Best alternative to *A?
 

Along with the questionable value of the new SWU's, I've discovered that TG has has now hubbed ALL it's routes out of BKK. Aside from the demise of the Baht Run, this makes getting around Thailand a real pain. (Those inbetween hops have been picked up by smaller, non alliance airlines, where I wouldn't be getting credit anyway.) I'm seriously considering switching alliances. Have you kind people any recommendations for an alternative? I am SFO based, need to get to BKK regularly, also HKG & KTM. I do a European trip only once or twice a year as a vacation. Also, I do a lot of domestic flying out of OAK.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[This message has been edited by tigertiger (edited 04-05-2002).]

1W is in my view the only other Alliance to seriously consider. There are good airlines outside the big two 'carrier mafias', but Im not sure that Sky Team is really a contender.

Same here, though I have not felt the need to leave *A due to TG or SWUs. I regularly take TG between BKK and HKG, and do many weekends (it can be a trick getting a multiple entry - or multiple - visas for Nepal within the same calendar year) to KTM using TG 319/320. No problems yet. I have not yet been overly inconvenienced by TG's routings intra-Thailand. I would imagine that you went to OW, you would still find yourself using *A quite often out of BKK due to the preponderance of *A ops.

That was kinda my feeling about it, but I was hoping someone could point out something that I was missing. In the OW, there seems to be only AA, Cathay Pacific and possibly Quantas for inter-asia?

sigh

While I love to attack United, it is fun, sorry. I don't see how leaving the alliance is going to help you, as it sounds like Thai Air will still come in handy if you are flying to Thailand.

Northwest is the only one I can think of, as NW and UA are really the only 2 US carriers that do Asia. NW works with Malaysia and Garuda, in case that helps.

Qantas(O/W) is near irrelevant, unless you are coming from Australia, with a couple of intra-Asia routes.

As for Cathay Pacific(Oneworld), it depends if you buy full fare coach or Business. They give fewer, and in some cases, no miles on discounted flights, something which is very typical in Asia. Why you are better off on a US airline, if you fly on the cheap...

Also, all that CX will do is get you, via Hong Kong each time, to Bangkok, with one flight onward to Singapore.

So, unless you see NW helping you, which is good in Business, fyi, I would stay with UA...

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Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

Thank you for the responses. It looks like I'll be sticking with *A for a while. I have to say, that while UA does make a tempting target, for the most part I have been treated very well by them.

I think it depends on your flying patterns and what type of tickets you buy. If you buy full fare, almost any airline will provide you nice benefits.

NW/CO are great for free upgrades from all fares.

AA is, in my opinion, the way to go if you fly a lot internationally as they offer better upgrading opportunities on cheap international tickets.

If on the other hand, you fly in paid business class internationally, then you basically decide on what airlines suit your fancy. Do you enjoy BA/CX/QF, then One World is for you. Do you enjoy LH/SQ/NZ, then Star Alliance is the way to go.

All in all, not a simple answer.

All the upgrading opportunities in the world are of little value if the airline in question doesn't fly to a particular part of the world (Asia).

Well, with One World you have CX and QF that fly pretty much anywhere you would want to go in Asia. BA flies pretty much anywhere you want to go in Europe or Africa. So taken all together, One World is in my opinion just as strong as Star Alliance.

Now what your upgrade chances are as a top-level elite at AA on these airlines is really only something that can be answered by someone who is one and has went through it.

But in my humble opinion, AA is better than UA, QF is better than NZ and BA is better than LH. Thus, on this basis, I view One World as a better alliance than Star. But this is just my opinion.

Andrew, in your post, to which I replied, you recommended AA based on its nice international upgrade policies. My point was that these are a moot point in Asia, which AA only barely serves. Since upgrade opportunities for AAdvantage members on CX and QF are all but nonexistant, there's really no point in bringing CX and QF into the discussion. While I agree that AA is a better airline than UA, it's simply hard to make a case for OW over UA to Asia for people that like to travel on cheap tickets and upgrade -- United business is a lot nicer than CX Y, not to mention any class on AA's BR and MU codeshares.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 04-08-2002).]