Mwenenzi

Say 3 years ago when AA was a full ff partner and DL & AF/KLM were ff partners AS would have been a very good choice for a ffp.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...rline-partners

Does depend on the OP's objectives from a ffp and the airline.
AS awards are low cost compared to others, but the award chart is very prescriptive/limited

QF fly JFK-LAX-SYD. But QF business class is far from the best on the USA Au routes.

Duke787

Good in theory but you'd have to trade D1 or Polaris for regular F on the transcons which seems less than ideal (though admittedly haven't flown AS F in a couple years).

I would do the math but if you'd bank enough for EXP there's an argument for AA on the basis of the F lounge access you'd get via OW Emerald.

Also agree worth doing the math to see if UA GS is feasible and if so it's likely worth sticking with UA and *A (believe as GS flying paid J you'd be well positioned to use your GPUs to go J ---> F on your FRA trips on LH which is an enticing option)

guv1976

+1.

The OP really needs to decide what he wants out of an FFP. If his business travel is going to be in paid J, I think it really comes down to:

1. where -- and in what class of service -- does he want to redeem his accumulated miles for when traveling for leisure; and

2. what elite benefits would be useful to him when traveling for leisure -- either on a miles-redemption ticket, or a cash ticket.

Yes, there might be the occasional J ==> F upgrade available on his paid business travel, but if he is in intercontinental J -- or even on trans-continental J on AA -- such an upgrade might be nice, but I'm not sure that I'd base my decision on that.

SJC ORD LDR

Correct. It's a 737-900 that leaves JFK in the morning for a morning arrival at SJC and it's a red-eye to JFK.

The Situation

My employer also pays for F. You don't want a job that pays for F. There is a reason that employers pay for F. Its not because they are being nice. Its because 1) its the only way they can retain the people that do the job and 2) there is so much pressure on execution and the stakes are so high, its not worth the risk to cheap out rather than spending a couple hundred extra $ on a TCON to ensure the employee can arrive rested and ready to function at full capacity.

As far as the AS options go and the DL JFK-SJC flight that some people have mentioned, I would avoid those. Equipment is terrible for a 7 hour flight and cost is generally in line with many of the premium TCON flights if you have a hour of flexibility on either side of the time block, so why not go the comfortable way? The premium flights also have the benefit of frequency - if there is IRROPs on AS, you are screwed. Going back to why my employer pays for F, risk mitigation in flights is important so you don't eff things up. From NYC, any of the alliances are fine, but from where I live, I only fly Delta because they have the most back up options in IRROPs. For me a connecting flight on Delta is safer than a once a day or once every 12 hour flight on AS.

sydneyracquelle

MikeFromTokyo

kiwicanuck

Just based on the transcons, as a diamond I regularly find myself in delta one without certificates, however the reverse cannot be said about my time as a 1K with certificates where I was often between 5-8 on the list for 1 seat.

plus jfk and sfo Skyclub are some of the best in the system.

Frankly I would also be treated like dirt by UA staff at one point an agent actually said “why am i even talking to you?” After they split my wife and I out of our reserved seats.

For me the choice is clear clean comfortable pleasant employees makes for a much better travel experience on DL

AceReport

Soft product wise I would agree, even as a 1K I think that my international J on Delta gets a more consistent higher level of service. That said I stay with UA / *A because of routing and schedule.

rucksack

This is a good point, but I'm not sure I entirely agree.

For one, with $50k of travel per year, you could earn an extra 100k-300k in redeemable miles by having the top tier status instead of a lower tier on multiple airlines.

Furthermore, having good elite status is very valuable when traveling for leisure, especially when traveling with friends or family. Having upgrade certificates alone can be worth thousands of dollars, not to mention other benefits like free upgrades and seat selection.

Finally, I think status matters more than class of service when it comes to handling of IRROPS. You'll be able to get a hold of an agent via phone much quicker and they are much more likely to protect you on an other airline. Of course, if you have both good status and are in a paid premium cabin, you'll receive the best service.

tennessetom

TheHorta

bgriff

I like Delta a lot but there's a fair chance that your travel plans may get you Global Services on UA, while on Delta 360 seems to be much rarer and harder to come by. It's not out of the question that you might reach 360, but GS seems a safer bet, and GS is probably better than just DL Diamond.

That said, if you have other travel -- like personal domestic trips -- IMO Delta is the better choice with a much better domestic product overall. Upgrades are probably also somewhat more likely since UA's domestic first cabins are small.

You'll earn a lot of miles with either airline with this travel pattern. Which airline's miles are more valuable depends on your perspective ... if you want to redeem for international business/first class, particularly to Asia, United is better for most uses. Delta miles are often more valuable for domestic coach travel and can sometimes be decent for business class to Europe, especially out of NYC.

One other thing to consider ... your listed business trips will all come with lounge access on either airline, but if you have significant other domestic travel and value lounge access for that, Delta offers somewhat better/easier options with the Amex Platinum card, which also comes with other benefits that may be of interest.

There are various other little nuances to the elite programs of either airline. For example, UA's 1K global upgrades can be gifted to others, while DL's Diamond upgrade can only be used by yourself or someone traveling with you. DL's Choice Benefits may have value you don't get from UA, like the ability to choose a Sky Club membership or gifting Gold status to someone else as a Diamond. And if your travel patterns might be more variable than what you described, DL's rollover MQMs may have value in letting you keep your status going even if you have a lighter travel year (as long as you can still earn the needed MQDs in your light year, which should be easy enough if you still have a few paid international business class trips).


JFK/LGA (DL) vs. EWR (UA) ... depends a lot where you choose to live in Manhattan. If you're on the west side, EWR can be very convenient. On the east side, JFK/LGA is much more convenient. Also depends where north to south ... in midtown (broadly defined ... like 14th to 60th St) getting crosstown is particularly tough these days, which makes the west side-EWR/east side-LGA-JFK links more valuable. Further north, and in some places further south, it's a bit easier to get crosstown so it matters somewhat less.

loratliff

Yep. Came here to say this. Completely disagree with the poster who said EWR and JFK are equally easy to get to. I prefer taking public transit to the airport, which is around 50 minutes and $7.75 from my home in downtown Brooklyn to JFK. EWR is close to double that. And let's not even get into the cost difference of an Uber—JFK at this very moment is $50.59, Newark is $90.45.

Duke787

As with all things NYC it depends where you live. My family lives on the UWS and it's the reverse much of the time. 60+ to JFK, 30 or so to EWR right now -- with EWR typically a little faster on the train through Penn Station vs. JFK. That said when I visit, I usually fly into JFK on personal travel because I prefer the bigger CR9 and E175s that DL uses into JFK vs. the CR7 they use into EWR unless the price difference is significant (which it sometimes is for weekend travel since RDU - EWR on DL is mostly O&D).

On work travel I pick whatever is most convenient to either our offices or the place I'm going for the meeting which is often LGA with an Uber I can expense out.

One benefit for DL that's not captured here is the fact that they have IMO stronger coverage across the 3 airports vs. UA (which has nothing at JFK and only really to hubs ex-LGA) and AA which has been drastically cutting back JFK in favor of PHL and seems to run smaller planes through LGA than DL / UA. That's a factor if OP has any domestic travel (personal or business) mixed in and finds LGA a convenient airport for non-international travel.