/minuses.

Stay with AA:

Pluses:
- Partners: QR, QA, CX. Can book Apartment with EY.
- CC's can reduce EQM's & EQD's

Minuses:
- Crappy service, bad attitudes, middle seats as an EP..etc etc etc
- No complimentary club access (except for a F/J class international ticket not on EY)


Delta

Pluses:
- Diamonds can get free club access
- Partners: AF, KLM, KAL
- CC's can reduce EQM's & EQD's

Minuses:
- Kind of weak partners

UAL

Pluses:
- Partners: SQ!! AC, ANZ, ANA, OZ, Thai, LH, etc. etc. 28 partners - pretty strong ones

Minuses:
- It's United! Had pretty terrible service years ago. Pretty much stopped flying them & went to US Air before AA merged.

Not sure of you get club access with UAL status?
Can you book EY or EK with DL or UAL miles?

Looking for recent d.p.'s on how easy it is to get upgraded on domestic flights, service, access to club lounges, ease of use to find awards for F/J seats on partner airlines, etc. Ideally would be nice to hear of others who left AA for either DL or UAL to find out if the grass really is greener....or just suck it up buttercup & take the weekly ...... service and abuse from AA.

Apologies if I posted this in the wrong forum. Still relatively new to FT.

Thanks in advance,
-Jeff

MSPeconomist

Beltway2A

Curious that you listed ANA as a United partner, but omitted JAL from AA. You're also in for a rather unpleasant surprise if you intended on booking a premium cabin SQ's A380/77W/A350 flights with your United miles.

Complimentary club membership is a DL only thing. I like OW's lounge access rules, it's incredibly jarring to get off a partner first class long haul flight and then be denied access to the United Club for my domestic connection, because *A bases lounge access solely off your domestic flight.

No. Alaska partners with EK, AA with EY/QR.

youvesaiditall

While this is technically true, DM's were given a 3rd choice benefit as opposed to the previous 2 with lounge access for all. So it is hardly a sacrifice--I actually consider it a rare program enhancement, as you can chose an alternative benefit if either lounge access is unimportant to you, or if you get it through AMEX Plat or DL Reserve Cards.

As for the original question, I think DL's primary benefit is better ops/service. I think you are being kind when you say "kind of weak" partners. Relative to OW or *A, they are downright bad. J in AF or KLM is very hit or miss on the hard product (and a miss all too often).

I find myself now almost exclusively finding value for skymiles in Y domestic. Rarely can I find a decent value in international J--some exceptions to Asia on the Chinese carriers. I value my AA miles much much more, thanks to their stronger partners, and an actual award chart.

I agree with MSP in that you are unlikely to get a challenge or match to Diamond--but I suppose it never hurts to ask.

Zacnlinc

Delta also won't allow a status challenge if you already have an account with them. I just like the fact that my miles never expire with them so I use them when in a pinch.

Often1

You noted that this is largely work-related travel. AA (as well as UA & DL) often include status as part of corporate contracts. If your employer has a contract, it is worth asking what it might have available for you. You would be surprised how many travel manager / finance people have no idea that the ability to designate status is a big way to keep people happy at zero cost to the employer.

bosman

(Bolding mine), since AA doesn't force EPs into middle seats, I assume middle seats are a by-product of your booking pattern (last minute on very full flights). I wouldn't assume this would necessarily change with DL or UA so would list this as a Minus for the others.

Often1

As EXP, OP would have had the run of the house in Y, so while it's frustrating, not much to be done if there is nothing but a middle seat left by the time you book (and select).

flying_geek

If I am unfortunate enough to only get a middle seat, I always ask at the gate for a better seat. Usually there is at least one person that gets upgraded and usually did not have a middle seat

Coming back to the original topic:

It really depends on your routes and what else you want to get out of the program. I had DL Diamond status and I found upgrades, especially on short notice bookings - to be an awful lot easier to come by then at AA. I have no personal experience with UAs top status - I am silver from the odd flight I can't avoid. I have no intention of spending more time on UA planes than necessary - most the time service makes AA look really good.

I find UA miles to be most valuable (international flights to Europe in premium cabins), followed by AA (BA operated with fairly high fees) - and SkyPesos are rather useless. I am a paid AC member, and thanks to the growing network of superior AX lounges - I am thinking of not renewing this year. I do like the hard international AA J and F product - I rarely buy international F (and if, only when big discount), but I do appreciate the SWUs to get me from J->F, especially on eastbound flights where I can have First Class dining and then sleep right after take off.

I also find OW discounted business class on TATL flights or flights to India quite a bit lower than ST or SA which fits my patterns.

If my travel was mainly domestic, I am pretty sure I'd be focused on DL.

tphuang

out of BOS, I would imagine it's pretty easy to get upgraded on AA these days.

And you can't get status matched to top level on DL or UA. I would think EXP on AA is more valuable than a medium level on DL/UA out of BOS these days.

And if you are mostly flying domestic out of BOS, B6 would be the best choice.

hotturnip

UA sucks.

I'm primarily a DL flyer, but recently had a transatlantic outbound on TK, return on LH and UA. Here's what I learned:

UA will not allow pax with a LH ticket in J access to their lounges. I was connecting in EWR, but because I came over to the domestic terminal for my final flight, I was told, "The Lufthansa club is back in the other terminal." DL's partners are more firmly integrated. Access no problem. In fact, if you are Gold or above at DL and traveling internationally in Y, you STILL get lounge access. Nice, huh?

UA doesn't give you PQDs for a ticket from LH. DL does give you MQDs for AF, KL, etc., based on a percentage of distance flown, and the fare bucket. UA gives you NOTHING towards status for package or consolidator fares. DL gives you some credit based on a formula.

UA hardly awarded any miles for my TK flight. For my J ticket, I got a measly 125% of miles flown.

Your biggest problem flying from BOS is you'll have to connect a lot of the time. But I guess that's true with AA as well. But with DL you can at least avoid the hellhole of EWR and the mess that is ORD. And I really like AF and KL. I don't know why AF gets such a bad rap--they're fine. People complain about CDG as well. It's not great, but it's better than FRA.

Mwenenzi

What are your objectives from a ffp?
Just premium cabin awards?

The grass in not always greener on the other side.

With the majority of ffp's benefits are reducing and ff mile award/upgrade costs are going up.
Upgrades are now harder to get. The halcyon days of frequent flyer programs a decade ago are gone: just accept reality.

PHXflier

IMHO, DL is the best airline of the three major US legacy carriers. DL FF benefits have been going down quite quickly over the years, but that is roughly the same with the other carriers. Depending on where you go, partners are pretty good (Europe, Africa, China, Australia). Asia (other than China) and the Middle East are the weak spots. Because of dwindling DM benefits and a continually decreasing DM FC upgrade percentage for long domestic flights out of PHX, I select my preferred travel option mostly based on schedule and price rather than on airline these days, but if all things are equal then DL gets the nod. If you are looking for a better airline than AA out of BOS, then DL certainly is the way to go. If you fly enough and spend $15K a year or more on them, then DM is within reach within a year. And any MQMs in excess of the tier requirement are rolled over to the next year.

milesandmoremiles