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American AA vs. United UA [Consolidated]

American AA vs. United UA [Consolidated]

Old Sep 10, 2013, 5:31 am
  #151  
 
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Originally Posted by Deltamaybe
Thanks Pbarnette. Any thoughts on general availability of upgrades on AA? I used to travel AA with my boss who was exec platinum. He was usually upgraded, but I was always amazed at how many other exec platinums there were and felt that status below that didn't get you anywhere. Just a perception? Or same as everywhere?

Any thoughts on the pending merger with US Air and how that might affect the rewards program for the next couple of years?
Personally wouldn't use someone else's experience even a couple years ago as a guide to today. Very different FF world out there right now.

Some of this might be better asked in the AA forum -- certainly about UG's -- but not surprising, top tiers have more UG success and for others, more dependent on the usual... airport, day of week, time of day, route, etc.

The AA/US merger is a mess at the moment so no one can offer any reliable info about what the merged FF program will look like, much less if it will even happen at all.
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Old Sep 10, 2013, 6:56 am
  #152  
 
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Originally Posted by Deltamaybe
I will end up this year without about 90K MQM on Delta. My company has re-prioritized its favored airlines with Delta falling to the bottom, unless it is cheaper, which is rarer and rarer. I fly from the NYC area, but prefer not to fly from EWR. My main trips are to SFO (monthly), BNA, MEM, MCI, ORD, MSP. I need to choose a new airline to focus my effort and money on. I should be able to get a status match. What do people recommend? I realize this is odd on a Delta thread, but I like the Delta FF program so I figure those who also like might have a more objective view of UA or AA programs.
I too am stuck in this unfortunate set of circumstances. We too lost our contracted fares with DL which is bizarre given that our AA prices didn't go down one red cent - guess there is some bigger kickback on the back end.

EWR is not really a viable choice for me given that I live in Westchester so I have had to make the switch back to AA. Frankly it isn't great, but such is life. AA has so far treated me well, but there are significantly less routes where they fly directly and the $30 x 500 miles to upgrade is VERY annoying
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Old Sep 10, 2013, 7:00 am
  #153  
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I am moving this discussion over to MilesBuzz which is the more appropriate home for a discussion like this.

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Old Sep 10, 2013, 7:02 am
  #154  
 
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I don't fly AA, so I can't comment, but I can say that UA is awful. Every trip I've taken this year has had at least one segment with a substantial delay, including one flight from IST-EWR which was 4 hours late departing and then decided that since one toilet wasn't working, we'd overnight at Heathrow. Since you don't want to fly out of EWR, this isn't an issue, but flights in and out of EWR are almost always late. I'm still flying them because I'm close to 1MM and as soon as I get it, I'm switching to AA to see what that's like.
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Old Sep 10, 2013, 8:55 am
  #155  
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Originally Posted by Deltamaybe
Thanks Pbarnette. Any thoughts on general availability of upgrades on AA?
No clue. I don't have AA status, just BA status. I've just found myself on some domestic AA flights a fair bit this year, mostly in F, but some in Y. Overall, I've been pleased.

Originally Posted by Deltamaybe
Any thoughts on the pending merger with US Air and how that might affect the rewards program for the next couple of years?
Well, the merger may not go through, so a bit tough to speculate. But, personally, I feel that all the programs will head in the same direction of decreased availability of reward flights and increased mileage costs for many redemptions.

Robust reward availability is a symptom of a lack of capacity discipline at an airline, so as long as the airlines are all drinking the same Kool-Aid on that front, I see them all moving in the same direction with regards to reward availability. Maybe if AA goes through with their pie-in-the-sky plan to increase capacity by 20% without a merger then they might have some near-term reward advantage, but my guess is that they won't hit those targets or the increases will be focused on areas of significant unmet demand, such that the impact to reward redemptions would be mooted.
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Old Sep 10, 2013, 10:53 am
  #156  
 
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I'm 1K on UA and EXP on AA. To me, their domestic products are similar -- UA is slightly nicer right now but AA should surpass them in 2014/2015. Upgrade percentage (I'm out of ORD) are also pretty close.

If you're in Manhattan or BK, I would strongly prefer LGA/JFK if I were you, which is heavy AA territory.

As far as applicability of miles, others are right in that Star miles are better for flexible use, but also consider that UA is moving to PQM next year, so you may have issues qualifying if you're a budget traveler.

Ultimately it's up to you though. They should be pretty close. Don't stress about it too much.
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Old Sep 10, 2013, 11:22 am
  #157  
 
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Originally Posted by mosquito
If you're in Manhattan or BK, I would strongly prefer LGA/JFK if I were you, which is heavy AA territory.

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If the OP is in this area then I strongly agree that using AA will be much easier and faster with more flights (Delta also for this area).
UA is mainly out of EWR and as OP prefers not to fly out of there then by default AA is the clear winner.
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 7:08 pm
  #158  
 
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Originally Posted by mosquito
I'm 1K on UA and EXP on AA. To me, their domestic products are similar -- UA is slightly nicer right now but AA should surpass them in 2014/2015. Upgrade percentage (I'm out of ORD) are also pretty close.

If you're in Manhattan or BK, I would strongly prefer LGA/JFK if I were you, which is heavy AA territory.

As far as applicability of miles, others are right in that Star miles are better for flexible use, but also consider that UA is moving to PQM next year, so you may have issues qualifying if you're a budget traveler.

Ultimately it's up to you though. They should be pretty close. Don't stress about it too much.
Upgrade rates vary a lot based on what kind of traveler you are. UA prioritizes high fare customers, whereas AA prioritizes connecting customers and those that book in advance. (So for me my AA upgrade rate is 100% whereas my UA % is closer to 70.)

Although I'm curious what makes you prefer UA domestically. I'm consistently getting better service with AA, there's wifi, and food is much better.
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 7:15 pm
  #159  
 
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AA EXP upgrade policy is much better than United especially on the international upgrades

8 vs 6 for status

AA can be used on ANY fare..United not
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 7:18 pm
  #160  
 
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Originally Posted by mosquito

...If you're in Manhattan or BK, I would strongly prefer LGA/JFK if I were you, which is heavy AA territory...
EWR is actually closer to mid-town Manhattan than even LGA, although taxis can be problematic since it is in a different state. JFK is much more inconvenient to get to from Manhattan than either LGA or EWR and once there it is a nightmare to navigate. Rental cars, for example, require leaving the airline terminal area to go to one central location that often has long rental counter lines.
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 9:41 pm
  #161  
 
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Originally Posted by ajnaro
EWR is actually closer to mid-town Manhattan than even LGA, although taxis can be problematic since it is in a different state. JFK is much more inconvenient to get to from Manhattan than either LGA or EWR and once there it is a nightmare to navigate. Rental cars, for example, require leaving the airline terminal area to go to one central location that often has long rental counter lines.

depends if you are using taxi/car or public transportation. I never rent a car in NYC

jfk to manhattan via airtrain + lirr is pretty fast for midtown

plus if you are going downtown its easier from jfk to howard beach to canal (airtrain + subway) vs going to penn station and then going downtown
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Old Oct 16, 2013, 11:59 am
  #162  
 
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Advice: UAL vs AA (Challenge/Match)

I'm seriously considering a switch back to AA via challenge/match for Platinum status.

Home Base: ORD
UAL Status: Premier Gold
AA Status: Gold (For Life)

Was always an AA flyer until a few years ago. Switched to UAL for the automatic upgrades (when available of course).

Annually, fly about 50k miles on UAL and only 10k or so on AA.

I rarely get upgraded on UAL. At least with AA, I would often get upgraded when I used upgrades.

I have the AMEX Platinum card which typically provides access to lounge when fying AA.

I fly to Germany typically once a year via LH which is always an awesome experience to Frankfurt.

Need some sound advice. Thanks!
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Old Oct 16, 2013, 12:07 pm
  #163  
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if a leisure traveler, the spend requirement for UA status would be my biggest concern.
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Old Oct 20, 2013, 5:49 am
  #164  
 
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Originally Posted by benanna1970
I'm seriously considering a switch back to AA via challenge/match for Platinum status.

<snip>

I fly to Germany typically once a year via LH which is always an awesome experience to Frankfurt.

Need some sound advice. Thanks!
You can fly ORD-DFW-FRA on AA as well, good schedule and when the new planes get on the route, it should be as comfortable as LH (unless you're looking at F).
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