sorka

I have re-qualified for Diamond for FY15. However, I essentially fly cross-country flights on cheap fare tickets (SFO-ATL-CLT-ATL-SFO for ~$650) and will go from accruing ~12,000 miles/week to 7,000 miles/week. So far I was willing to fly 1-stop flights although AA/US offered direct flights. With the new FY15 rules regarding miles accrual, I am seriously re-considering whether I should stick with Delta starting next year.

Don't get me wrong, I love Delta's products and service. But earning less miles than what I used to is a deal-breaker to me. So here is an genuine question: considering my flying patterns and that my main FF criteria are mileage accrual, award redemption and domestic upgrades, do you think AA/US is a better program than DL for FY15 onward?

PHXflier

For FY15, yes; for FY15 onward: who knows... it is likely that AA will change the rules once they get the merger with US under control.

xliioper

EXP bonus is 100% vs current 125% for DL Diamond. So mileage earned on the AA non-stop would be about 9200 miles roundtrip. EXP's seem to do pretty well on upgrades and AA miles tend to be easier to redeem, so AA would seem to be a natural given your flying pattern and priorities.

Esltroy

I am in a similar situation. I just earned diamond on delta. I am willing to chance it this upcoming year to see how it works out. 2015 I will see how I did and then see about switching my loyalty. By then I figure that aa/UA will have figured it out.

howtofreetravel

As it is now it's way better and also no MQD's at least for another year. So far they haven't changed their award chart so you can get first class for 62.5k miles. AA actually allows you to fly first class on Asian partners which is amazing trust me .
Switch to Us air now do the challenge get chairman and then when the programs merge you will have top status on AA so why not do it?

sorka

You have to pay to do the challenge, right?

Thank you

howtofreetravel

Yes you do buts it's still unique in the sense you can get top status

Mwenenzi

Look at the links in post 2 here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
Your question has been asked before including this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-sense-me.html

Sez_Who

No idea why you are even asking the question since you already answered it yourself. If earning less miles is a deal breaker, then the answer is a duh.


Guess you better hope so but IMO AA will begin to pretty much look like your deal breaker beginning in 2016.

cleverremark

I am both AA Plat and DL Diamond and have found AA to be far superior in terms of value for miles, upgrades, and award availability. FLying out of SEA as my home base means all DL non stop xcountry flights are not upgrade eligible. Redemption for award travel is ridiculously expensive based on mile value. I am putting all my eggs in the AA bucket this year and headed for AA ExecPlat rather than DL.

TWA Fan 1

Since about July 2014, though, DL Plats and Diamonds have been receiving the so-called "ghost" upgrades transcon ex-SEA.

I have qualified for a few upgrades JFK-SEA and back myself.

pbarnette

I am not an AA FF, but I will say that I find Avios redemptions (which should equal AA low level availability) to be at least as bad as DL availability. I haven't found any valuable awards with Avios in 12-16 months.

In flight, AA is fine, but not at DL levels. The cabins are nice, but PDBs are as rare as hen's teeth. For short-haul, and on-balance, AA<DL.

I would choose whichever carrier offers the better schedule.

xliioper

That's being somewhat overly-dramatic as it was only the SEA-JFK flight and, as noted above, they have basically reversed the decision for Plats and Diamonds. The non-stops from SEA to other DL hubs, such as ATL, MSP, DTW, were never affected.

Indelaware

IMO, of the majors, I'd rank their programs (from best to worst)as:

2014:

1. UA - largest partner network, one way awards & stopovers
2. AA
3. US - no one-way awards or stopovers
4. DL - revenue based; poor award availability

2015:
1. US/AA FF
2. UA - revenue based
3. DL - revenue based; very poor award availability

pbarnette

It should be noted that UA, for domestic or any own-metal international, stinks. UA is a broken airline. Their product is awful and should be taken only as a last choice.If you can accumulate UA miles flying exclusively on SQ and LH (in F only, LH J stinks), then cool, but UA stinks and time spent on UA rapidly erodes any value from their miles.