redheadtempe33

Have you considered US? Yes, they are not United (no IFE or E+) but since you are going through Phoenix anyway and the flights are so short I doubt there is a big difference in service. I'm incorrect here, looks like DEN-LAX is a meal flight on UA (assuming you get upgraded). Do not expect the same on US. I'm sure UA's meals aren't anything to write home about, but on US you will get a snack at best on each leg. Not sure if airline food is a priority for you, but thought is was worth correcting. Sounds like you would rack up 4 segments a week and you would be a Charmain in a little over 6 months. You could then always use your FF miles to fly on CO/UA internationally.

US has later flight times out of SNA and LAX (and Burbank and Long Beach) and you can take US' DEN-PHX-SNA and be in LA by 9:00 A.M. If you can be at DIA in time for the 6:00 A.M. flight (shudder). On the upside I would bet money that you will be upgraded on that 6:00 A.M. DEN-PHX segment most of the time.

Just looking at tomorrow for SWA it appears they have fairly good flight times (get into LAX by 8:00 from DEN) and you could leave as late as 8:45 P.M. Of course, no FC upgrades, and I'm not sure how good their new program is for international flying, but it is worth looking at.

rjhellma

I have been using US going through Phoenix. Sorry, should have specified. Although, I put in my UA info when booking so I get the status on United. I'm Star Alliance Gold so the only hassle is the seat selection. When I punch in my UA FF#, it doesn't automatically recognize that status, so I'm not able to pick better seats. I then have to call and talk to someone to change my seats. Wish the system could pick that up without me having to call...

wanaflyforless

If you really do fly every week, you should be able to make 1K without segment padding that often.

rjhellma

You are right with the old policy, but they bumped up the segments requirment to 120. I have a nice little Excel model that shows how close I am. I'm on pace for about 115 right now and about 90K miles.

Grunschev

I live in Denver and have been working an engagement in Burbank for about 18 months. (Started as a 3 month contract, never figured I'd be here this long!) I pay my own expenses so price is a big factor, but not the only one.

I tried flying home a few times from BUR instead of LAX, but there are no direct flights at times that work for me, so I'm in and out of LAX. Until recently, this route on both SW and UA could be had for $59 each way before fees. Both airlines have raised fares, but they've remained price competitive. All things equal, I will pay perhaps $20 more to fly UA than SW, for reasons that probably don't apply to other travelers.

I fly home on the 6:20 flight (time varies somewhat from month to month). This is now a 3 cabin 777 and even without 1k status I've been upgraded to Business every week. I'm typically notified of my upgrade on Tuesday for my Friday flight. Without the upgrade, on in E+ without fail. E+ is a great benefit for us coach fliers.

For a few months, I was using SW for DEN to LAX on Monday mornings. UA used to have a 6am flight, but now their earliest is 8am. But SW has slowly made their earliest flight later and later, and now I'm forced to fly Sunday night. I just can't get to the office early enough - client demands me on site at 9am. So I'm on the latest possible UA flight on Sunday nights.

My experience is that flights on Friday evenings LAX to DEN are often delayed on SW but almost never on UA. I've had UA cancel the flight and get me on the 8pm, but it's not uncommon for SW to be delayed by hours. (One Friday evening, every SW flight from LAX was delayed at least two hours. Every one. No weather anywhere in the country that day. The USAir flights were on time, but SW was clearly having a bad day.)

One major thing to note is that I have never had a delay on any airline due to weather in DEN, not since the new airport was built. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I've flown a couple hundred times in or out of DEN without a delay due to weather in DEN. To put a point on it, I've had more delays due to snow in Houston than any sort of weather in Denver.

I check a bag every other week. Having even minimal status on UA gets me free bags. Baggage claim on both ends is significantly faster for UA than SW, even if you don't get the priority tag on UA. In DEN, bags from LAX show up on carousel 14 and comes up the belt on the window side. SW seems to not use any technology - the bags show up randomly on any of their 3 carousels and somebody with a clipboard has to see where it's arriving to update the computer. (I wonder why that is.)

Finally, part of my dislike for SW is that I used to be on the terrorist watch list. This meant that I couldn't use the web or a kiosk to check in. I had to use an agent, who had to call TSA or the FBI or the White House before I could get a boarding pass. The system has changed, I can now check in online. But when I had to use an agent at the airport, it meant I was always a C boarder on SW (unless I wanted to pay the higher fair for BS). In any event, I prefer to have an assigned seat.

Bottom line for me is, I'm willing to pay up to about $20 more to fly UA than SW. Happily, between DEN and LAX the fares are typically the same. I have the luxury of knowing my schedule through August, so I can buy when fares are at their cheapest (see yapta.com), so except for around holidays I never have to decide whether I need/want to pay more to fly UA. I'll not likely get Premium Exec on UA this year because I've flown so many Monday mornings on SW, but to me vanilla Premium on UA is much better than SW.

wanaflyforless

40 weeks x 2 segments + 10 weeks x 4 segments = 120 segments

Do you not fly 50 weeks/year?

rjhellma

I do fly 50 weeks a year. But I don't ever do 4 segments a week. I only pick up the extra segment on my way home on Thursdays. I need to get to my client site at a reasonable time on Monday morning, so I take a direct flight then.

Thanks for all the info. Pretty good stuff to think about.