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Help my mother pick an airline to be loyal to -- AA or UA?
My parents are in their 70s and fly often between SFO-NYC-MXP or combinations therein. They are constantly flying Norwegian or Air Italy and then complaining about how horrible it is. Because they do 2 round trips to Italy each year, and between 2-6 SFO-NYC flights, I think they should pick an airline or alliance and try and stick to it and get status. They usually fly economy but after their last flight are now thinking of starting to fly Premium Economy or Business, and they are also willing to use LHR as a hub and take cheapie flight to Milan.
Based on the above, is there any benefit to choosing UA over AA? The only one I can think is that UA waives the spend requirement for those with an overseas address (they have both). Any other differences we should factor in? I know questions like this are boring, but your expertise would be appreciated. |
Originally Posted by giblet
(Post 31299999)
My parents are in their 70s and fly very often between SFO-NYC-MXP or combinations therein. They are constantly flying Norwegian or Air Italy and then complaining about how horrible it is. Because they do 2 round trips to Italy each year, and between 2-6 SFO-NYC flights, I think they should pick an airline or alliance and try and stick to it and get status. They usually fly economy but after their last flight are now thinking of starting to fly Premium Economy or Business, and they are also willing to use LHR as a hub and take cheapie flight to Milan.
Based on the above, is there any benefit to choosing UA over AA? The only one I can think is that UA waives the spend requirement for those with an overseas address (they have both). Any other differences we should factor in? I know questions like this are boring, but your expertise would be appreciated. |
Which carrier would you recommend crediting AA flights to?
I'm a UA silver and even at this level I find getting free baggage, seat selections and upgrades to E+ a pretty sweet benefit. I think they're hoping for that sort of thing. And I think if they focus and stop flying all of the flotsam and jetsam airlines out there, they should be able to get gold status somewhere, which presumably could result in some upgrades. I have no idea, I'm a low tier flyer :D |
Why not consider Delta? While Sky Miles are even worse than AA and UA miles, all of them are on the same unfortunate downward trajectory. I like DL these days because it is more civilized than AA and UA.
For SFO-MXP, I noticed that Air Italy has nonstop flights and cheap fares, but a very small fleet. They are part of Avios, though maybe not OW. I used to be BA gold, and I liked it on the whole. However, I didn't fly AA so often at the time, so I can't comment on how useful it would be for SFO-JFK. |
With that amount of travel, they're not going to get any meaningful status anywhere, so I'd focus on best prices and possibly buying business class fares.
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
(Post 31300234)
With that amount of travel, they're not going to get any meaningful status anywhere, so I'd focus on best prices and possibly buying business class fares.
A few flights will not get much in revenue based ffp's or even distance based ffp's. Often said on FT need ~25 flights or more per year to get low level status. [OW has 3 levels of status] SFO-middle east-Italy is another route (EY QR EK) Many UA vs AA comparisons in post 2 General FFP:- Which Frequent Flyer Program to Join? Help Is Here! https://www.wheretocredit.com/air-italy. Air Italy can earn miles on: Air Italy, British Airways, Iberia (subject to fare booking class and ffp t&c's) Be mindful of expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki. |
I'd also strongly suggest that DL be considered. While SFO is UA/AA territory (plus AS of course), DL has good operations and has SFO-JFK nonstops on aircraft with a D1 cabin and flat beds. AZ is a SkyTeam partner, as are AF/KLM. I would pick AMS or CDG over LHR for connections, especially if one is using a LCC with separate tickets. One big advantage of DL for somewhat less frequent travelers is that redeemable miles don't expire (and there's not even an activity requirement). DL also lets you earn a lot of elite qualifying miles through credit card spend (DL affiliated AmEx cards, some of which give other benefits such as free bags, relatively early boarding, and lounge access). |
Originally Posted by moondog
(Post 31300228)
Why not consider Delta? While Sky Miles are even worse than AA and UA miles, all of them are on the same unfortunate downward trajectory. I like DL these days because it is more civilized than AA and UA.
For SFO-MXP, I noticed that Air Italy has nonstop flights and cheap fares, but a very small fleet. They are part of Avios, though maybe not OW. I used to be BA gold, and I liked it on the whole. However, I didn't fly AA so often at the time, so I can't comment on how useful it would be for SFO-JFK. My parents flew Air Italy a few are thinking of dropping the second half of their round-trip ticket because they found it so uncomfortable. It was a 330-200 and looking at the seat map I'm not sure why they hated it so much, but they did. |
Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
(Post 31300274)
Agreed. If they are flying Norwegian or Air Italy they are selecting flights on price, price & price. Will that really change?
As I said upthread, my UA silver benefits have been great! Preferred seat selection, baggage, and free upgrades to E+ means I always sit in better seats than I would have otherwise, and often way better. To me, that's a great benefit even at a low tier. |
Originally Posted by giblet
(Post 31300300)
...My parents flew Air Italy a few are thinking of dropping the second half of their round-trip ticket because they found it so uncomfortable. It was a 330-200 and looking at the seat map I'm not sure why they hated it so much, but they did.
Originally Posted by giblet
(Post 31300309)
I think so. My father has been selecting on price, price, price and my mother has had enough and is taking over the ticket purchases and she has a very different approach to spend, spend, spend.
As I said upthread, my UA silver benefits have been great! Preferred seat selection, baggage, and free upgrades to E+ means I always sit in better seats than I would have otherwise, and often way better. To me, that's a great benefit even at a low tier. |
Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
(Post 31300316)
Do they pay extra $ for an increased leg room seat, if available?
Yep. Spend the inheritance now for their own enjoyment/benefit (not that I could get my late parents to do that). |
Originally Posted by giblet
(Post 31300300)
Skymiles are nearly worthless, in my opinion, so I am biased towards UA or AA.
-bank as many AS miles as possible because they are still quite valuable -don't even attempt to redeem international premium awards with AA, DL, UA -I save them for short haul awards to/from airports that are usually expensive in terms of cash (e.g. Jac, Ack, Pwm) |
Originally Posted by giblet
(Post 31300113)
Which carrier would you recommend crediting AA flights to?
I'm a UA silver and even at this level I find getting free baggage, seat selections and upgrades to E+ a pretty sweet benefit. I think they're hoping for that sort of thing. And I think if they focus and stop flying all of the flotsam and jetsam airlines out there, they should be able to get gold status somewhere, which presumably could result in some upgrades. I have no idea, I'm a low tier flyer :D Of course, if they don't plan any other flying, they won't get much benefit from status. |
Originally Posted by LondonElite
(Post 31300234)
With that amount of travel, they're not going to get any meaningful status anywhere, so I'd focus on best prices and possibly buying business class fares.
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Elite status doesn't seem likely with those travel patterns, nor does it really do a whole lot to improve the onboard experience. The value of miles potentially earned should be a higher priority than status.
If there are genuinely 2 trips to Italy every year, then perhaps the best bet is to look at flipping things around to get cheaper fares. i.e. premium fares departing Europe are usually cheaper than those departing the US. You can easily find MXP-SFO fares in PE for $1000. And there are also ways to get really cheap J fares on TAP. So instead of booking return trips ex-USA, you book a one-way using miles or something and then just book ex-Italy fares that return your parents home and take them back to Italy for the next visit. |
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