Who to accumulate miles with: AA or UA?
 

I plan on traveling over 25K this year and live half-way btwn LAX or SFO/SJC.

Any guidance on which FF program would be a better choice to accumulate mileage on?

AA or UA?

Currently do not have status with either and will be doing several east coast, FL and europe trips.

Thanks!

United is/was on shaky ground, but their visa card will get you 25k miles, so another 25k or so from traveling will get you a better award ticket. That's all I can add.

A year ago, the choice would have been an easy one: AA. But now that MRTC (more room throughout coach) is becoming LRTC, the choice is less clear. At 25K miles you'll get AA Gold. Doesn't get you lounge access, but you will earn 500 mile upgrade certs for every 10K butt-in-seat miles flown. You also get to pre-reserve elite-only seats (exit rows). Also look into doing a Gold or Platinum challenge to fast-track yourself to elite status. Plat will get you lounge access on intl itineraries. Do a search in the AA forum for beacoup threads about this. If you fly a lot of west coast routes, you can earn miles on AS.

The advantages of UA include E+ for elites, and PS on transcons. You can also earn on US, which might give you more options. Ongoing Chapter 11 might be something to worry about, though, especially if it leads into liquidation.

Are you limiting yourself to AA or UA? Have you considered one of the Skyteam partners (CO/NW/DL)?

Right on.
 

You hit the nail on the head.

Six month ago my choice would have been overwhelming AA with their MRTC, but since going to LRTC--getting Premier and having the chance for E+ seems more attractive.

But then again, UA two year plus visit to bankruptcy causes me pause.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

Thanks.

i think an additional question is how you pay for your travel and where you stay.

you may wish to pay for your travel with an amex, starwood amex or marriot visa or ...

if you believe the/your choice of airline will not last for 2 or 3 years then you dont want to put any "extra" miles into those accounts so get a hotel credit card or amex or diners club

but if you plan on earning and burning your miles quckley
it may be worth it to get the airline credit card with the biggest sign up bonuses and fly them till you reach your desired reward level
cash it out
and switch to the next card

Will you be flying out of SBP, or driving to LAX/SFO? One thing to consider is that AA has up to 6 flights a day out of SBP, but all to LAX. UA flies from SBP to both LAX and SFO.

I've been pleased with Skywest UX service out of SBA, and really like the option of using either LAX or SFO.

(OT: I feel like the airport code for San Luis Obispo should be SLO rather than SBP, since that's what everyone calls the city anyway, and no airport has SLO now.)

Also think about whether or not you'll be flying into any small towns. For example, if you ever needed to go to small towns in Texas (i.e. Abilene), chances are AA and CO are the only ways you'll get there. On the other hand, if you ever need to go to towns in Colorado (i.e. Aspen), UA is often your only option. It's tough to predict the future, but there's nothing I hate more than having to fly somewhere that's only served by one airline or two when I have ZERO status on those airlines.

Off topic

I've found these 500 mile upgrade certs to be pretty much useless

Will be flying out of SLO to LAX/SFO or could drive to San Jose (about 3 hours)

I have been leaning toward AA and the idea of a GOLD challenge but after
reading the posts, the UA Credit Card idea (charged miles apply toward Premier status) seems sensible. Also like the suggestion to switch miles to other programs if things start to look perilous (UA able to secure funding to exit bankruptcy, labor unrest).

Any compelling reason to do AA instead?

While i know that with risk comes reward, I have found that my UA bonuses and miles have accumulated significantly faster than my AA bonuses & miles. Probably because they have been in bk for over 2 years, UA has really showered elites with miles. I just haven't seen the same kinds of offers from AA, though they have matched some of the promos.

Plus, personally, I like the UA fleet more than the AA fleet. Many more widebodies, ch 9, etc. AA is great for award trips to Carribean and South America, though.

SLO is Salem, IL (Salem-Leckrone Airport).

The Amtrak code for San Luis Obispo is SLO.

If you fly domestically, they're very nice. SFO-ORD on a 777XC is a good upgrade deal for 4 certs, and you can do even better with clever routings through ORD (e.g. SFO-ORD-DEN is only 2 certs). Plus, if you don't care about that, they turn into miles anyway, so it's effectively another 20% mileage bonus if you use them that way.

You're right! I just checked the FT airport code lookup, rather than looking somewhere else, like AirNav.

As a Plat I have found these very usefull. I recently took a 6 segment trip and upgrade cleared on 5 of 7 requested. LAX_IAD and IAD-LAX wouldn't clear, but it is so busy, I never really expected it to. I was in the exit row with a EXP that said he had yet to be upgrade on that flight. Other than that, I am very happy with this program.

Looks like UA but...
 

After sleeping on it it looks like UA.

Now I would like to do some MR run to rack up Premier before my long trips to Europe in June so I can be sure of E+.

But to my frustration, AA has the best deals going RT now. $188 RT to JFK

Thanks to all those who posted. Your insight was invaluable to me!