I'll definitely agree about NW's customer service etc...that's why I'm a multi-year Plat. Issue at hand is exploring alternatives if NW as we currently know it becomes "the worst of DL/NW" in the next year. AA is one such alternative, and they gave me a positive experience this past weekend. We shall (all) see...

I was at the gate last Friday at 6pm and our flight to DTW was delayed about an hour due to thunderstorms. The guy across the way was going to Ottawa, and was going to misconnect. He said that he should have known better than to ever to book on Northwest -- through Detroit of all places.

But the guy next to him had a PDA and could check current flight estimates, and found out that his Ottawa flight was equally delayed, and that he would make the connection no problem. That made him big time happy.

I went over to the board and looked at the AA and UA ORD connections. The 620pm AA flight to ORD was delayed till 10pm. The later AA and UA flights were cancelled.

"Should have known better than to ever to book on Northwest" my aspidistra! :eek:

AA does have some plusses the exit row seats are pretty good. Bags at any hub get off a lot slower then non hubs, airlines. AA is easier to use FF miles for tickets then NWA. On the donwside unless you are explat you have to use coupons for your upgrade and they are not automatic if you are explat. The main reason I do not fly AA that much is the hubs. ORD has too many delays for me to fly through every night. That is the biggest reason for me I think the FF programs are a wash when all is said and done.

I'll definitely go along with ORD being a down side to using AA. (Fortunately, out of GPT my hub focus would be more DFW than ORD.) If I have to defect away from NW/DL, I'll definitely miss the far superior NW hubs...all 3 of 'em.

If one's schedule changes much, the standby priority offered by Plat and EXP status with AA is very valuable for free standby. Don't be discouraged if you see 10 people listed (on the gate monitors) for standby: in many situations a Plat will go on at #11 and zoom right to the top.

Good info, 3CForme, thanks.

I see from your profile that you list yourself as ex-DL/NW Plat...can you share your other experiences and observations, pro and con, from switching over from NW and DL to AA?

AA plats don't get unlimited 'domestic' upgrades. One earns 4 'stickers', each eligible for 500 miles, per 10K paid flown miles. You'll be seated in coach more often on AA. AA holds exit rows for Plat/EXP until airport control, so even if you're flying standby it's possible to get a very good seat.

I have never gotten an intercontinental op-up from AA. Nor did I ever from DL in seven years of Gold & Plat. So in that regard NW treated me better.

If your company buys intercontinental business tickets, AA routes with 777 service have honest-to-God first class available, not first lite. Upgrade with miles as a Plat, or eVIPs as an EXP.

All AA mainline aircraft have powerports, even in coach seats, although not every row in coach.

I have lived in NW hubs for 17 of the past 19 years, so it's difficult to book away from Northwest and their nonstop frequencies. But I don't regret the move to AA. I could say more but I've probably said too much for this forum...

OP, welcome to the DAArkside :)

Not yet...just exploring options (along with many other lurkers around here, I'm sure), and quite honestly, my AA trip this past weekend was pure happenstance based on the superior fare for the route at the time; it wasn't something I was actively seeking. Still, as this thread attests it has spawned interesting discussion, which I appreciate.

And until any airline can match the 95%+ upgrade rate that I've had on NW the past 6+ years as a Plat, NW is still my #1 choice, unless NW/DL ruins it all (we shall all see, right?). (And of course, almost all will be forgiven if they would just ditch the flippin' CRJs...one can dream...)

Flew AA a couple of times
 

I've flown AA a couple of times. A couple of months ago when Delta had some real weather issues. Was sent to AA, who took a bad situation and cleaned it up quite nicely. Three years ago down to DFW for a meeting. Service in first, and coach on the recents flights.

It could be an alternative, but I'm still thinking the merger will be ok.

The killer for me is ORD. Being in the midwest, I'm more than likely going to go thru ORD and that's why I left UA a bunch of years ago. ORD is the airport most likely to self destruct at the drop of a hat. (No airline is responsible for that mess, although UA cancelled enough flights on me in the old days to send me packing back to NWA. )

If I have to bail on NWA, I'm not sure where. AA could have been in contention, but not if it's thru ORD.

Here's a vote against AA (and remember, I'm the OP on this thread):

AA jet loses panel mid-flight

I suppose this could have happened to any carrier, but still...

AA hasn't used A300s for longer haul international flights (e.g., BOS-LON) for quite a years now. The 300s are used almost exclusively for Caribbean basin flights as they're optimal for these short/medium range flights being able to carry lots of freight and pax.

I've been batting around that rate regularly with AA. Excluding international routings that I used systemwides on, I cleared 56/57 domestic upgrades in 2007, 53/54 in 2006, and 74/78 in 2005. This year I'm at 12/13, though upgraded 18 other flights with systemwides. I made the jump to AA from UA and am still pretty happy there.

Ok, long time lurking (and learning), but first post.

Last year I made the move from NW to AA. I had been PE for 10 years on NW (through 3/2008) and have been EXP on AA since 8/2007. I switched not because of dissatisfaction with NW, but because of a change in domestic and international flying patterns. I have learned, both from FT and from belonging to different programs, that there is not one "best" program for all and although I am very happy with AA, I was very happy with NW. (Does this disqualify me from being a true FT'er?)

One thing that makes a difference for me is whether I would be a top (advertised) tier (EXP or PE) or a lower tier (PLT, GLD, GE, or SE). Because I fly about 125K BIS miles and mostly international paid business fares, the difference in the qualifying requirements for the top-tier level (100K vs 75K) is not important. In fact, given that I exceed 100K EQM/EQP the higher level works a bit to my advantage (fewer top-tier elites, on average). If I would only make PLT/GLD on AA or GE/SE on NW, I would probably opt for NW.

What do I miss about NW? I fly primarily out of DTW, so domestic flights, especially to the East Coast are an issue. I am SE this year, so I continue to fly NW for the few of these I have. I am not sure what I will do next year as pond scum. Most of my domestic flights are DTW <-> ABQ, which requires a connection on AA, CO, DL, F9, NW, UA, US, or WN, so this is not a big concern. Although I am not a fan of ORD, I have not had any problems this year or last on the few days I flew through there. I miss the complementary companion upgrade, although msdebit is now AA PLT and soon to be EXP. I rarely used domestic award tickets, so don't miss the upgrades on those. Most of my international travel is to GRU or Asia. AMS is better than LHR for European connections, but the few times through LHR, I have had no problems.

What do I like about AA? 8 SWUs. (I switched before the new Elite ExtraPerks program at NW.) I have used all 8 already, four to upgrade roundtrip economy tickets to Europe for msdebit and me and four to move me from J to (international) F. (The suites on the 777s are very nice, even better than my previous favorite, 73A.) I like the international partner airlines I have flown better (BA, CX, and QF over KL and KE). I like the idea of lifetime elite programs (even though I understand these are the program's lifetime, not mine.) I will be "lifetime" GLD next year. I like the idea of soft landings for when I stop flying as much. When flying to Asia, I like flying CX from LAX through HKG rather than NW through NRT. (NRT is almost never my destination and it only takes a couple of times getting stuck there to prefer something else.)

I have had good service on both AA and NW, although I think AA F/J service is a bit more consistent. (When NW service is good, it can be very, very good; when it is, shall we say, less good, it can be very, very irritating.) The NW web site is better, but not enough to make me return. I have had excellent service from both the PE line and the EXP line. I bring my own IFE, so that is not an issue. Finally, some numbers important to me from SeatGuru: F pitch on NW domestic aircraft is 34 (DC9) to 37 (757). On AA domestic it is 39 (MD80 and 757) to 40 (737). (I am one of maybe three people who actually like the MD80, which is good, because that is mostly what I fly domestically.) I flew a NW DC-9 the other day in F and the difference in pitch was noticeable compared to the E/F side of an AA MD80.

Now, the numbers you have all been waiting for -- upgrade percentages:

NW: As a PE, not tracked, but I only remember missing one or two over the last several years (DTW -> LAX Friday morning flight). As a SE this year I am 2/2. (DTW <-> PHL).

AA: As a PLT last year, I was 11/11. As an EXP last year, I was 12/12. As an EXP this year I am 14/14. Msdebit is also batting 1.000 on upgrades as a PLT, both this year (6/6) and last (12/12). (As a caveat, for PLTs/GLDs these require stickers and I have purchased them to upgrade when my earned stickers ran out. The flip side of this is that I have flown perhaps 25% of the time in F with an empty seat next to me, which happens rarely on NW.) These flights were mostly DTW <-> DFW and DFW <-> ABQ, not heavy elite routes, although I have been upgraded on DFW <-> LAX as well.

There are obviously many things I have left out (boarding processes, clubs, Smith vs McNamara terminals, and so on), but none of these alone would make me choose one over another.

As I said at the beginning, if my flying patterns had not changed (DTW to ABQ and Australia), I would probably still be with NW.

One last, semi-OT comment: I sampled UA, which has probably the best route coverage for me, but based on my admittedly small sample size, I would choose either NW or AA over UA.

I hope this helps. My suggestion, for someone who has similar flying patterns, is to wait until an international J-class trip is planned and take the Platinum challenge (details on the AA board). You will be AA PLT (GE equivalent) at the end of the trip and will not have to spend any time as a GM.

... and did:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=823482

;)