sadiqhassan

Like many others, I am questioning whether to stick with my current program or try another one. I am currently AA Platinum Pro (was Platinum prior). Overall, I am pretty happy with AA. My biggest priorities in order are 1. exit row/extra legroom seating 2. ease of earning/redeeming miles for trips/upgrades (one of my favorite uses of AA points is for last minute short haul travel where cash fares are insane and miles fares are relatively cheap) and 3. help during IRROPS and (distant) 4. upgrades to F.

IME AA does a great job with the first two and fourth but a terrible job with the third. They used to be OK but this year was really bad. There have been at least three times where I have been stranded in CLT overnight due to delays, but AA refused to help me troubleshoot before I missed the connection (and several other times where I have had to argue for a seemingly logical solution and AA eventually relented - On Rolling Delays on Rebooking - FlyerTalk Forums). Once stranded the lines in CLT for a hotel are horrendous and I end up ubering to the nearby Hyatt and eating the cost or working with my CC.

I fly 50% international (usually in paid biz to the middle east/asia/europe – I try to fly QR because it is great and a lot of my LPs are from my QR trips but also BA as there is a direct PIT-LHR) and 50% domestic (in cheapest economy, most common routes are PIT-EWR and PIT-IAH but also ORD/LAX/MIA/LGA/SAT). I foolishly either connect in DFW (for IAH) or connect in CLT/ fly to LGA (instead of EWR) and this has resulted in being stranded in CLT and occasionally DFW unnecessarily. The domestic flights are when the status really matters.

Has anyone gone to (or come from) UA (or DL) that can speak to how the airlines do on the things I care about. I will currently only make AA Gold but have some long-haul business travel coming up so could make AA Plat. I am flying AF over the holidays that will get me to flying blue silver but have some other trips that could be booked on AA/QR, DL/KL/AF or AC/UA/LH. I have a chase sapphire reserve card and could potentially open an AA branded credit card.

Thanks!

HNL

the term "Different Dog Same Fleas" comes to mind.

VegasGambler

Sounds like you are spinning your wheels a bit trying to do everything by flying. Get the CC, and game the system a bit. Get some hotel stays or portal spend or whatever to get yourself up to EXP (it's really cheap, and the extra RDM alone make it basically free) and you should get much better service.

fliesdelta

After years of flying Delta almost exclusively, the Skymiles changes of this year pushed me to try AA a couple months ago. So far it's been a good experience.

Over the years, as a Platinum or Diamond elite, DL has been generally good during IROPS, but this year I had some pretty bad experiences, including twice being stuck at DTW for 5 and 12 hours respectively (same itinerary, RDU-DTW-SFO). In both cases it was DL's fault (crew timeout on the 5 hour, mechanical plus multiple crew timeouts on the 12 hours). Two months ago, on RDU-ATL-EZE the ATL-EZE flight experienced rolling delays until the original crew timed out though they did manage to get a new crew that night so it ended up being a five hour delay instead of a cancellation/rebook the next day.

I'm not sure you'd be happier on one of the other major US carriers (all two of them besides AA). They all have their things they excel at and suck at.

Cledaybuck

You should be flying whomever has the most nonstops to the places you go most (sounds like that might be UA). That way, you don’t have to worry about being stranded at your connection. None of the FF programs is good enough to offset that IMO.

HaleiwaFlyer

Answer: Try other airlines yourself; get a status matched and experience those 4 criterias with other airlines yourself. See which one tickles your fancy the best, and stick with that one. Try out each airlines award redemption for your destination (or try out dummy bookings). The dynamics of airlines change with time, and the past experiences may not be the same. Only way to tell, is to try it out yourself.

All opinions you seek here are so biased to our own individual biases that it won't pertain to your route, time constraints, finances, like/dislilkes of hard/soft products, or your award redemptions.

For example: Go to the UA board, and people complain about the business class food, yet everyone still flies them based on loyalty. Go to the DL board, and people are jumping ship because of the loyalty program changes, and it shows the the other factors didn't matter enough to keep them flying DL. Go to the AA CK board, and there are gripes too.

Kacee

AA has a better program than UA or DL but you have to put up with the awful IT and acknowledge that the LP scheme favors spending on credit cards, hotels, and rental cars over flying. And if you fly mostly economy, UA has more E+ seats in its aircraft.
I don't think I'm the only UA elite who won't fly UA long-haul. All my international spend goes elsewhere.

VegasGambler

I've literally never not gotten an E+ seat, on any airline. Twice I've had to take a middle E+ seat when changing flights very late.

Really? It's been a while since I've flown UA internationally (pre-covid) but I always thought that Polaris was very comfortable.... definitely one of the better business class seats. Even premium economy was pretty good. The food is pretty bad but honestly that's a minor issue IMO. I can always eat before the flight... that gives me more time to sleep anyway.

Dallas49er

Everyone's experience may/will vary, but MrsDallas49er and I (both EXP for over 20 years) kicked AA to the curb in October of 2021, and have never looked back.

Very pleased with DL domestic, and ecstatic with AF DFW-CDG and beyond (We have an apartment in Paris). She is going with Flying Blue, and I am going to stay with Skymiles. We buy Business.

We left AA because we got sick and tired of paying a premium for little to no service and being treated consistently like donkey dust. A total service failure 10/21 CDG-DFW was the last straw. It showed us that their total operation had deteriorated to lazy, grumpy granny FA's who hate their jobs, passengers and their management, GA's who do the bare minimum, nothing more, and hate their job, passengers, and management, and management who hates their employees and look(s)ed at Pa$$engers as nothing but revenue.

We HAD over 1.5 AA miles, but now use them for wedding presents, family and student travel, and last minute emergency travel for friends.

OP-YMMV, as well as others on this forum. Fly safely, no matter whom.

Penguinmoon

Plat Pro here, after 10+ years as an EXP. I refuse to play the credit card game. Based in CGK, I buy QR J fares to get back to the States. Once in States, rarely would I step on an AA flight, I just buy what is convenient. DL seems to work best for me. I credit my QR/AA codeshare flights to AA bc I like the program, and I can easily hit Plat Pro. Being a one world emerald is what is important to me.

enviroian

The grass is this color everywhere.

Kacee

Yes, why is that so shocking? UA has an abysmal soft product and IMO the mid-tier hard product doesn't make up for it. I prefer to spend my business class dollars on carriers that actually try to provide a decent inflight experience. Same with premium t-cons - I choose AA over UA literally every time (and get to avoid EWR in the process).

Sounds like you don't fly much in relative terms. With full aircraft, if you book late is not at all uncommon to be shut out of Comfort + or MCE. On many AA aircraft the only MCE are bulkhead plus exit row.

Repooc17

Personally, I am indifferent about UA business class seats. Despite being a lean person, I find the seat a bit on the narrower side. If I am up front, I like wider seats. The J/PE food on UA is just atrocious, especially its premium transcon and longhaul international routes, in comparison to its competitiors.

Domestically, I fly a lot of everyone (US carriers), and I think OP can experiment with being a free agent to see if that suits his/her needs. Internationally, I avoid US carriers whenever possible.

sadiqhassan

Thanks everyone!

Wife is a premier silver on UA and there have been a few times where nothing is left when OLCI opens but usually something opens up as people get upgraded to F.

I find UA, AA and DL business to all be unimpressive (I have not flown DL long haul for a while but the vegetarian meal they served me about 5 years ago will remain in my memory for some time - basically a piece of lettuce and some carrots) but find UA the best of the 3.

VegasGambler

At the end of the day if I am paying for long haul J I'm paying for the seat so I can be comfortable and sleep. Everything else is just a minor add-on. I don't notice a big difference between US and foreign carriers. UA probably has the best seat out of the ones I've tried but the others are good too.

People complain a lot about AA service but I've never once had an issue beyond the occasional indifferent FA (which I've also had on other US airlines -- that's the one thing that's less common outside the US). And I've had more great FAs then indifferent ones, on all airlines.

In fact, AA has always been willing to rebook me (even beyond what their policy allows) when I requested it, and once even allowed me to keep the value of a cancelled BE ticket. Having said that I've also had good service from UA; an agent once called her help desk to open up space for me so I could SDC, and I wasn't even 1k or anything.

I always look at complaints about bad service with a grain of salt. I have no other evidence that I'm the luckiest person in the world, so sometimes I just wonder if the complainers have unreasonable standards.