I believe this issue hasn't been discussed recently, but please forgive me if it's repetitive.

I just began a new job with fairly regular international travel, and have so far this year gone from several years of no elite status to both AA Gold and (after my next trip) UA Premier. I expect to have enough travel for the rest of the year to make 50K on one of these airlines without too much trouble. Which one would folks recommend that I go for? (I fly out of the Washington area).

I am leaning slightly toward UA for two reasons. First, I figure that UA Economy Plus is a more limited seating area than the "greater legroom" across the board on AA, and I can thus use Premier Executive a little more to my advantage to get into E+. Second, I am thinking that if I get to 50K by fall I could try and do a Platinum Challenge mileage run to even it out for a year.

Does anyone have any advice on these issues or any other good/bad points between the programs? Thanks!

I am an AA Platinum and have no complaints. From what I hear of Premier Exec, there are way more PE's than AA Plats, hence reducing your chances for upgrades. I have also heard (please excuse the hearsay) that the customer service for PE's is terrible. They have too many 1K's and even more PE's. As for AA, I have received domestic upgrades most of the times I have requested, and the service from the Platinum phone line is excellent. I have heard that Exec Plat is even better.

As for routes, IAD is a huge hub for United. American has a very small presence in DC. (Some DCA, some IAD). Good luck with the choice.

[This message has been edited by gwade (edited 05-08-2001).]

Pros and cons-
AA-
Platinum Service Centers are good and upgrades have less competition.
E+ throughout coach, not just 4 rows.

UA-
So many 1Ks in DC area, I don't stand a chance at my lowly Premier level. Still have yet to sit in E+ as company is pushing us to fly UA more.

More importantly, depends on where you fly to. Internationally, more flights on UA out of IAD and Star Alliance is more expansive in Asia. Domestically, AA has a mini-hub out of IAD to SJC, LAX and I believe SFO.

In your situation, I would qualify on UA and also take the challenge after July. You receive UA benefits through 2/03 and after July, receive AA benefits through 2/03 also. Being elite member on the 2 biggest airlines in the US, wow! I guess you can possibly have your cake and eat it too.



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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

Don't know if it's still the case, but American lets you miles for their weekend specials, say $200 for the trip, or $49 with 10,000 miles.

If you plan on doing some weekend jaunts that may be a good reason to have more miles on American.

I'm not sure being an executive will help get you into e+. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is first come first serve to anybody who deserves to be there, be it with status or full fare. It will get you into an exit row though.

I am currently both UA PE and AA Plat. My current bias is that I like AA a lot and don't like UA much these days, so you can take what I say with that in mind. Why don't I like UA? Customer service, period. I won't go into UA-bashing here, but I'll give my observations about the statuses.

PHONE SERVICE: I rarely if ever have a hold time on the Platinum line. I sometimes have a hold time on the 1P line, and sometimes don't.

AIRPORT SERVICE: I feel that I get pretty good treatment at the Plat level. AA has Platinum Service Centers at hub airports, whereas UA only extends this service to 1K's. When I've encountered irregular ops, AA has been quick to find the best way home for me, and confirm the flights - even on other airlines. UA has led to some of my most disastrous experiences ever, and I've had to drive to my destination on more than one occasion.

UPGRADES: I almost always get to upgrade when I want to on AA. On UA, it is about 50-50. I realize this depends largely on your routes and the popularity of your flight (obviously, Friday afternoon flights are tough to upgrade, and I don't *always* get those on AA). Check the UA board to get a feel for how hard it is to upgrade from IAD - I remember a couple threads dedicated to exactly this topic.

E+ vs. MRTC: I think E+ and MRTC are about equal. Perhaps E+ has an inch or two more room on some planes. E+ seats go to any Premier member, or anyone who pays Y/B fare. Being a 1P doesn't give you any additional advantage over a 2P in terms of getting an E+ seat. I tend to prefer MRTC because I sometimes change flights at the last minute or fly standby. On UA, I probably wouldn't get E+ even with 1P status. On AA, I may be in 28B if I switch flights at the last minute, but at least I get the extra legroom...

ROUTE MAP: From DC, UA clearly holds the advantage over AA. It's up to you to determine how important this is...

Actually Premier Exec does give you one benefit over regular Premier in E+: you can be pre-assigned an exit row. On some planes, that may mean 40+" of pitch, plus a seat in front of you that doesn't recline!

AA:

1. Customer Service

2. COnversion of sticker upgrades to miles - 4 500 mile upgrades = 10,000 miles

3. Lifetime Gold/Plt at 1 & 2 million miles for any mileage accrual.

4. FAs and ground people.

Benefits for the two levels are nearly identical, with only a few differences:

AA: You're admitted to the Platinum Service Centers
UA: Sorry, only our 1Ks can have that level of customer service

AA: You get Platinum luggage tags
UA: Sorry, only our 1Ks deserve luggage tags

AA: Free access to Platinum Hotline from inflight telephones
UA: You're kidding, right?

However, from a FlyerTalk perspective:

AA has deeply offended us.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/003070.html

UA supports our community.
http://www.flyertalk.com/transcripts/041201.html

Choose the lesser evil. Go with United.

I'm AA EXP and UA PE

I much prefer the AA experience (even as a Plat) but many times it comes down to schedules and price. AA has limited Asian routes. Yes you can use 1W but upgrading is almost non existant. AA has weak routes to Europe compared with UA (from SFO) and almost every trip, UA comes in significantly cheaper across the water.

Hopefully I'll be able to retain both status levels this year.

Really? Does a PLT have to enter their PLT number or do they just dial the 800#? I am assuming that this is also the case for EXP?

Thanks.

Thanks for all the great replies to my first post. All good advice -- I had not thought about the number of 1Ks in the DC area vs. EXP members. It's still a tough call -- the scheduling is the big plus for UA, but that's offset by the fact that so many people are flying out of here.

On the question of inflight access to the AA Platinum or EXP lines, I read that that can be done with a star code, although I certainly wouldn't know from experience --

According to my (dated) notes, you can dial *044. I thought I heard a FA say that number goes to Customer Service, regardless of status.

I'm an AA Platinum & UA 1K (pe in the past) and I would say AA is a little better. However with that said, if I lived in D.C. I would stick to United, unless you plan to connect to just about everywhere vs. a non-stop out of IAD. I think that I would have to live near DFW, SJC, LAX, MIA, ORD or STL to go with AA exclusively.

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Ken in Sacramento

PLT line is at *066. See also: http://fewmiles.tripod.com/AA/tiers.html#1 for more details.

FewMiles..

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FlyerTalkers' Resources on the Web: http://fewmiles.tripod.com/
Unofficial Guide to AAdvantage: http://fewmiles.tripod.com/AA/
Unofficial oneworld Info Desk: http://fewmiles.tripod.com/oneworld/

I used to live in DC and hated IAD. The typical wait to get through security and the mobile lounges have made me avoid IAD at all costs.