jtchan83

hi everyone:

i've been an AAdvantage Executive platinum member for the last three years, based out of the SF Bay Area. My main airport has been San Jose, and I've done lots of domestic travel, connecting through DFW or ORD. I've recently started to increase international travel, and have really enjoyed flying on AA's One World Airlines, most which leave out of SFO.

The problem I have is that American is slowly cutting down its flights from the Bay Area to other places. The real clincher was the cancellation of the SJC--> NRT flight, which was always full of silicon valley types. So now, to go anywhere international, I would have to fly an alliance partner from SFO (if i want to go direct), or I would need to connect via DFW or ORD.

Flying these alliance partners is not a problem, but the FF programs make it difficult to redeem miles if I want to go to Europe or Asia. Besides, the ability to upgrade using VIP awards doesn't apply on alliance partner flights, so the value of elite status is pfft.

Question: should i stick with AA and continue to enjoy my Executive Platinum Status, or should i tough it out for 9 months to earn 1K Status on United, even though I don't care much for their planes?

Thunderroad

Welcome to Flyertalk! If I understand your question correctly, you've decided to switch to UA and it's just a matter of when you'll do so, (so I won't ask you to explain your flying patterns, whether you usually fly Y or C, etc). UA will probably status match you to Premier Executive. If you've already made Exec. Plat. for the year on AA, then why not start flying UA sooner rather than later so as to reach 1K sooner rather than later?

Also, be aware that UA is running a promotion right now for MP members: pay an (admittedly expensive) fee of $500 and all of your UA metal flights from now through December...1? 15?...get you 2X EQMs. But this is only worthwhile for you if anticipate piling up 50,000 miles in flights on UA during the promo period, which a the 2X rate would get you to 1K. Otherwise, you might as well get comped the Premier Executive and then grind it out to 1K.

Not sure I understand the following from your OP: "Flying these alliance partners is not a problem, but the FF programs make it difficult to redeem miles if I want to go to Europe or Asia." As an EP on AA, don't you have pretty good access to One World mileage flights, as long as you plan a fair amount of time ahead?

Hope I've understood your question. Again, welcome to FT!

jtchan83

Thanks. Never thought that this would keep me up at night. BTW, did i post in the right place?

The problem is that I don't know if I should convert my elite status to UA or not. The MP folks did give me PE status already, but to get to 1K this year, I would need to fly the requisite 100,000 EQM in 2006. That ain't gonna happen.

I fly J internationally and C domestic, and usually get good upgrades. I fly a lot to HKG and PEK, and CX's programs doesn't allow for redemption of AA miles for CX flights (I think). I can't use my VIP upgrades, etc.

So that's why I'm wondering if I should switch to the dark side...the UA planes aren't great (i'm going to miss CX and the ease the OW), but if UA offers more flights out of my main airport...

Any advice appreciated!

Thunderroad

Either I'm missing something here (always a possibility!) or you are. You say your problem is that CX doesn't allow the redemption of AA miles for CX flights. I'm practically certain that you're wrong about this. This is from the CX website, with the relevant language bolded:

We participate in the frequent flyer programmes of all oneworld member airlines, as well as various other partner airlines, enabling you to earn or redeem miles/points on Cathay Pacific no matter which programme you choose to travel with:
oneworld frequent flyer programmes
Aer Lingus TAB (Travel Award Bonus)

American Airlines AAdvantage

British Airways Executive Club

Finnair Plus

Iberia Plus

LAN – LanPass

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Is it possible that you've been calling CX to redeem your AA miles for CX flights, when in fact you have to call AA to do this?

jtchan83

Hmmm.. maybe redeem isn't the right term, but upgrade using miles is? CX will only allow upgrades using their Asian miles, not AA miles?

Thunderroad

That's right. You can use (redeem) AA miles to obtain a ticket, but not to upgrade. Are you saying that you usually fly J internationally by upgrading via miles or VIPs? If so, then UA does make sense for your Asian travel. But how did you fly CX in the past, since you couldn't upgrade on it using AA miles?

jtchan83

When my company approved some of us to fly J, that's when I started to fly CX. In my Pre-J days, I would fly coach from HKG to NRT, and then use VIP to upgrade to J from NRT to SJC.

J in CX is so much nicer than J in UA. Is it better to go with the program that offers more direct flights and more chances to upgreade/redeem, even if the flight experience in UA is only so-so?

The thing that is really making me debate this is the lack of AA flights to anywhere internationally without doing a connection via LAX, ORD, or DFW. Is it worth it to stick with AAdvantage and connect via those airports? Or "screw the connections?"

Flying2Much

I made the same switch you are thinking about this year. Last year I was EXP with AA and a status match 1P with UA. This year I've done 250K+ miles on UA and still kept Plat with AA. I like AAdvantage more if you fly routes with a lot of AA metal, but I had to change due to my routes just not being AA friendly.

If you get to book J through the company, I'd seriously look at UA for two reasons:

1) As you said better upgrades.
2) Stronger partnerships.

As part of the Star Alliance you can upgrade many partner flights with United including Luftahnsa, ANA, and others. You get access to earn miles on SQ which has great C/J products.

That said, if the transfer in DFW or ORD doesn't bother you that much, then you can always try and ride it out. I am sure that you'll get more international destinations out of AA as they rebuild over time, you'll just have to suck it up for a few years.

tom911

That's really only something you can decide after you weigh the positives and negatives of each carriers (routes, upgrades, award travel, etc), and the alliances they're in. AA is fine for me as my paid international travel tends to be to Europe (I don't mind the connections at LAX or DFW as they generate more miles), and I use miles for Asia and Australia (have an upcoming One World award SFO-HKG-MEL-SYD-SFO, and have done two other awards on Qantas this year to Australia and NZ).

Looks like you're getting good answers to your questions. One I would toss out is lounge access. Will you miss the BA Terraces lounge at SFO, or the Cathay lounges at HKG, if you move to UA?

tom911

I'm not sure that's going to happen, particularly with JAL joining OneWorld in the spring, and lack of aircraft for any expansion. Until AA starts buying aircraft, the only spares out there are the ones coming off the SJC-NRT route, and if AA wins the China route from DFW they'll likely be committed there.

norse_aztec

I have a similar dilemma, and posted a similar question on the AAdvantage board. As you might suspect, there wasn't any encouragement to move to the *A there, but there were some helpful comments. See here.

There are no alliance partners flying from SJC. From SFO there are BA and CX, and soon JAL. But you can't earn AA miles on the BA flight, so you have to make a US connection on AA to get to Europe (except a seasonal SFO-YVR-LHR routing on QF/BA). *A, with their UA and LH flights, have more options.

Going to Asia, CX's routing is reasonable for many destinations. Once JAL joins OW, the routing on OW from SFO to Asia will be pretty good. *A will still be better, with UA, SQ, NH and Asiana flights, but OW will be reasonable.

There is nothing to indicate that the number of nonstop OW destinations from SFO or SJC will increase. All we can hope for is that eventually we will be able to get miles on BA flights to LHR from the U.S.

It's not a clear-cut decision, it depends on what's important to you individually. I've decided to stick with AA for now, toughing it out on the trips to Europe and sometimes taking longer routing, while building up the miles and enjoying the Cathay service when flying in Asia. But if I wasn't traveling in J, I suspect I would switch to *A.

rfrost

I'm likely to make the opposite move, from UA to AA, because of UA's dropping the JFK-LHR route; I just don't think it makes sense to connect en route to LHR from New York, let alone to connect on that dreadful service to IAD or backtrack through Chicago. But then, most of my London travel is for a relatively short (3- or 4-day) trip, where the extra 4 hours each way makes a significant difference; if I were going to Asia, it would be less of an issue, and I certainly put up with a lot of connecting domestic flights in order to stay with UA when there were nonstop options on other airlines. I think only you can decide which is more important to you.

Cap'n Adventure

I'm just asking because I'm curious. AA flies a lot of MD-80's, and I don't think I've ever head of anyone expressing much love for these aircraft (aka Murder-80's, flying coffins, etc). Do you like the MD-80's, or is there something about UA's fleet you don't care for?

jtchan83

Maybe i'm a novice, but the 737s that i've flown on UA feel really cramped. The MD 80s aren't bad because 95% of the time, i get a F upgrade. In coach they have power ports on every other row, so i can still do work...even though there is economy plus on UA, it just feels really claustrophobic.

jtchan83

everyone is right. there is no easy decision. on some days, i think it's better to gut it out and fly AA metal, even thought i have to connect. (BTW, i think DFW is THE airport of choice for connections, while UA hubs of DEN and ORD are often subject to weather.)

On other days, just "getting there" is the topmost priority, even though UA international J service isn't great (and i wasn't impressend with SQ either **gasp**) and there are more flight options out there on UA from SFO.


couple more things:

1) should i be concerned about building elite status in a chapter 11 company? could my miles evaporate?
2) what's coupon connection. i have four eVIPs that probably will go unused this year...