I just discovered this forum a couple of weeks ago, and I wish I had found it sooner. This is my first post, so please be patient with me if I am not clear or if I am posting this request in the wrong place.

I have been OnePass elite since 1996, when I first qualified for Bronze status. After 2 years of Platinum status, I only earned Gold for 2003 and will requalify for 2004. However, due to a lot of problems I have had with CO, I am looking to walk away and begin a relationship with a new program in 2004.

I would appreciate any suggestions about where I should take my loyalty. Here's some info that might be helpful:

Tampa is my home airport.
The vast majority of my trips are personal, and at the lowest fare I can find.
My most frequent domestic destinations are DEN, LAX, and NYC.
I take at least one trip a year to Europe.
I go to Australia and/or New Zealand at least once every other year.
I have 240K miles on CO, 80K on NW, 60K on DL, 60K on US, and 40K on AA.
I am 6'5"...for what it's worth.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!


P.S.: I don't want to get into the problems that I have had with CO right now. From what I have read, especially on CorcordeBoy's outstanding website (nonepass.com), I can tell that I am not alone. However, my biggest problem is the cavalier attitude that the "customer care" agents have adopted in the past year. IMO, that's a sign that their internal quality of work life has deteriorated along with the benefits of being OnePass Elite.

Welcome to FT neighbor!

My vote is for AA. They treat me right and in return I'm willing to drive an hour to TPA. I have SRQ but the airlines serving it are not to my liking.

Also, The AA TPA crew is one of the best in the system IMHO. AA has a number of flights per day to their major hubs out of TPA, such as DFW, ORD, STL and LGA(JFK) and MIA. Their OneWorld partner Qantas will get you non-stop from the west coast to your vacation destination, as well as Cathay Pacific and couple of other ones although they would be with a connection. TPA-DFW-LGW is a great mileage earner if you are heading to Europe without adding too much time. AA's fares are very competative.

Whatever you decide, good luck!!!

i am a two time platinum OnePass member. i would also vote for AA in your cAAse.

andrzej and fly co to see the yanks: Thanks for your feedback. I actually flew AA for the first time as a paying passenger over Labor Day weekend (AA miles were transferred from TW). Coach on AA is far superior to coach on CO/NW.

I guess my only concerns are with the elite qualification rules on the One World partners. Based on what I have read, AAdvantage members don't earn ANY elite qualification credits on discounted fares with Cathay Pacific and a few others. Am I reading this correctly? Also, AAdvantage members get nothing for transatlantic BA flights. Considering that BA flies TPA-LGW, the ability to earn AAdvantage miles on BA would make this choice a no-brainer.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to AA and UA. The E+ seating in UA would be a major advantage, but MRTC on AA would make my qualification period less "painful."

Thanks again!

Yes you are correct about the deep discounted fares on some of the OW partners, but usually the qualifying fares are not that much more, and if you really want to get full 100%, then you book AA codeshare, sometimes more, sometimes same, and sometimes less. My point is there are ways around it, you just have to pay attention.

It's true about BA. There are some laws that forbid AA and BA from having a wide-open relationship on transatlantic routes. Anyway, I fly to London about 4 times a year and I would not consider flying BA even if I did get miles. I'm self-employed so I have to watch my money. With AA I'm able to upgrade from the cheapest published fare with miles and since I made EXP and received the VIPs, with the certs now. But let's go back to the miles. I usually get a fare to London between $400-600 depending on the time of the year. I use 50K miles to uograde(so far 100% success) and I'm sitting in business. Since I usually take the TPA-DFW-LGW route, it comes out to 11.4K miles x 2 for elite bonus + 1K on-line booking bonus, I end up getting 23.8K miles back. So, the upgrade costs me 26K miles. I can't afford to buy BA business so I would be forced to fly coach, and since you can't upgrade with AA miles on any OW partner, well you see my point.

Don't forget about the challenge if you decide to go with AA.

Since everybody seems in favor of AA so far, I'll offer a different point of view. Not because it's necessarily better, but because it speaks to some of your concerns.

Try UA, in conjunction with US. If your typical destinations are DEN and LAX, UA is a natural. There are three nonstops a day to Dulles which will connect to transcon service (not to mention the service to ORD).
And for East Coast trips where Dulles isn't convenient, US through CLT is a good possibility.

Qualification may or may not be less painful than AA, but in my experience I have never missed out on an E+ seat (while qualifying) on anything less than a totally full plane. Usually if you ask with a smile, there will be somebody getting upgraded at the gate, or misconnecting, which will leave an E+ seat open.

Also, UA serves Australia directly, which may be valuable when trying to redeem an award (I believe AA members have less Qantas availability than Qantas members do for award travel). And almost every fare earns full miles, unlike some of oneworld's Asian partners.

Also, IFE is better on United, if that matters to you (all mainline planes have audio, all except 737 with video as well).

Good luck with your decision!

I would recommend AA
It is the natural alternative here in Texas.
you will find on the international travel it will have many, many advantages over CO

I am also diversfying from the NW/CO/DL axis of evil, and am switching to *A.

E+ is just that (a plus), but what did it for me is the LH program. Awesome mileage bonuses for J&F, two years of Senator (* Gold) status, and a top-notch route network.

I'll keep flying NW/CO domestically, because they seem willing to fly me in first on a $200 ticket, but I understand that that won't last forever.

I've got the same question. I'll be gold on CO by years end. I mainly travel these routes:

EWR->OAK/SFO/SJC
EWR->MCO
EWR->SLC
EWR->ARN
EWR->LHR/LGW (though STN would be MUCH easier)

Other than CO, I think UA is the best fit but I worry that when I travel with my family (4 of us total) we'll not be allowed to sit together in E+. I understand that they only allow you a seat for yourself and one companion. Is this true?

I think my only other decent option to see if NW will comp me gold and to fly them and CO and credit my Worldperks account. That assumes, of course, that NW doesn't pull the same stunt that CO did.

[Edited to add...]

Most of my flying is US domestic and I always buy the least expensive discount fare I can find.

[This message has been edited by xyzzy (edited 10-16-2003).]

For the AA MRTC seating, remember that they're removing MRTC and putting back the older seating style on many of the planes that serve FL and LAS for the leisure market. Other flights should still be keeping the MRTC configuration.

regarding the lack of miles on cathay, that's not too much of an issue for me. i think i can do without cathay miles.

the hardest part for me is giving up the free upgrades. but, as long as i have an exit row i am pretty happy.

If you decide to go with AA, you might also want to check the AA forum to see how easy it would be to get your status matched for the first year.

AFAIK, AA will only match UA's status. For all the others they will offer the challenges for either Gold or Platinum. There is no challenge for Executive Platinum.

Challenges are based on qualifying points.
Discount economy = .5 per mile flown
Full fare economy = 1 point per
Buisness = 1.25 points per
First class = 1.5 points per

For Gold you need to get 5000 QP in a three month period
For Platinum you need 10000 QP in 3 months.

If the challenge is completed in the first half of the year, the status is good till February of the following year. If it's completed in the second half, you will retain the status till February of the year after next. You can only do the challenge to attain new status, not to renew old. One call to AA CS is all it takes to sign-up.

I really appreciate the responses. Before I posted my question, I had narrowed the candidates to AA, UA, and US. I didn't want to influence responses by saying that up front.

I faxed United this afternoon at 5:00 EDT requesting a comp to whichever premier level they think is appropriate, given my past activity with CO/NW.

There were really good reasons to choose AA or UA, and hearing from those of you with experience in each program was valuable. I don't think I can go wrong with either one. I think my opportunities for domestic upgrades will decrease, but if I am getting a 34-35 inch seat pitch in economy vs. CO's 31-inch when I get stuck in their "elite seating," I don't care.

I chose UA mainly because their elite qualification rules and partner mileage accrual opportunities seem to be more liberal. Although UA only has 10 flights a day from TPA vs AA's 19, their alliance w/US gives me about 20 more (not including crop dusters).

Of course, UA could say "no" in which case my next step would be an AA challenge. Either way, I am now sure that I am going to a better program.

Thanks again to everyone for your input, and I look forward to spending more time at FT.

I have been Platinum on AA for the past 5 years and switcjed to CO a year ago.. I switched and will neve rgo back. CO is far superior in how the treat customers, upgrades, boarding, etc. AA does have better coach seats but they are putting seats back in. I vote to stay with CO