First time post (it's about time I guess).

Looking for a new airline / frequent flyer program to replace US Air Chairmans.

I just moved to Los Angeles from Phoenix (hence US Air). LAX is the closest airport, but Long Beach, Orange County, and Burbank are within an hour.

I fly 1 or 2x per month to Miami/Fort Lauderdale (most traveled by far), 4x a year to Germany, and also occasionally SFO/SJC, ATL, JFK, DCA/IAD, and PHX.

I own my own business, so price is important, but first class upgrades are #1.

I travel about 130,000 air miles a year, max the credit card miles, and work the deals as best I can.

So, what do you think? Anyone based out of LA do a lot of East Coast travel?

AA flies non-stop from LAX to MIA, and has a challenge program which will give me Platinum for $150 plus 10,000 miles within 3 months. But I am not too excited about the $150 cost to upgrade to first each way to Miami while Platinum. JetBlue and Alaska also fly non-stop to Miami area.

Not real pleased with US Air right now, so I am considering other 1 stops to FL or East Coast. Delta has been my second choice for travel all along, and I am already silver.

Finally, can you sticky a tutorial on how to search for info on other threads, with maybe an example on finding flight options from various cites?

Great site, I use it all the time for deals.

SR in LA

If you want to stay in Star Alliance, check out United.


Halothane

If your PLT ur first year, thats the only year you'll have your stickers costs. After that you'll be EXP and all your upgrades are free. I think AA would be a great choice. Plus you will have your EVIP's if you ever decide to go international.

Do you like United Premier Upgrades? I do like United's Business Only planes from LA to NY. What a great deal!

One of my concerns is starting from 0 with a new airline program. AA will let me start at Platinum, and after another 50k miles, I would make EXP. But for my first 60k miles, I would have to pay to be upgraded, about $300 per trip. United seems to cost even more if I read it right, and it seems they charge $500 for a round trip LA to East Coast, and this continues after I make 1K right?

US Air upgrades everyone for free, and upgrades Chairmans 7 days in advance. But their routes are not great from LA, and their service is getting worse. Clincher for me was when they removed power from all their first class seats domestic.

Welcome on FT, scratchsd !!

One thing to note: With 130k air miles a year, you can afford to do your short hops on other airlines. So I would suggest considering either sticking with USAir for LAX-PHX or looking at Southwest for 1-hour flights (presumably first class upgrades are not as important on such short flights, good schedules are important, and there's no first class anyway on RJs!).

As long as you can steer 100k air miles a year to AA to be EXP, that seems to make a lot of sense.

One thing to keep in mind is that AA probably has the best redepmtion and UA second best. (What's the point of collecting miles if you'll never use them, and what's the point of collecting miles if you can't use them?)

1. my experience is that the worst way to start/end a trip is to drive in LA traffic to the airport. if you live in LA, use LAX (even though it's horrible). the last thing you want is to go to SNA in traffic for 2+ hours on the 405. it's demoralizing and potentially creates unnecessary anxiety.

2. price out three or four hypothetical trips and make sure that the options are about the same in terms of price/connections to your preferred destinations.

3. all other things equal, go with AA for the reasons others have mentioned.

we fly AA to dallas and the east coast and use US Air for PHX flights.

All good advice, and thanks for the welcome!

One of the reasons AA is so attractive to me, is the price on non-stop flights LAX-MIA. They have a Q fair that is $149 each way, which beats just about everybody. But research shows that during my Challenge Period and for EXP status, Q fairs count for .5 points toward qualifying. So what is the trick to getting the best price, plus points, plus upgrades on AA? Do you guys just keep trying fares and seeing what code it is and the associated points? Is there any way to get full miles on deep discount fares? If I only got .5 points for my miles, I would not make EXP, but the difference in fare and cost of upgrading is about the same.

so why not try to make EXP on EQM instead of EQP?

I know the points accumulate fast on full fare short hops but otherwise you might get there (100k) quicker with qualifying miles.

good luck!

Welcome to Flyertalk.

You're making a common rookie mistake in interpreting the AA program. You only have to concern yourself with EQPs during the challenge. For EXP, you can qualify on 100k EQMs or 100k EQPs or 100 segments. ALL AA domestic published fares earn 100% EQMs, so you'd easily achieve EXP, and thus, from that point on, get complimentary domestic upgrades plus the eight annual one-way systemwide upgrades.

Your first year won't be much fun unless AA is willing to status-match you to Platinum or unless you complete the challenge quickly.

To get 100% EQPs (for the challenge), you may have to call AA to upfare the deep discount fares into L or W or V or higher fare buckets, since aa.com isn't always useful for choosing the bucket you need.

From your posts, it looks like AA would serve you well. 9 or 10 daily flights a day to JFK on 3 class 767s with 30 reclining biz seats - as an EXP, your upgrades would almost always clear. Several daily flights to MIA, including two on internationally-flown 777s and 763s with NGBC seats - again, as an EXP, your upgrades would probably always clear on those flights. Mine always have.

Four trips a year to Germany? 3 class 777s from DFW and JFK to FRA where those systemwides would probably clear and they can be used on any fare except for O and Q. Unlike UA, cheap international fares can be upgraded with systemwides.

Sure, during the challenge period, things won't be ideal. But the EXP phone reps alone are worth getting to EXP. Free domestic upgrades on any fare, systemwides on nearly any fare and much better international front-cabin service than you're used to at US.

Thanks FWAAA, you are right, I missed the EQM / EQP difference. I am not worried about getting points, there are so many other ways to get them. The miles toward qualifying are more important.

So I will let you know how it goes.

You're still confused about the AA FFP currencies terminology. There are actually three types of currencies that are different:

ordinary ("redeemable") miles -- these, not points, is what you get in many ways; these don't help you qualify or requalify

Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs) -- these you only get by flying, and they help you requalify, but don't count for the Challenge

Elite-Qualifying Points (EQPs) - these you also only get by flying, but at different rates than miles, depending on the class of service of the ticket you buy, and these are what count in the Challenge

Every EQM earned also earns an ordinary mile, but not vice versa.

Every time (at least when flying AA metal) that you earn EQMs you also earn EQPs (and vice versa), but the ratio between the two changes with each fare basis code.

Welcome to LAX. As a long-term AA plat/EXP, I think AA would serve you well. I'm less familiar with the other contenders. For west coast trips, Alaska/Horizon miles can go to your AA account/status.

LAX deservedly gets a bad rap for its outdated physical plant and lousy transit connections. A long drive to LAX with unpredictable freeway traffic can be frustrating and lead to lots of wasted time. But if you live nearby and learn a few time-saving tricks, LAX can be an efficient, pleasant home airport.

Ex: The upper level roadway (departures) is packed with passenger dropoffs in the morning and the lower level is packed with arrivals at certain evening hours. If you're being picked up or dropped off at these times, avoid the crowded roadway and take an escalator or elevator to your level.

The AA elite security line is fairly well arranged (after years of mess) and your wait will usually be minimal.

LAX Admirals Club is a good one; joining can be a worth the $$ if you have lots of pre-departure waits at LAX.

There's a semi-helpful thread in the California/LA sub-forum about LAX parking options.

For short trips, you may be able to justify parking in the structure right across from your terminal. It's pricey, but quick to/from the gate.

Welcome to FT !

As a fellow FTer in the LAX area I figured some things about the carriers serving our beautiful port to the west: They all suck... thanks to the great LAX gateway management. Now it's the question which one doesnt suck as much as the other ones.

AA: They have the direct flights to MIA, however nothing direct to germany and the overseas trips there (I do 2 a month) cause you to get up at least at 6 am to get to the airport for your connecting flight. But the flight arrives later in FRA than the direct *A flight that leaves LAX in the afternoon. No Go!
Yes, you get free AA upgrades as EXP, but look at their cabins/planes on domestic routes. You find more ductape than a stage worker uses in a month. Hardly can you call that First Class anymore and to pay for it in whatever currency is not even worth the thought. The status challenge on AA costs money while others offer it for free. After 100K miles you get Executive Platinum status and unlimited free upgrades (I commented above on their cabin comfort, better than AA coach though) as well as 8 systemwide Upgrades into an acceptable Business Class to germany (as long as you fly via DFW, the ORD 767 is dreadful and the staff there as well). The Club in LAX is pretty nice, good staffed and clean. AA has an elite check-in area but if you have to check bags it's still horrible to say the least.

DL/NW: They merge but you could get a free status match right now to Northwest Platinum Elite and I would say 90% of your upgrades will clear. The times I think of them as Northworst are over for a while and their premium cabins and planes are fine. The clubs have free booze if thats important for you. Pricing is also VERY competetive out of LAX ! I just start trying them a bit more so I cant comment on this particular alliance that much. But they offer many routes out of here !

UA: I switched from AA to UA to figure if the grass is greener on this side. Last year UA was horrible, in the past few months I really feel an improvement with them. Anyways, lets see the hard facts: The "Business Only" flight to JFK that you are talking about is called P.S. ! It is absolutely NOT Business only. If you sit in coach you have the worst Economy Plus seat-pitch of the whole fleet. In Business the seats are nice but upgrades hard to get if you upgrade with E500's (200$ 4 upgrades, you need 5 for JFK). IF you get the upgrade you will be surprised by a nice little cheese platter and maybe ice cream. Thats it, enjoy ! United might offer you a challenge to fly 15K miles on UA within 90 days to get Premier Executive. But I'm not sure because US Chairmans is a *A Programm. You could cross match through NW though ! Your advantage especially with your trips to germany is there are plenty non-stops on *A (3 LH flights and maybe the UA flight will return next year). When you get Top Elite 1K you will recieve 6 systemwide Upgrades, 2 CR1 each quarter for every 10K you fly on UA plus 4 E500s for every 10K, UA's F cabins are ok IMHO. No unlimited free upgrades like AA or NW though ! UA is my current choice together with LH. In case of Irregular operations you will again have plenty of options to get rebooked on while the other carriers are somewhat limited. US has a Red Carpet Club which is ok but not famous for it's service level. I hate the RCC's anyways and just use them because I can enter for free with LH*G. UA's elite check in area is in Terminal 6. It works well I have to say as long as you dont need a rebooking in peak times.

Hope that helps to give you a little impression !

Cheers,
Seb.

Welcome to FT, fellow new Angelino!


Remember that if you choose to fly AA, the terminology "miles" ≠ "points" in their program because they are two different things.

Snatched from sdsearch's post: