The "American or United" thread
 

Quick question:

I have a few miles on my United and the same on an AA account, and no status, but hopefully I'll be able to fly more in the near future. I want to stick to one airline, and I'd like to consider the differences between those two. So my question is, is there an "AA or UA" thread or a page to compare these two airlines, for example fees, mileage programs, entertainment, meals, etc.
A comparison chart of these two airlines is available?. I did a search, couldn't find the American or United thread. My routes are EZE-YVR, YVR-LAX or YVR-JFK, and probably and I wish one roundtrip LAX (or YVR) - MEL.

Many thanks in advance.

The best point is to check the stickies in each forum.

It seems like either carrier would work fine for your travels, so it will come to personal preference. United flies LAX to SYD but AA codeshares with Quantas. United is also larger on the west coast, but AA is larger in Argentina. Both airlines have clubs in EZE.

Good luck with your decision.

No "U" in Qantas. ;)

There is a long running thread on the UA forum comparing top tier elite status on both carriers, but unless you're aiming high that might not be what you're after. I can't recall any threads comparing perks at entry level. The previous suggestion to review the wikis is great.

JSD's comprehensive guide to AA for UA 1Ks

AA Wiki

Seating and interior: http://www.seatguru.com

Flight selection and availability for your likely routes: airline web sites, flight search sites (hmmm, lots of YVR, would Air Canada be another choice to look at? though United is a Star Alliance partner with Air Canada)

Note: if you go with United or Air Canada as your primary program, you may want to use Alaska as a secondary program to mop up points from many One World and Sky Team airlines, including American, Delta / Northwest, and Qantas.

There is a "u" in QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services).

If it's an acronym, Qantas should be pronounced like a vulgar term for a part of the female anatomy (or an inability), plus a certain conjunction (or species of mammal, or another nearby part of the human anatomy). If it's an initialism it is pronounced "Q, A, N, T, A, S", much like AA is pronounced "A A", not "Ah".

Try putting qant into a text to speech engine (Qantas has been specially coded for to avoid the vulgarity).

As this thread is focused on FFP/mileage comparisons, we are going to move it to the MilesBuzz forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz moderator

Normally I'd start by recommending that you consider which route structure fits your travel patterns best, but as previously posted that seems to be about a wash.

Two factors you might want to consider, one in favor of each and both depending on what you think the future holds:

1. If you expect to fly on economy fares, elite status with UA will get you E+ seating with enough additional leg room to notice. Non-elites have to pay for that: on a per-flight basis, or $349 per year for themselves and a companion.

2. If you expect your travel to fluctuate a great deal, AA has a "soft landing" approach where your status drops at most one level per year. That can carry you over low spots without returning to a dreaded status-less existence. UA will drop you from super-top-tier to nothing if you don't fly.

This should be the deciding factor if you fly coach. E+ is a huge improvement from regular domestic on either AA or UA. Frankly, as a somewhat large person, I will NOT fly coach on UA or AA. Or CO. It is simply too cramped.

:pThank you for all your comments and links. Well, now that I think about it, my preferences are:

1) Window seat.
2) IFE (I travel with a laptop but I don’t want to use it during the flight and my last UA experience was somewhat disappointing, I had a window seat but no flight entertainment, no video working during my last IAD-EZE flight, I was not sleepy, so video and entertainment was more important than legroom. I wonder if AA’s IFE is as bad as UA’s (on international segments).

3) Meals (AC is much better at IFE and meals, but it becomes really expensive if you try to book a ticket thru them to other destinations).

And important but not fundamental, is legroom (btw, I’m a woman, tall but E is not an issue, of course I’d love more legroom).

Alaska as a secondary program sounds good too.

@:-)I really want miles for award tickets in the future, so that’s why I’m between AA and UA.

Does UA have power in the seats? I know AA does, even in coach. That's a biggie for me.

not in coach.