[QUOTE=EasternTraveler;11686849]UA hub in Asia is Tokyo Narita, as well as LHR and FRA in Europe. Of those I think only Narita connects onto other UA code and metal however.

I don't know AA routes.

If they're primarily Euro, I've seen a mix.

Lots of BA (which for the life of me I don't understand), and a fair number of LH, crediting either to LH or UA.

But, seriously, AA is far and away, among everyone I know, the most popular. And I know lots of people who travel lots of miles, both internationally and within the US.

Well Steve, everyone has different perceptions of reality. And there is reality and there is bias. AA flies to less than 7 TA destinations from NY, and the only frequency on any is LHR, conbined airlift of all NY TA flights is less than 3000 seats a day. Delta flies to something like 35 TA destinations from NY, with more than 40 flights a day, with more than 10,000 seats a day. CO flies to over 20 TA destinations from EWR, with airlift of about 5000 seats per day. With only one notable exception (DL to CDG) I am not including any codeshares in these calculations. Also one can assume that the ratio of premium to non-premium seats is the same. Also, load factors in the back and the front over any 3-5 year period among these three carriers are generally within 3-5 points of eachother.

Therefore of appx 18,000 seats a day across the pond on US carriers from the NYC metropolitan region, we see that AA accounts for appx 3000. So this of course would probably mean that in Steve's world people not flying to London, would prefer to connect through there, while in the real world the other 5/6 of people would fly direct to their destinations - this is a gross over-simplification, but I think people will get my meaning.

BTW, when one applies the same methodology to AA against these same carriers from just about anywhere in the US against AA, with the possible and lonely exception of ORD (where they have their own UA competition) one sees AA as a non-TA airline other than for flying to LHR, and the entire industry has decimated the multiple connection LHR thing over the last 15 years.

If someone does business in China, 20 segments domestically in business/first class on CZ will get ST EP status (2 points per segment for business/first = CZ gold). CZ EP status works only imperfectly with other ST airlines (such as CO) I think because of systems issues.

A while ago I did some study and choose UA for Star Alliance, AA for Oneworld, Delta for Skyteam. However, when time past, I actually only fly UA most of time because it's strong presence in SFO area. I just try to keep "other" activities in other two accounts.

I just don't understand the disdain for UA by many people on this board. I love their E+ (you get up to 5 extra inches of leg room in this section). I don't find their flight attendants any less friendly than on other American carrier. I fly about 25K a year and I think at this bottom rung elite level they give pretty good benefits and service. I like to fly out of PWM and AA does not, so I exclude them as an option for me. In fact, AA does not go to many small town in the US. You should look at detailed route maps before making a decision. Another factor to consider is award redemption availability. I find redemption on UA to be excellent for domestic award tickets. I have been unable to use my 25,000 miles on DL for a round trip ticket from PWM to COD (or JAC or BOZ) for two years! With UA, just plug in the dates and presto! (International award travel is another story...)

Hi there and congrats to your friend on landing a gig at a NYC consulting firm=)
As a fellow consultant for a couple of years out of IAH, I have a strong personal bias for CO due to a 19/20 internal upgrade in a busy travel year while being a lowly Silver even when doing the dreaded monday-thu shuttles. In addition, the fares from EWR to rest of USA for personal on CO is cheap while still earning full miles with the 125/150 based on silver/gold.
For the OW, I defer to the rest of the forum.
One side note to anyone moving to NYC, SW just started flying to LGA --> cheap personal flights while consulting world = EWR or JFK hops which imply (to me) CO or DL/AA respectively!

One must do is to work the consulting forces for mileage on expense which might be more valuable than even the flight miles since hotel *5 days weekly is a fun extra bunch of points.

Enjoy the NY visits with a friend there!

UA gets complained about more by those without any status at all. The common complaints include poor phone centers, poor on-time record, dependence on delay-prone hubs, lack of in flight amenities.

As far as what airline to pick from each alliance (for the original poster's question), the usual choice is to pick the one that will be flown most, since status benefits tend to be better on one's "home" airline than on alliance or mileage partners. For *A from NYC, it would seem that CO is more likely to be used than UA or US, due to the hub in EWR offering more non-stop destinations, but the person choosing needs to figure out her own flight patterns.

Of course, there are also the airlines not in the alliance; might as well have accounts in those airlines if they are used. Though from NYC, B6 is probably the main such airline.

I am probably in a different situation than OP's friend but I found that combination of UA for *A and BA for OW works best for me. The reasons are the following:

• I mostly travel US domestically and TATL (some intra-Europe). It is good to have a status on a US airline for domestic upgrades, IRROPs, etc - US airlines are notorious for treating their own elite customers better than non-elites paying premium fares. On the other hand BA allows relatively cheap and easy redemptions on TATL and European routes, unlimited upgrades to business class for just 12500 miles one-way from any WT+ fare including deeply discounted (not 8 or 6 SWU/EVIP) and lounge access when in US (I even can use BA lounge in two of UA hubs: IAD and DEN when flying UA).
  
• I contemplated AA + LH combination but while AA in my experience superior to UA LH program is much inferior to BA, especially when flying in US. Here are some drawbacks:
  • Much more expensive upgrades on LH compared to BA
  • Elite levels structure works better for me on BA. I am BA Gold but I would never make LH HON (or BA Premier) and LH Senator is closer to BA Silver than Gold.
  • BA has very reasonable discounted business class fares out of London that I often take advantage of, e.g. flying UA to London and continuing from there. LH does not have this policy. (Though I must admit LX has and I might look into it in future.)
  • Domestically AA treats OW emeralds much better than UA treats *G.
  • Access to Admirals clubs (and AA IFL in a couple of cities they exist) is nice, though secondary. Access to RCC, and even without drink chits - not a huge benefit IMO. I usually call 1K line anyway in case of IRROP on UA.

Whether one prefers DL, CO, UA, or AA perhaps its not necessarily their respective programs you should credit your miles to (although their own elites should have more benefits.) Am based in CDG with C travel on AF and Y travel on AF, NW, and LH. I travel mostly ST and * and have resigned to sticking with AF/KL for ST due to 40k threshold for Gold and ability to earn EQM on their French Amex card. Unfortunately the program is heading downhill fast. I prefered NW program as an Asian based member since it gave lounge access as Gold and had many bonus earning opportunities, but with the merger of DL/NW accounts I'll credit only non-flying credit card/shopping bonuses. For * I'm very happy with BD's program and their earn/burn rates, but this program will probably be absorbed by LH, in which case I prefer UA as an alternative, but maybe there are other * programs I should consider. I'd also appreciate more insight to the best OW program to consider, since there are a lot of interesting fares on BA lately...

Being both LH Senator for many years and BA Gold for more than a decade, I really do not understand your assertion that LH Senator is like BA Silver. I suppose each programme has features that are more important to some than others, but as an example, BA almost NEVER honors its guaranteed booking guarantee for Golds, while LH ALWAYS honors theirs for SEN.

Actually, I think both your sister's best friend and you are both partly right. It is best to concentrate flight activity on as few accounts as possible to maximize elite status, but I believe it is prudent to maintain accounts with all the major airlines if one is wanting to maximize their earnings in this FF game. Different promotions from different airlines offer many opportunities. For example, in the past ten years I have accumulated mileage and redeemed travel awards in DL, US, WN, AA, BA, UA, CO, NW, YX, and FL. I could have easily not used several of those, but various promotions, bonuses, and other offers made it best to accumulate miles and points in each program at different times. So basically, for all non-flight activity I take advantage of whatever rental car, hotel, dining (iDine offers can vary significantly between partners!) or other offer is most lucrative and build up my balances in each account knowing that eventually I'll have enough to redeem for something when the time comes. A great example of how this proved useful is my CO account ... I hardly ever use it, but have accumulated miles over the past 10 years here and there from different promotions and other activities that were lucrative at the time. A few years ago there was a great full-Y MSP-LGW fare available that I bought tickets for my wife and I, and conveniently enough I had accumulated some of the miles I needed to upgrade those tickets already. I didn't know what I would need them for when I accumulated them, at the time it made sense to take them in CO, and I knew they would be useful some day, and sure enough they were. I topped up the account from AMEX, and I was set for my upgrades without having to pull all the miles I needed from AMEX.

I am not an expert in all FF programs but if you are based in France and even rarely buy C tickets - I think BA has a very good program. Just 2 roundrips with OpenSky (if you fly to NYC of course) will get you to Silver with lounge access or 1 longhaul roundtrip with BA itself plus one roundtrip to London. And Gold is not much further.

Actually I am grateful to you since I am seriously considering a switch from BA/UA to AA/LH combination. You guess I have no personal experience of being a Senator, just comparing official features and reading this forum. So far BA cleared me on the flight with no availability (must admit needed it just once) and was rather good to me slightly bending the rules when I was in a mess though I have never got an op-up or something like this (which I admittedly did get from LH just as *G from UA). I read a lot of disappointment here among LH Senators. Formally comparing benefits it seems that BA Silver is in between of LH Frequent Flyer and Senator but I would be happy if I am mistaken.

Regarding guaranteed bookings, I would say that I have probably tried to use it with Ba on at least 10 occasions, it has worked maybe once. If I have tried it on Lh 10 times, I have been cleared 10 times. It goes deeper however as when one tries to use it with LH, any agent you deal with immediately knows about it and will even suggest it, while at BA the average agent has no idea what you are talking about and it takes them forever to try to implement.

Overall its true that there has been a lot of disappointment among LH Sen's, then again there has also been a lot of disappointment over the years among BA Golds as well....