Advice on programs out of SFO
 

Hey all,

I'll be 10K short of Chairman's on US after my holiday travel and I'm evaluating my options for next year. I quit my job a few months ago to do a startup, and I will no longer be enjoying work-sponsored travel (living in PHX). Next year, I will not be traveling as frequently (50K tops), and most of my trips will be to NYC. Since US does not fly direct, I'm thinking about changing programs. However, buying up to Chairman's to get the envoy certificates is appealing because I will probably make a trip to Europe in the Spring.

Hoping to tap in to the wisdom of these forums, any advice would be appreciate.

Thanks!

UA has the most nonstops from SFO-NYC (particularly if you throw in CO flights to EWR) but AA, DL, B6 and VS also have decent schedules on this route. So any of them are viable - it just depends on your needs.

If you are flying on your own dime or need to keep costs low, I would not recommend UA as you will usually find cheaper fares on the others.

The 50k benefits are roughly equivalent on UA, AA and DL, which include 100% RDM bonus, priority checkin and security lines, partner lounge access when flying internationally, free checked baggage allowance and priority for upgrades.

If you are looking to upgrade you probably need to collect and compare data from UA AA and DL flyers on these routes. UA/CO offer unlimited domestic upgrades but they may be tough to get given the number of high level elites at SFO. However UA also offers E+ seating which is a nice perk on transcons (though I rarely had difficulty booking exit rows as an AA elite).

If you are looking to use miles I find AA generally the easiest to redeem, with UA not far behind. DL has a well deserved reputation as the worst. B6 and VS are generally acknowledged to be less rewarding particularly if you are seeking the holy grail of international business class saver award tickets.

As a SFO-based flyer, I second that, except that I think UA's E plus for the long transcon is worth the sometimes higher fare that they charge.

Fly on UA (CO) / US and credit the miles from all of them to US is probably a good general rule for 2011 in your situation.

US has a good hard product in J across the pond, and if you can avoid PHL by redeemin via CLT, that might be a good Europe route.

If you're with US, I doubt UA/CO will status match. From whats left, Your choice is between DL and AA. Out of the two I'd recommend status matching on AA.

CO matched my US (then gold)

Really? I emailed CO in August and got the following response:


Thank you for contacting the OnePass Service Center.

OnePass offers a promotion that matches the elite status of some airline frequent flyer programs with an equivalent level in the OnePass Elite program. We are unable to process your request because we do not match Star Alliance partner airlines.

yup, really, started the emails with them in july, they asked for Dividend statement and sent me congratulatory email with Gold card.

Maybe the thing to do (if not everybody is as successful as you) is to match with a non-star alliance carrier first and then use that status to match back in to United or Continental?