Why do you fly the airline you fly?
 

On another thread, the question was asked which airline had the better product in first to Hawaii, UA or CO. While it appears the majority of FTers fly UA, few had anything to say and those that did, didn't say anything favorable.

Personally, from reading the posts under the other airlines, it sure appears for the 70K miles I fly a year, I would get better service and more benefits, such as free upgrades and ability to upgrade internationally on any fare, if I flew a carrier other than UA.

Yet, I continue to primarily fly UA and probably always will simply because they pretty much have SFO, where I fly out of, locked up and because, with the abundance of flights they offer, I'm pretty much assured if there is a mechanical problem or I miss a flight that the next flight is probably only an hour or two later.

Anyway... to get to the point ... I'm wondering what caused you to select your carrier of choice to be your preferred airline (assuming you and not your company made the decision) and how big a part did the benefits offered in their FF program play or were they secondary to other factors?

I signed up with Northwest in 1989 when I got a job that required me to fly quite a bit between Seattle and Detroit and Seattle and New England. After leaving that company I worked primarily along the west coast between San Diego and Anchorage until late last year. Alaska Airlines was a natural choice due to route structure and the tie-in between the NW and AS programs. Many of my family and in-laws live in the Eastern US so I use NW to visit them as well.

About two years ago, I got very disgusted with NW and tried United. Very pleased. Lots of new planes, many choices for connecting cities and flights, more bonus opportunities to earn miles and generally a more helpful staff. Depending on my next work project, I am inclined to focus my business with United if I have a choice.

I got to try Delta last month on a transcontinental journey and ranked them as very average.

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[This message has been edited by MileageAddict (edited 01-20-2000).]

I started flying America West back in 1995. Since it was the main carrier serving Phoenix, it made sense. As my miles picked up, I flew some code-share flights with Continental, and really noticed the difference in service.

When America West FlightFund p...ed me off, I called Continental OnePass, and the immediately comped me to Elite Silver. Now, I go out of my way to fly Continental.

I have flown United and Delta in the past, and only have one complaint (other than the service.) That complaint is hubs. I have friends that fly United through Denver and Chicago, and, more times than not, they have problems. Usually, the problems are related to weather. My problem with Atlanta is that I just don't particularly care for the airport.

Flying Continental, I have never had problems through Houston or Cleveland. Newark is a different story, and I just do my best to avoid it.

Now for the downpoint... my company is going to MAKE me fly United or Delta because they have a special fare deal set up through them. On the upside, I am grounded for the most part, so I won't have to deal with them much.



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The only difference between ordinary service and extraordinary service is a little EXTRA.

-- Bob

I started with AA years ago because of the AAdvantage credit card from Citibank. I understood from an early age (back in my poor college days when money wasn't very plentiful and the word "free" really meant a lot!) that if you concentrate all your miles earning opportunities on one airline, then you may actually get something of worth. And believe me, it was a leap to justify the $50 dollars or so that getting a "mileage" card cost back then when there were so many free credit cards available.

Since then, I continue to fly AA b/c they are IMHO the best product from LAX to SJC (I am not making judgement about any other routes, b/c if Midwest Express or Singapore Airlines flew the LAX to SJC route, I am sure that they would be better!). I don't really like flying Southwest with their first come, first board program, and as I understand, the United Shuttle doesn't give priority boarding either. When I am schlepping my way to SJC, I want to make sure that I have an overhead bin to place my luggage and I get to my seat right away and start to relax and get ready for a new week of work http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I think that United gets a bum rap here.

Over the years I have been gold with CO (highest tier then), gold with NW (highest tier then) and 1K and PE with UA. Mileage bonus opportunities with CO and UA were good, but not so good with NW (other than the elite bonuses - which were 125% with CO, and 100% with NW and UA). Upgrades were fairly similar in all - I use complimentary upgrades and do not use miles and do not buy upgrade vouchers. I had a hard time redeeming miles for free trips with CO - even as a gold, which was a major part of my switching away from them.

I think that the elite level you can get to is more important, and since the airlines have different requirements, one should look at where they would end up on the various airlines given what their travel patterns are. I do not fly much international, but if did then getting complimentary upgrades would be important.

Schedules and hub locations have played an important role in my airline selection.

I chose USAirways because PIT is their hub, and unless I want to go to Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington D.C. or New York I can only go non-stop on USAirways. Fares are ridiculous, however I was business reimbursed and service is excellent. Fly in coach only twice in the past seven months. Enough so that even when I drive to Cleveland, I bypass the Continental non-stop to fly on USAirways.

I'm hooked for now, but driving two-three hours to get cheaper fares isn't going to work for too long. I probably will start flying Continental since their service is good and I can get non-stops from Cleveland. Eventually. For now, US all the way.

In 1987, when I was 11 years old, I started flying United because my parents decided to fly United to Asia for our family vacation that year.

Today, I still fly United because:

The route network is expansive. I can get just about anywhere in the world I want to go on United. And the few other places I can get to on Star Alliance partners.

The maintenance and engineering staff are the best in the world. An airline that is as deeply involved with the design and testing of a completely new aircraft, namely the 777, is truly ahead of the pack.

The fleet consists of airplanes that I prefer to fly. Yes, even the A320 and A319's, despite my Boeing bias.

The expedient and courteous nature of the service, on almost all occasions, is outstanding. Yes, it's gotten better as I've "climbed" the elite ranks, but it was never bad. Now, as a 1K, being treated like royalty on a few occasions here and there, I don't see any reason to go anywhere else.

O'Hare is my favorite airport, and Chicago is my hometown. Even if I'm just passing through, I still like to see it every week or two.

"Rhapsody in Blue" is one of my favorite musical pieces. I like having it pounded through my head on a continual basis... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

And finally, I've gotten to know the ins and outs of every aspect of United and the Mileage Plus program... I can find my way through ORD Terminal 1 with a blindfold... I know exactly which seats I want on each type of aircraft... I know some of the personnel... and I know how to maximize my miles... it would take years to figure all that out again with another airline!

As is the case with many flyers, I try to consolidate my air travel on one airline to maximize FF bennies.

I fly UA because it offers frequent flights from two local airports (SFO, SJC) to most of the places to which I travel by air. The single exception is the Pacific coast of Mexico when I fly Alaska. Other reasons for choosing UA include a decent FF plan, stability and maintaining a hub in my locale. Now that I'm a PremEx, I don't have much to complain about.



[This message has been edited by KatW (edited 01-20-2000).]

Out of LAX, there are multiple choices.
The two things that matter to me are ability of upgrades and ability to get a reasonable response when I contact the airline with a problem.
I had almost switched from Delta to AA because Delta was not responsive.
However, they seem to be trying again.

Southwest: (business) the best FF program for getting free flights, they are always on time, they usually fly out of MDW on the hour to most of my Midwest destinations.

Southwest: (personal) the best FF program for getting free flights, they actually let you use the free flights, super cheap fares when I have to pay, the companion pass for my companion, free drinks, no fees for changing flights, and a completely open and transparent reservation system.

United: (business) I was grandfathered as a PremEx 3 years ago and they are the only airline besides AA that has nonstops from Chicago. The all-around "service" is otherwise pitiful, but getting access to bulkhead rows is nice.

United: (personal) never. High prices, ridiculous restrictions, and $75 every time you pick up the phone to change anything.

I started flying Continental in 1991 and have stayed with them since. I switched from AA after I was unable to book award travel to Guatemala, all I wanted was to travel for a duration of 7-12 days during a 3 month window. The best that AA could offer was one three day stay for two tickets in that time frame. I was offered a swap of CO miles For AA miles by a family member if CO would make the travel available. Continental had availability for the first target dates I offered. It seemed to me that it was worth the risk of changing to the bankrupt airline rather then stay with an airline that wouldn't provide flights for award travel.

I first obtained Gold status on CO in 1993, and requalified until I achieved Infinite Elite.

A lot has happened since I started flying CO, the "Peanut" flights and cut-backs in elite benefits in 1994, then CO cut back from 6 to 2 flights daily from my home airport, TUS, fortunately that was later offset by the CO-HP alliance. Of course everything changed for the better after Bethune took control, I just hope that they can keep it up.

I started flying CO in 1995. I had pretty much settled on either CO or NW (boy did I make the right choice).

What sealed the deal for me was a trip in late 1995, BOS-COS. It was snowing pretty bad in Boston and the CO terminal was a mess. The ticket agent told me that I was going to miss my connection in IAH. With about 30 unhappy customers behind me, she took the time to move me to a different flight, held that flight for me until she was done AND completed my upgrade while I was in the air.

I had no elite status at the time, but knew I would fly about 60K in 1996. Her pleasant demeanor and professionalism in the face of adversity sold me on CO.

I've been CO highest level elite for 4 years and 2000 will be year 5.

US Air(ways) since (gulp!) 1991.

Did not fly much early on, but did attend a conference or two here and there and vacation here and there. Took me 3 years to earn my first free coach (gulp!) roundtrip. So, off I went to San Fran to see the Grateful Dead. Then I started to fly (domestic only) more for work when I lived in Miami and, at the time US Air was matched up with BA so you could earn status miles on both. I visited a friend in London twice in the same year on off-season $350 r/t tickets to LHR from MIA and the next thing I knew I was checking in at the US Air First Class line and getting an upgrade most of the time. Gee, I kind of like this. And, no I never used any of my miles. Hmmmm, I wonder what this NEXT elite tier is like.... 100% mileage bonus, more upgrades, upgrade 3 days in advance instead of 1.... the rest is history (a very costly $$$ history). Oh, yea, and geography - I live on the US east coast and US Airways flies all over the place from here. Cheers. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I started with Pan Am and TWA because I like to go to Europe as often as possible. Then Pan Am went away, and TWA sold its JFK-London route. I switched to BA (this was before the rise of alliances) because there are few places one cannot get to on BA. I have rarely had a problem getting an award seat on BA out of EWR for the exact day I wanted, so I've pretty much stuck with BA. I've added CO because, well, I fly out of EWR...

I started with Eastern (OnePass), went to American, then United when I moved near SFO.

Since I started doing a lot of international travel, I hoarded my miles for transoceanic upgrades. (My company generally only pays for coach).

I'm not that picky on service, but I started being aware that on some United international flights, if one strayed from the "expected" service pattern (have wine with the meal, have coffee afterwards), it was difficult to get what you want when you wanted it.

About that time, Delta sent me a promotional set of systemwide upgrades. I used them on my next flight to Europe, and was quite pleased.

Since I had lots of Membership Rewards points with American Express, I transferred them to Delta for upgrade awards (at this time, if you upgraded with Delta, you got the class of service bonus miles as if you paid for business or first). It wasn't long before I had lots of miles & more systemwide upgrades.

I fly a lot to Zurich, and Delta (with Swissair) offered much better options for me than United. (This was before the recent split of Delta-Swissair).

Eventually, I lost my elite with United, and, for the most part, stopped flying them.

My international upgrade success rate with Delta is over 90%. I can confirm the upgrades when I book the flight. I rarely use miles, since the systemwides are self-sustaining (fly 20,000 miles & get a pair once you are elite).