AA or WN within CA?
 

I'm mainly an AA flyer, but I primarily fly WN within California. I take somewhat frequent trips from SFO to LAX and occasionally to other cities. In a given year, I comfortably make Platinum but rarely get close to EXP. I am debating whether or not it would be worthwhile to move my SFO-LAX flights from WN to AA.

I have had somewhat sketchy on-time performance from both airlines when flying out of SoCal but on the whole WN has been worse. Lately, almost every single one of my WN flights has been delayed and I am fed up.

Pros for AA:
T2 at SFO is much nicer.
Admiral's club access.
Additional miles into my main program, comparable or better than those from a WGA fare on WN.
I actually get a seat assignment and get to board early regardless of fare paid.

Pros for WN:
More flights.
For some reason I can often get away with buying a BS fare. I can always buy up to BS when I feel like getting on an earlier flight. I can't get away with buying AA fares that book into first, however, even if the price is the same.

Thoughts?

AA or WN within CA?
 

Is Alaska an option for you? That would enable you to acquire AA miles, wouldn't it?

I just checked their website and they don't appear to have any flights to Los Angeles from SFO or OAK.

Going to T1 instead of T4 actually saves you a significant amount of time at LAX. May favor WN in that case.

That's my math - if you are originating in LAX and expense the parking expense, the parking lot right next to T1 (Park One/operated by Park n Fly) is a 5-minute walk to the terminal and gets my vote. I don't love Southwest, but I do love the convenient parking situation there.

Anything under 90 minutes of travel time I generally fly WN if there is a nonstop on the route.

I'm a frequent LAX-SFO flyer and chose WN for the co-terminal access during delays. I've been on delayed SFO flights due to flow control more times than I can count. On WN, if the delay is over 30 minutes, I can waitlist onto the LAX-OAK flights for free. I've been successful on getting the next OAK flight about 2/3 of the time. Yeah, it sucks to take Air-BART to get to BART, but better late than even later I suppose and BART travel times are comparable.

Well, I also chose WN because of the lack of cancellation fees and that RR2.0 is decent for my travel patterns.

I guess terminals are not much of a consideration, other than I try to minimize my time there.

I have to admit, I have not taken AA on this route, just DL and UA. I've used UA twice this year on the 6a from SFO-LAX and both were complete fiascos. I have been delayed no more than 20 min on SFO-LAX 6a flight.

Anyways, my $0.02. Hope it helps :)

OP seems to be based in SFO and flying to LAX, rather than vice versa. Since no rental companies or public transit is within walking distance of T1, I don't thinki this difference is as big for those arriving in LAX (for them, on arrival, T1 is the furthest from the exit) as those of us who are local to LAX and either park at PNF's Park One (where T1 is about a 3 or 4 minute walk away from self-parking spaces to the right as you enter from Century) or take the Culver City bus that stops outside of Park One on Sepulveda (where it may be a minute or two longer, but the point is you walk to and from T1 in both directions).

(If I don't park at Park One, I feel the advantage of T1 over T4 evaporates in the long run, because I have to use a shuttle both ways anyhow.)

And, btw, if the OP has no status at WN, then security lines for most people are so much longer at T1 than the Priority Access lines (especially if you're signed up for PreCheck) at T4, that that more than offsets the shorter time in the shuttle on arrival. I still get past security faster, coming in on a shuttle, at T4 with the same status the OP has, than at T1 but with no status.

I am signed up for pre-check, and I never rent a car in LA, so I always cab to LAX. I have no status on WN and my current activity level on WN isn't enough to get it.

I live in the middle of San Francisco not particularly near a BART station and I hate hate hate flying out of OAK. I am lucky enough to be able to expense a car service to either SFO or OAK, but I try to keep in mind that the ride to OAK is about the same price as a one-way flight to LAX. Plus it takes much longer. I have switched from LAX-SFO to LAX-OAK when delayed but the ride back to the city is long enough that it's often the same total amount of time as just waiting out the delay.

To the OP: Can't really offer any other compelling reasons to change and would say based on your comments it sounds like there's little incentive to fly WN, except on BS fare where you get elite security and can change flights.

I have one correction to this statement for anyone reading this thread and using public transit. There are a few buses that stop at Sepulveda and Century, within a 5 minute walk of T-1. I just caught the Torrance Transit 8 this morning. The Metro 232 and a Commuter Express Bus also stops there as well. Probably not helpful unless you need mass transit and are coming from the South Bay (all 1% or so), but thought I would throw that in there.

apologies, Alpha. I must have been flying in and out of OC. I thought I had flown AS to LAX-SFO at some point, but I must have been mistaken. again, apologies.

If you have AMEX Plat, you should be able to use the US Club in T1 when flying WN ex-LAX

Will flying AA get you to EXP (presumably on segments not miles)? If not, I'd just choose whichever had the most convenient schedules and reasonable prices.