TWA Fan 1

Of course, that's because you're already a UA grand fromage. If you're an unsatisfied CO Plst sitting in CO's equivalent of LRTC which is code-named LRIC (Less Room In Coach, or simply by its acronym LRIC, pronounced "LaRRY K") AA's top tier might appear quite a bit more appealing.

Of course, that really only applies to fliers residing in the NYC area, and very likely would not apply to the "captives" in Houston or Cleveland who don't have much a choice.

bocastephen

See if you can trade for a few of someone else's VIPOWs...add some low fare mileage runs to NRT or deep Latin America (they have them frequently), a few domestic hard-core runs and you're at 100K.

channa

Totally agree. Not only that, being from SFO as well had influence.

Plus the UA ramp-up period is much easier on UA because of E+ and you can stretch those 500-milers if you plan carefully, which you cannot do on AA.

Syzygies

A painful turn of phrase. Every time I consider UA, I note that JFK to SFO is 2,586 miles, requiring SIX 500 mile certs. They don't quantize fares in multiples of $500, because they realize that would be truly retarded, but they don't mind doing this with my certs.

I'm 9/13 on upgrades, EWR to SFO this year, and CO offers better fares on this route than UA. CO continues to hold me in place with a better deal for my specific circumstances than any competitor. Everyone's needs are different, so it's hard to generalize about this sort of thing.

Bonehead

But I thought that no one ever got upgraded on transcons any more. Hmmmm...

Syzygies

I'm sure it's a temporary effect of the recession; I was 50% in 2007, 25% in 2008 with the same flying patterns. Though the difference is so dramatic, I've got to wonder if fewer Plats will requalify, double EQMs or not.

crowly

Must be a recession thing, I got upgraded (on W fare, no less) EWR-SFO two weeks ago as a lowly silver (which will make gold in a few weeks and plat a month after that ).

channa

So maybe we should add "recession" to the CO mantra: CO is a great airline if you fly as ticketed, everything runs on time, and you have Elite status during a recessionary period.

MIA-SAT

I made the partial jump four years ago. I still keep my plat on Co, but AA still gets the majority of my flying. I have business travel needs which CO can meet better than AA, but AA upgrades me much more and gives out VIPOW's, something that CO has stated firmly it will not offer.

While AA still requires BIS miles or points to get into EXP status, no comps or challenges, there one thing that you can do to minimize the pain of transition. Remember that 100,000 points or miles will get you to EXP status. If you use "Price and Schedule" button on the AA.com site, you can frequently find P fares, which are first class seats, and which accrue 1.5 points per mile for less, sometimes substantially less than coach fares that earn only one point. This disparity has been noted some times on the AA boards. The Price and Schedule tool is clunky, it only works for one ways and for round trips, it is not available for multi destination bookings.