bryandive

I am trying to decide whether AA or Continental would be the best airline for me. I just moved jobs to NY and live just north of the city.

I do alot of travelling to CDG, HOU/IAH, YEG and CLE. I will be doing some travelling to California, Eastern Canada and SE USA as well. There is also possibility to be flying to China.

I like AA because they have more flights out of LAG and/or JFK, either airport works fine for me. They also have great routes to CDG and CLE. You can get to YEG through SEA, not bad either. However, to get to HOU you have to fly through DFW. There million mile program is also better than continental IMOP.

Continental on the other hand has direct routing to HOU/IAH. They also have routhing to CDG, CLE and YEG. There main airport is ERW and it is a pain for me to get there and back from where I live. But they do have flights from LGA and JFK as well, just not as many as AA.

Several of the people i work with all fly Cont. If i do fly AA I might not be able to get 100% of flights on AA because I will either be flying with them or have to coordinate schedules to HOU and make it there earlier than AA can get me there with the layover in DFW.

I would be flying enough to get atleast Plat on AA if not EXP and would get Gold possibly Plat on Cont.

One concern I have is with Cont and what they are doing with their alliance. There all types of talk going back and forth if it is with AA or United or not going to happen at all. It looks more like United but it is not set for sure.

Anyone have any suggestions as to which would be better, or some other considerations I should look at?

Thanks

BallyLoser

CO announced on 19-June they are joining the Star Alliance. Details to follow, unless the government stops it for some reason, it is a done deal.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US.../alliance.aspx

KENNECTED

My Experience: American Airlines versus Continental
should I switch from AA: upgrades and last minute travel
AA Flyer's Observations: F, EWR>SFO

saccoNY

I would say AA, however with their recent revamp of AAdvantage, maybe not as much....looks like FEES galore.... However, remeber that as an elite on CO, you get free unlimited (available) upgrades in North America...however, ZERO to Intl that has a BusinessFirst section. AA has a more complex program.

Also, upgrades on the CO routes out of EWR maybe tougher is you're a gold vs. plat.


And the migration to Star Alliance, as far as I know is as close to 100% as it can be.

jamflyer

If I lived just North of NYC (I am assuming White Plains, New Rochelle area) then I would fly out of LGA with AA as my main carrier. The hassle to get to EWR from north of the city can be a bit much.

Continental MM program has some cool features but may take you forever to achieve.

mbreuer

I think it's really going to come down to convenience. Check out the travel times and options to EWR, LGA and JFK. Keep in mind that TATL for AA is going to be JFK.

Also, look into HPN for flight options (depending on where you will be).

Were it me, I'd mostly look to time on the ground between your home and EWR, JFK and LGA. I'd look at the days of the week and times of day you'll be traveling. I'd also look at whether there mass transit options from where you live. Examples would be NJ transit/Amtrak (EWR), LIRR (JFK), etc.

As to Routes, CO has nonstop service to everyplace you mentioned from EWR, except for YEG. If you chose CO and wanted CO miles for that trip, you could connect on CO, AS, NW or DL these days, and UA, or AC after the alliance change.

Co does also nonstop service from LGA to IAH.

bryandive

with continental joining Star Alliance would going with United as the main carrier and using continental when needed work well?

Benjh

Whenever I talk with my non-flying-expert friends about airlines, there's only one single comment that comes back everytime: "AA sucks". Their service is so poor I will never consider flying it again, yet alone making it my airline of choice. But then, there's a very active AA forum right here on FT, with experienced flyer, so I guees some disagree.

ContinentalFan

Here's my two cents.

If you're flying less than 100,000 miles a year (or will earn less than 66,667 points--flights on full fare), select Continental. If you're going to flying 100k or more, fly on AA. AA's EXP program is superior to CO's Platinum status. Upgrades are much easier to come by; you get eight eVIPs each year which you can use to upgrade to the next class of service on any AA flight (for international flights, there is a fare basis requirement).

If you won't hit EXP, select CO. It's hard to get upgrades on some flights on CO, but as a Platinum or even Gold, it's probably easier than on AA.

craz

AA has 1 great Pro over CO, to reach 1M and LifeTime Gold or 2m and LifeTime Plat with AA any way you get the miles into your acct counts . So use your CitiAA MC and buy a $2m painting you just became LifeTime Plat

With CO you have to actually fly 1M or 2M in actual miles to get to COs LifeTime levels

GadgetFreak

I think it would be a tough call if you lived in Manhattan. From Westchester I think that LGA just has to be a lot easier, probably even JFK is easier than EWR so I think I would go with AA on that basis alone. And welcome to Flyertalk and Metropolitan Fun City.

Totoro

I would like to clarify this point. One qualifies for CO lifetime elite by EQMs not actual miles flown. Deep discount economy tickets not purchased on CO.com will accrue only 50% EQM. Full-fare economy, F and BF tickets accrue 150% EQM. Conceivably, if purchasing only tickets in latter group, one can attain lifetime elite flying 666,667 miles. Add a few flex EQMs from Chase Presidential MasterCard, and you'll be lifetime elite in only a few years!

Detailed EQM charts can be found on CO.com

burghboys

Just one little tidbit.... Continental Express "Commutair" does fly nonstop HPN to CLE 3 times a day on a Dash 37 seater.... At least the days you would be traveling to CLE would be less of a drive than LGA or EWR would be...