Renegade27

I fly about 100k miles /yr. Upgrades, preferred seating and premium services are important to me.

I am 1k Star Alliance with a good mix of international and domestic flights. I'm happy with United for international but I often need to use either US Air or Delta to travel from the northeast to east coast or midwest where United flights are less convenient. Now that US has left star alliance I'm flying 'back of the bus - boarding zone 15' far too often.

I'm thinking about splitting my loyalties to stretch to at least one 50k and one 25k (possibly 2x50k statuses) .

1) If I'm going to dilute my star alliance status am i better off with Delta or US/American?

2) I'd love to see a 'heat map' with red, for example, indicating a lot of flight-seats into an area with other shades indicating fewer. Something other than a route map showing lines everywhere with virtually all airlines to all places - almost filled with lines. I have common destinations such as Detroit or Philadelphia or Cleveland or Atlanta that i frequently travel to.

3) Does One World or Sky Team have the least overlap with Star Alliance on US (domestic) flights?

Figuring out the best FF program to earn status on for my common domestic routes isn't so easy! . Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

MSPeconomist

For DL, DTW and ATL are major hubs, which CVG is still a focus city. PHL is currently a hub for US. Where are you based?

DL seems to have its act together on operations (few delays/cancellations and most employees are nice to passengers), but people criticize its FF program for lack of award/upgrade availability. DL has also announced some major changes, including spend requirements for elite status.

US/AA are just starting their merger. It remains to see how operations will be affected, although employees seem to be unhappy. It also remains to be seen how joint FF program will develop and, in particular, if/when they will follow DL and UA.

Renegade27

I'm out of Manchester, NH - - and like to do Domestic flights from my home airport. Most international trips are out of Boston.

My domestic travels are really all over the place -- maybe used those examples because I seem to go through there a lot.

Looking at my question, I guess I'm really asking who has the least overlap with United/ Star Alliance on US/domestic flights?

MSPeconomist

My impression is that AA and UA have more overlap than either does with DL because they share some hubs: ORD and LAX, plus have AA and UA have DFW and IAH respectively which are close to each other (and both have lots of flights to "smaller" airports in Texas, which DL doesn't have so much). However, you might want to make an extensive list of likely routes for you and compare the choices of connections and timings.

You're going to be connecting on almost all trips, unless your destination is a hub served from Manchester. Part of your choice should be which hubs have the best (mainline) service from your home airport and which offer the easiest and most efficient connections without many delays, cancellations, and missed flights.

From BOS, at least US/AA and DL (I'm not sure about UA currently with US no longer being a partner, but perhaps LH serves BOS from its German hubs at FRA and possible MUC) have TATL nonstops to partner hubs with good onward connections, although most FFers have strong preferences about where they want to connect.

Mwenenzi

Renegade27 Welcome to FT

Have a look here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

Alaska is a good ffp has both AA & DL as partners
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx

crazyMRer

I live 15 minutes from MHT and would consider service and upgrade potential to/from MHT to be a primary deciding factor.

Delta gives you upfront options:
MD-80 to/from ATL twice per day - good upgrade, nice plane to fly upfront
CRJ 700 to/from DTW twice per day - not great but better product than AA regional upfront
CRJ 700 to/from LGA once per day - not great but better product than AA regional upfront

New AA gives you:
ERJ175 to/from PHL four times a day - I don't prefer the PM US regional F class
ERJ175 to/from CLT twice per day - I don't prefer the PM US regional F class

I would choose Delta and fly via ATL whenever practical to fly mainline instead of not so great regional jets.

Renegade27

Fantastic info, crazyMRer (and hello, neighbor!). I hadn't considered/ thought the outbound flights/day would be a good way to select.

How is LGA as a hub? I haven't flown there much at all and think this would be an important aspect.

"New" AA also flies into DCA 3x/ day... although I always seem to get stuck going through PHL which is a terrible airport IMHO.

So going to their sites, I see AA/US has 9 flights/day from MHT (Charlotte, DC and Phila), Delta has 10 flights (Atlanta, LGA and DTW).

I think I'll head off and try Delta for a while... Thanks.

howtofreetravel

I am going to bet on the horse known as us-aa . Especially because of the challenge and me going down to silver on delta.

MSPeconomist

DL uses two terminals at LGA: D, where they did a lot of improvements a couple years ago and the half of C closest to D, which was US space until recently. The retail stores and F&B outlets generally look fresh and appealing for airport facilities. The lounges are similarly new and not as crowded as they were. IIRC C and D are connected airside, so you don't need to go through TSA security again unless you decide to walk land side to terminal B (about ten minutes but there's some construction so the path takes a bit of a detour through the edge of a parking lot) to visit the new AmEx Centurion lounge, which is wonderful.

Without any hesitation, I'd take DL at LGA over US at PHL for connections.

monitor

Incorrect information.

At LGA, DL uses three terminals. The third is the old Marine Terminal (now called Terminal A) where flights to Chicago and (apparently important for this OP) DCA flights operate. The change from C or D to A is a slow, brutal bus ride which can take much too long and IMO is something clearly to be avoided.

In addition, I consider any itinerary with a connection at LGA to be complete madness. The delays and IROPs are so prevalent that there are too many days when the arrivals and departure boards looks like some sort of stupid mish-mash. Yes, I use it for O&D but I know to make allowances for LGA since its sheer convenience to the City (15-20 minute cab ride to my apt) makes up for the other nonsense.

crazyMRer

Yes, I forgot to include the US DCA route - flew it recently too (DC trip). Whatever airline(s) you choose as your primary, if another airline flies where you need to go nonstop and yours doesn't, take the non-stop - IMO.

For me its not so much a question of the number of flights as it is the number of flights with comfortable seats my upgrade will likely clear into. The first class experience I would expect on a Delta MD80 is so much better than the planes US currently flies to/from MHT. If new AA were to add mainline flying to/fom MHT, that would change the equation but for now its mostly or all regional jets depending when you look.

I wouldn't consider LGA a preferred connection hub for Delta. Only a good option if you need to go to NYC, IMO. Too many delays and LGA doesn't have much service compared with ATL. With the full size plane MHT to ATL, I would route all the flights in that general direction via ATL and DTW when ATL doesn't make sense.

MSPeconomist

Sorry, I missed that OP would be using shuttle flights, which IIRC aren't normally offered as connections. Also, I've heard that DL flights will be moving out of MAT, which certainly is a long and infrequent bus ride away from the rest of LGA.

However, I stand my my opinion that US connections at PHL are to be avoided for both the airline and the airport.