Northwest vs AA - differences & advice please
 

Hello to everyone in the Northwest forum.

I have been AA loyal for ~3 years now (and EXP) with 99% of my flights on AA, and primarily ERJs and some MD80s. I have flown Northwest 1-2 times about ~8 years ago and don't remember it at all.

It looks like I'll be flying Northwest for the next 18 months twice a week - almost always on the CRJ's and domestic.

With that said, any AA and NW experts out there that want to give me a run down on the major differences between the 2 airlines? I am mainly looking at any key differences on earning miles on flights, seating differences (it looks like you have to pay to sit in an exit row?), etc. rather than things such as on-board meals and upgrades (since I don't think there are upgrades on CRJ's?), etc.

Thanks in advance! Now, I'm going to search about status match... I know those threads are out there!

Haven't flown AA in years but a few notes:

Elites never ever have to pay for preferred seating
I've only sat in coach twice this year on NWA (out of 47 segments so far), most snacks in coach cost; meals in F are still free; snack basket in F is terrific
As a NW elite you also receive elite benefits on CO and free upgrades there as well (dont hold your breath...NW has the largest F seats as a % of total seats of any legacy carrier....CO has one of the smallest)

Well, welcome to the Red Tail. If, as you say, most of your segments end up being on CRJs, I feel for you. It's a flying torture device, unless you're 4'6".

Accumulate all the WP miles you can, but stick with your EXP status, if you can. AA is a cut above NW in many respects, so no reason to switch completely, especially if you *know* that it's for a set amount of time.

If your flight patterns change, and you find yourself flying mainline NW A/C, then you should revisit the issue.

I was a AA Plat and am a NW Plat, and I much prefer NWA! While NW does have some RJ's, some of the new ones coming out actually have first class sections, so still a decent upgrade.

I would try to get some sort of comp out of NWA. Elite benefits are better in my opinion on NWA (Free upgrades for silver and higher elites, 50% EQP for silver as opposed to 25% for AA). AA does have some cheaper off season rewards, but overall I put NWA ahead 75% of the time.

Biggest difference to me is the location of their hubs, I try to avoid ORD because you're more likely to incur delays caused by weather there, than almost anywhere else -- the last time I was on AA was during the NW pilots strike and I only use ORD if I'm going to Chicago.

Bob H

lounges
 

not sure if you'd be in/out of WorldClub cities, but another big difference is lounges (I'm a member of both):

NW offers promotions for first-time members, AA does not.
NW offers much more in terms of snacks in the WC (NW is currently rolling out some "regional" snacks unique to each club)
NW has free wifi in most clubs
WC's have a self-serve OPEN bar in most locations (some staffed) but all drinks are free.
DTW, MSP C, ORD & MEM have new, fairly stylish lounges on par with the AC's at JFK/LAX/LGA. Some NW lounges are throw backs to the 70's: LAX, BOS, MKE, etc.
In the WC's espresso/cappuccino machines are auto-dealer waiting room quality, but free.
Membership is a little cheaper for WC vs AC, NW also offers 3 year & lifetime memberships.
NW has great partner lounges: Alaska, Continental, Delta, KLM & Air France and soon Kingfisher & China Airlines. AA can't touch those numbers.
I'd put travel/ticketing/seating assistance on par at each.
DTW is the only NW domestic club that offers showers, AA has more locations.
NW has a mobile (cell phone/blackberry) app that let's you get club locations on the fly, AA has nothing like that.

In general I find the AC's to have a more upscale membership vs WC's more blue collar clientele, but the WC guests have far less attitude.

Hope that helps!

Thanks all for your comments so far. I'm still trying to find out all the details about NW and still trying to figure out the best airline for me - no connections on any airline have reasonable conections times, and direct instead of connections is preferred for me! I'll drop to AA Plat next year - no way to keep that up if I switch airlines.

I did not realize that NW has a relationship with CO. I had a few long flights last year on CO so I did a status match which they then extended through this year too (although I have 0 flights on them this year) therefore I am:

CO OnePass: Platinum and Skyteam: Elite Plus

I believe that is the highest status on CO. Does that help me in anyway in doing a status match? Or in the meantime does it provide any additional benefits?

Likewise, if NW matches my AA status, I will not obtain 100 segments in the next 6+ months, to retain it next year on NW- is it still a good stategy to try for the match??

Keep the advice coming! Thanks in advance.

I had someone comment to me this week after flying on NW for the first time in years how much friendlier the passengers were than other airlines. The only explanation I could offer was most of them were probably 'midwestern' and are friendly by default.

If you are already CO Plat, and you will easily earn enough enough EQMs/EQPs to maintain status, you might as well maintain that on the NW flights instead of burning another once-a-lifetime status match to get plat status on NW.

Fly NW and give up power ports on domestic flights; not available even in First. (For NW partisans, let's ignore the A330 to Hawaii.) No IFE on 48-state domestic flights.

You may get First Class more often due to a higher ratio of first to coach seating and unlimited 49-state upgrades for elites, but it's not AA's First Class. DC9s are simply loud - and smelly. NW is catching up to other airlines with regional jet purchases, good or bad.

You will find that there are cheaply constructed airplane seats and tightly pitched airplane seats and NW gives you both.

For most people, schedule convenience from non-stop flights should outweigh FF program loyalty although that's not a practice many FlyerTalkers will follow.:)

Your alternatives are:
Continue to fly AA
Fly NW, credit miles to Worldperks and try for a status match (based on your AA EXP, not CO platinum)
Fly NW, credit miles to CO OnePass for your NW flights.

Looking at the +/- of each:

Continue to fly AA:
+ You know them and (presumably) are staisfied with the service.
+ AA is thought to be easier to redeem awards with. Even as a no-status member with AA I've found it very easy to redeem mile for upgrades well in advance of flight time for even the cheapest fares.
- ORD and DFW.

Fly NW, credit miles to Worldperks and try for a status match
+ Excellent upgrade chances. I haven't sat in Y on NW since become silver three years ago. Platinum upgrades are guaranteed (or you get 1000 bonus miles).
+ Platinums can upgrade a companion for free.
+ Better club value. As a plat your price would be $250 per year, but your first year could be less with a promotion. You get reciprocal privileges at CO Presidents Clubs and DL Crown Rooms, so you're rarely in an airport without a club. Free wi-fi, free drinks, decent food.
+ Plats have no fees whatsoever for award tickets.
? NW and AA first class are probably on par from what one reads.
- If you're flying mostly CRJs on NW the elite status means almost nothing. There is not a decent seat on the whole plane and elite boarding just gives you the chance to spend even more time in a cramped position.

Fly NW, credit miles to CO OnePass for your NW flights
Same + and - with NW above. In addition...
+ Same club access. You would just belong to President's Club instead of Worldclub.
+ You're already Plat. No need to "use up" your status match opportunity with NW.
? On the CO forum they swear CO elites are placed after NW elites when allocating upgrades.
- You only earn 50% EQMs (and zero EQS) when flying NW on cheaper fares.
- No automatic companion upgrades.
- No access to the NW plat elite customer service line. NW's is great and if you're flying mainly on them you'll probably want that.

Overall, I'd sign up for Worldperks, take a few flights to check out the service, then request a status match from your AA EXP. You say you won't fly enough on NW to retain status past Feb 2008. However, I would make that point when you ask for the match and see if they will pro-rate the requirement.

Stripe - thanks for the great analysis and comparison.

As well, everyone else thank you for your advice.

One thing I have not yet done is the pricing via my company's travel group to see where how that factors in. I believe I will be going to NW, because it is <2 hrs on NW or 6+ hrs and connection on AA or any other airline for that matter.

I'll get back to everyone in a few weeks on my game plan!

My experience
 

I lived in MPLS for 5 years and was NW gold when I moved to Austin. Thinking that it would be better to fly AA out of Dallas than NW through MEM or MSP I took the challenge and ended up an AA platinum. In my experience (and everyone's is different) things just seemed to run smoother at NW (I know, I can barely believe I wrote that) and upgrading was much, much easier on NW. I ended up switching back to NW and occasionally fly CO if I can't get the right flight times. I know I haven't done as good of a job as others at laying out the differences, but I just thought I would chime in as someone who has been in your shoes.

NW & CO will not status match each others elites because you basically have status on each

Keep in mine, utilizing miles on NW International is next to impossible (even in domestic 2 months out I had to blow $550 to fly LAX => DTW so that I could use 30k miles to upgrade). AA has FAR more options -- one of the many reasons I switched and am still sitting on so many NW miles.

If you have to fly NW, consider AF Flying Blue as a FFP. At least you'll have access to their FC awards -- which are NOT available via USA carriers in SkyTeam.

Good Luck.

I agree, but think it is more about hubs. DTW & MEM are smaller and easier then ORD, DFW, ATL. I live in a city where I have to connect and that is why I fly NW.

What about using ones CO Plat to get possible upgrades, but change FF # to NW at gate or at check-in? I seem to remember someone telling me they did that until they were able to get elite status on NW. Is this still possible?

Also, you might want to check all the reciprocal lounge agreements with Pres. Clubs versus World Clubs. I had a few years where I was a NW elite member, but would get PC memberships. At the time, the PC membership would get me into a few more lounges than the World Club membership would. At the time, I had talked with one of the nice ladies in the DFW lounge and she offered me the same price as if I were a Plat on Continental if I would join up right there with her. ^

One other consideration is the strength of partnerships. If you are stranded somewhere on AA, and seats are available on other airlines how flexible is AA at getting you home?

I've had good experience with NW rebooking on CO to get me home, when all reasonable NW options have been exhausted.

We've booked several RT's to Europe for the two of us in the last couple years:

In the past 6 months, I've snagged MSP-PUS, MSP-PEK, MSP-AMS (for this summer), MSP-HNL, MSP-CVG, MSP-IAH, and MSP-SFO. All at standard "PerkSaver" levels.

If you can't redeem awards on NW or their partners, you're not trying hard enough.

A couple of additional tidbits
 

I have Gold Elite on CO and get privilges on NWA. I don't know how far those privileges extend becasue I avoid NWA like the plague due to the second tidbit that was alluded to - most of the flights that I would take are on those outrageously crappy CRJ's. There's literally not a good seat on the plane. EXIT row is no different than any other deat (although one FA claimed an extra inch). The seats are so tight (in both dimensions) that the shortest flights are extremely uncomortable. I get back problems every time I fly one of those things.

As for miles, I just used CO niles to send my daughter to Paris for a week. The CO site showed me NWA flights as well as CO flights, which were comparable or better, so the miles seem to be pretty to use. I almost went with an NWA flight till I noticed NO MEAL over the Atlantic (CO fed them).

On Being Stranded...
 

And I just noticed the other question. I fly to Greenville, SC a lot. A small facility that flies mostly RJ's. The smallest weather hiccup makes this place operate like Newark (cancellations and delays and delays and delays). Whenever I have problems with a flight on AA, they'll stick me on any available flight on any available airline. No one else does this for me. That's one reason I stick with AA whenever I can. They know the importance of getting me home at the end of the week.

Are there really no meals on TATL fligts these days? That can't be. NW has a deal with KL that they have to live up to... (That's why the wine is free...)

---

To the OP: just stick with your CO status. On NW, it'll be almost as good as NW Plat, and you'll get to keep your miles in one place.

Fon't waste a status match on something that you know is temporary. You never know - someday you might REALLY need NW status, so you don't want to burn the one-time option when you don't have to.

Of course there are meals on NW TATL flights.

I think there is some trouble on CO web site and it is not showing the meal info correctly. I crossed Atlantic 50+ times on NWA and I was always served food.

CO uses far more RJs than NW, and CO's ERJ is even worse than CRJ - Narrower/lower tube and 1-2 seating :mad: .

Forgot to mention that I only book awards in C. If you're cool with Y, I'm sure it's not too big of a deal. :)

*blink* :eek:

CO Gold is almost as good as NW Plat? Since when?

Funny. The only time I really ever run into difficulty finding awards is when I will only fly Y. I have almost no problems finding C awards when searching. I guess YMMV...

Based on the OP's post quoted above, I believe notsosmart was comparing CO Plat to NW Plat.

Er...nevermind. notsosmart's post was slightly ambiguous when I read it, but now I see what they meant.

I will add that nwa.com is slightly better than aa.com in terms of features and reliability (ie: search for awards to partners, search for flighs using miles to upgrade, int'l segments, etc.) I've booked awards flying DL, CO & AS metal or combos w/ NW metal using my WP miles and nwa.com.

I like AA.com, but find it annoying that I can't search for segments past LGW or MAD that would be on Iberia or BA. You can't search for milage based upgrade flights (and for the freakin' $250+ co-pay you'd think they'd offer some nify features!)

Another AAer looking for the next thing after EXP
 

Hi folks,

A bit intimidated trying to learn about a new airline after flying AA almost exclusively for 4.5 years.

I found this thread very interesting when considering whether to make NWA my second airline, and would appreciate help with a few questions:
1. Any chance NW will match AA EXP to Plat?
2. Plat Elite benefits did not include anything similar to AA's VIPs. Is the only way to upgrade intl itineraries using WP miles? Are there any base fare restrictions?
3. What's the success % NWA Plats have on the LAX-EWR route with CO (Mon red-eye out and Fri evening back) assuming its a mid-tier economy fare?

Thanks in advance.

1. Yes. Especially if you can demonstrate a significant # of already booked flights to prove you are serious.
2. Yes, it's called Elite Extra Perks. Not as good as the AA system, but AA's domestic award system isn't as good as NW's. A trade-off.
3. Can't help

1. I wouldn't necessarily count on a match to Plat, even if you're EXP on AA. Generally, AFAIK, most airlines won't match top-tier to top-tier. But you can always ask for a straight-up match. And if they only offer Gold, ask for a Platinum challenge (i.e. fly X number of flights in Y days in some fare class or something like that).
2. As mentioned, there are elite extraperks. There are also NW AnyFare upgrades floating around. I think those are awarded through the BizPerks program and you might have to trade for those. Short of those, I think mileage upgrades are the best routes, and right now, you can only upgrade trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific itineraries on eligible paid Northwest Y and B type fares, Continental Y and H type fares, and on KLM S and B type fares.
3. I don't know, but generally on a flight like that, I think CO is going to have a lot of its own Plats. Plus, CO generally has fewer seats in FC on the same aircraft type as NW. Although, they do have 7 (7?!) flights daily between LAX-EWR, so maybe you'd have a shot?

If you're going to be flying CO a lot, it may be worth considering a match over to CO. What is it about earning in WorldPerks but flying CO that you like?

You might want to check out the The Status Match Master Thread. Two points from that thread:

1. It looks like in general, NW will only match upto mid-tier. (But as stated by others, it doesn't hurt to ask.)
2. CO seems to match upto top-tier (Plat). So you might want to look at seeing if they will match your elite level rather than NW. (I personally have received a match to Plat on CO so I do know that they will do it, though my match was about 5 years ago.)

The reason for contemplating WP over OnePass are the elite extraperks that you have spoken about. CO does not seem to have anything comparable.

Re: #3, are NW and CO Plats treated on par when it comes to doling out battlefield upgrades? Have heard some references to NW Plats being given pref treatment over CO Plats on CO flights :confused:

Fair enough. Be sure to look at the award levels before you make the jump. Many people here believe there is little value in any of the extra perks until you hit the 120k level. So, make sure there is stuff out there that would make it worth your while for the level(s) that you expect to make.
http://www.nwa.com/eliteextraperks/

I don't think CO gives preference to NW Plats over their own. Urban legend, IMO. Conventional wisdom states that all CO Plats get upgraded before NW Plats, but many people have empirical evidence that as a NW Plat, they were higher on the waitlist than other CO Plats. So, I guess I don't know if there is an answer for certain.

LAX-EWR, CO actually sells a fair amount of the FC seats because it's great service, but some of the flights are 737, some 757 and sometimes an Int'l (BizFirst) config'd 757 and have fewer FC seats than NW would on connecting flights to NYC. Compared to AA's J to JFK, CO has much less F inventory to EWR. As a NW Plat, UG has never happened to me on a cheapo fare, but did happen back when I was gold on a higher fare. I think mid-range fares could help increase those chances. (If you want more, there are threads on CO LAX-EWR upgrade chances.)

1. Pretty much answered above.
2. Answered as well, but to reiterate, be aware that the fares must be NW Y or B fares, CO Y or H fares, and KL S or B fares. These can be quite high and not nearly as low as AA's discounted economy + "processing fee."
3. There are WAY too many NW & CO Plats in the system. Don't count on complimentary upgrades. On a recent trip to DTW, there were over 30 NW Plats who had to sit in the back.

If you fly paid C or F, consider AF's FFP...or, since you're AA EXP, you may want to explore CX's FFP and be able to book BA awards...as well as upgrade your AA flights w/o paying that "processing fee."

Just an update. I booked my first 3 trips (9 segments total) and then faxed my request to match status to AA (I am EXP). I was given Gold status. I was hoping to get the highest status, but it does not really matter as there is no way in 6 months I would have been able to get 100 segments to maintain it into next year anyway. The key benefit of status for me is the extra miles for each flight, as I am on the CRJ's on most flights anyway.

Even with all the cancellations by NW recently only one flight was delayed (3+ hours though for mechanical and then weather). I have been mostly pleased by the GA's (except for two flights) and all the FA's/pilots have been friendly. The seats on the CRJ's are not too bad, obviously not great, but in the past 3+ years 90% of my flights have been on small planes anyway, so I am used to that tight squeeze already.

I never took the 9th segment. I was luckily vol. bumped from a connection flight in an oversale situation to a direct flight in which I got home 3 hours earlier. The connection was planned to get an extra segment to maintain the Gold status for next year. The oversale was for a $300 voucher. The GA did not give me the voucher! After printing my new boarding pass I asked for it and she thought I did not really want a voucher since I was now going direct?? She said that after processing me onto the direct flight there was no way to give me a voucher and to give her my address and it will be mailed.
Two questions - will I ever get the $300 voucher in the mail? Should I call/email to get this in my file in case I do not get it? Any way to get the extra segment to post in a vol. bump situation? If I get the voucher all is ok, but if I don't I would at least like the extra segment posted. Advice?