Why not Hampton or Courtyard if that's you budget -

Or Homewood and Springhill for that matter.

I am currently in the process of abandoning AA due to its unexpected change in 500 mile upgrade stickers' conversion rates for international travellers. They sure know how to get ride of their premium flyers!

Left America West years ago bad customer service everywhere.Program was good in the mid 90s.Overall poor partnerships combined with lousy reward availability and slow ticketing......Very sad performance in everything.......
Left Continental too not a bad airline but criminal award availability unless you use their extortion easy pass award for mucho miles....I dumped 500 K Continental in Hilton at a loss and pumped them back into AA where I have been satisfied with availability.And speaking of criminal the worst Int upgrade policy in the country besides maybe Delta......And they are probably better!
Also given up on Marriott with their dated paper awards like many of their hotels and program itself.They need surgery and quick
The last Court Yard I was in was tired and smelled bad
Over priced hotels with just a fair product....also bad earning ability/plus poor promotions compared to Hyatt,Hilton or Starwood........The recent Marriott promo is a perfect example of stale marketing stay 3 nites and get one of our cheap low end hotels if its available for free.............Gee Thanks

------------------
AA & Starwood Platinum
Hyatt, Hilton Diamond
U/A 1K



[This message has been edited by 777 global mile hound (edited 09-21-2002).]

I dropped UA when the local UAX clown pulled out - would have anyway since I believe UA is going to be the Eastern Airlines of the 21st century...at least the first part of it.

As for hotels, I can use priceline and get such a good deal on 3 stars and better usually.. who cares about miles when the difference is sooo great?

NWA is what benefited. My first year of focused travel and I've made Elite : P

The only miles that really count to me are the ones that earn status. The rest of it isn't as high a priority.
Michael

Have used up all my HP miles (had just gotten 20k, used on CO to go ATL-YOW 2 years ago).

Used up my CO miles in 1988--on a flight STL-LGW in biz class. Still have 4k or so miles--they sent me magazines this year.

Orphaned 5k miles in KE from 1996...a NRT-SEL-ZRH flight

Other than that active in everyone else.

JL

Neither provide fridge or microwave. By the way, budget is only part of the reason. I just want to be comfortable.

Homewoods are great... though in some markets a bit pricey. And of course, there are not enough of them.

OUCH - 500,0000 Continental = 1,000,000 Hilton = ~ 240,000 AADVANTAGE ? 200,000 on any other aurline . . .

[This message has been edited by FC_Dave (edited 09-22-2002).]

In order:

twa - declining service to/from CMH
america west - declining service and increasing commuter jets
delta - LUser fares, Comair strike, Air France "partnership"

now am platinum on NW. I like the domestic upgrade policy, but am really unhappy about international upgrades - no availability and pretty expensive upgradable tickets.

I am not sure ANY of the airlines will be able to sustain a premium product in the future. I think the Southwest model will prevail, unfortunately.

In my case, I dropped...

America West and Continental: next to impossible to redeem awards w/o having to ante up for the premium, no blackout awards.

SAS: skimpy rewards, doesn't matter now that it's part of Star Alliance.

Delta: the most surly and snobbish customer interactions that I've ever encountered--indifferent at best, and oftentimes mean-spirited. Uncomfortable 767 transcon first class seats; and its aging fleet of DC-9s and MD80 short-haul jets convinced me to switch.

Priority Club/Intercontinental: they could not keep track of my stays--got tired of manually submitting documentation for credit


What I've concentrated my business on instead:

United (mainly due to star alliance and 1k perks)

British Air (OneWorld alliance gold/emerald benefits, lounge access w/o having to pay for membership)

Starwood Hotels (platinum automatic upgrades and amenities operate like clock-work)

Hyatt (diamond perks attractive)

Hilton (probably the best frequent stay hotel program given its scope and ease of redemption--but hotel properties vary dramatically in quality and consistency)

I've dropped programs because of moves to/from hub cities.

Moved from STL to CVG. Dropped TW (AA) and started with DL.

Moved from CVG to CLE. Dropped DL and started with CO.

I managed to burn all my AA and DL miles while I still had status.

Abandoned Marriott after change to program and elimination of top awards and reduction in value of program now a starwood and hilton customer.
US Air Changes to program and addition of fees for simple changes.
Happy with the adjustments, at Starwood I can talk with a representative and customer service is responsive and empowered to make decisions.

I have dropped DL (was Gold Medallion, would have been Platinum this year).

Reasons:

(1) expiring upgrades (AA doesn't)
(2) no upgrading L/U fares (AA does)
(3) no upgrading a family member (AA does)
(4) LRTC = Less Room Throughout Coach
(5) poor upgrade percentage for Gold Medallion

The last straw was on a flight from BUF-ATL with my wife. It was Dec 30th, we were both on U fares, first had 5 seats open. I had 16 upgrades that would have expired the next day. They would not let me upgrade (I of course would have given my wife the seat), but rather they chose to fly with 5 open seats in first class and a Gold Medallion with expiring upgrades in coach.

SteveH

I used to mail them back their stupid expired 800-milers each year, along with a list of the flights I tried to use them on throughout the year. They (for a couple of years anyway) mailed me replacement certs for most of them, but never seemed to get the point...

- Plat

Airlines
HP - getting CO status was more important
DL - one flight, then no activity; topped off and transfer to Hilton
TW - went to AA
VS - bonus points left over from an AMEX transfer, topped off, transfer to Hilton for safekeeping
US - one flight, got clickrewards to top it off topped off and transfer to Hilton for safekeeping
Marriott - locations & rates made earning/burning tough