I live in St. Louis and it is an AA/DL mostly (not including SWA) airport.

I have 70k AA and MM'er with them. I have 200k+ on DL.

I will be starting a project in Toronto flying weekly and both above carriers do not have a direct flight and all go thru ORD mostly. I can't afford the 5 hour trips Mon/Fri (great for points, but not good for work ). So only direct is UA or AC. I have no points or status with either (well via Marriott I got Silver - stupid me not knowing I would travel on them, could have matched my lifetime Gold with AA).

Both are Star Alliance and so will be starting from zero for the most part.

I am planning a trip for wife and I in 2015 to Africa (stop in Dubai).

Since I am really only stuck with Star Alliance with both UA and AC, does it really matter on who I run with for the next 5 - who knows how many months to help in air travel options to Africa?

I just opened SPG and have 30K before and new 30k coming. So I could open a UA CC to help if I run with them. I recently opened AA and USA cards a couple of months ago with anticipation of the merger.

Hope this information is at all useful.

What are your thoughts? Any help is appreciated if there is any to be had

Is it Toronto or an area around it?
A lot of people who live in Toronto make the 1:15hr drive to Buffalo for cheaper flights. You might want to consider this AND it would give you more options.

It is actually Toronto (Brampton) to be exact.

Then fly to Toronto as the yyz airport is in Brampton

definitely weigh the price difference for Buffalo against the driving time and rental car cost. you may be surprised. of course, if you do not feel like driving then Toronto it is

I don't think UA runs that route nonstop. It's just AC.

I plan on flying into TO, but was looking for possible thoughts on UA vs AC for future travel to Africa if either one made a difference for me.
I don't think Buffalo is an option as it would take more time and I would just fly AA thru ORD to get twice the segments but at a cost of 5 hours.

The net I was looking for is do I need to car of UA vs AC in my route to better my options for partners to get Africa?

Sorry if confusing.

I thought I saw UA direct a couple of weeks out when I looked but maybe I am wrong. If that is the case for direct I have my answer of AC :-)

Looks like the only direct flights to Africa from Toronto are ET to ADD and Air Egypt to Cairo. To take *a you will connect in the US or Europe for all other destinations in Africa. TY serves some African airports and would be a nice Lounge for stopovers. LH serves many through fra. ET is not a bad airline though transit can take time at the desk and the airport isn't a place you'd want to spend all day. Take a look at we're you will be going, which *a partner you likely fly and how the fare classes you'd fly will line up with their mileage charts. UA charges fewer fees for award redemptions I believe. I think the 50k level *g will give you similar privileges as far as lounge access. UA will have a minimum spend requirement for status in 2014. Depends on your situation but there are some of the considerations.

Sorry our Africa travels would originate in St. Louis and not Toronto.

And now I see that you are trying to Africa fly via Dubai to use awards earned from all of your work trips to Toronto. I misread that you were traveling Toronto to Africa regularly for work.

In that case, I think that you'll find that UA will require fewer miles and fewer surcharges in redemption. A quick look at the aeroplan chart looked like 150k plus fuel surcharges for AC vs 120k plus tax for UA redemptions in J to Africa from US roundtrip. I have used UA partners for award and paid tickets to Africa (SA, ET, TK, LH) but never on your proposed route through DXB. I collect and redeem on UA.

Best of luck, sounds like it will be an amazing holiday. Consider the UA changes for attaining *G status with a spend requirement for 2014 and see if that will factor into your AC vs UA consideration as well.

Thank you for these details. If I can get to TO by lunch and client is ok, then I may just go the UA route thru ORD (not ideal) instead of the mid afternoon arrivals with AC. If I fly on Sunday (not ideal) then I will just pick the best UA and make this work.

Just tough starting all over with a new carrier I guess I also could open up the UA card once I get past the required spend on the SPG card.

Is there a status challenge you could do? I'm not up on those.

Yes they will match once every five years. I am gold on AA and when I called they said you already had a match to silver and I wondered why I did indeed get a silver card in the mail. Well I must have signed up via a Marriott promotion. So sort of a bummer that I did that and the rep would not budge on the move up to gold.

So I did get a little bit of a bump, but gold right out of the gate would have been nice.

You should be able to fly on the direct AC flights but book as United since there's a codeshare agreement (assuming the pricing is in line).