SEA1K4EVR

Yeah sure until it becomes USdbaAA with the fab LCC ticker symbol.. and that "suit" along with his compadres in Fort Worth are gone and all decisions are being made from Phoenix.. it'll be so great! $2 sodas in economy are sure to return...

goodeats21

Thanks for posting this. Interesting conversation and very refreshing to hear this type of message. Quite different than the new UA experience.

I decided not to pursue the EXP status match due to 100,000 miles flown + booked on UA for 2012. There was no way I could also hit the requirements to continue EXP status. But this only reinforces the idea that I will look to status match for 2013 travel.

I may arrive late to the pAArty, but I will enjoy once I am there....

abmj-jr

The day AA replaces the defunct MRTC with a decent E+ product will be the day I status match. E+ is the ONLY thing keeping me on this disaster of an airline.

FriendlySkies

They're adding MCE (Main Cabin Extra) to the fleet.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/mainCabinExtra.jsp

ijgordon

UA has a much broader network than AA. However, AA does have a very/pretty good schedule to a handful of destinations - ORD, MIA, LAX, SFO, DFW, LHR, ATL, YYZ. Okay coverage to continental Europe, but not as broad as UA/DL. Good coverage to deep S Amer with nonstops to GRU/GIG/EZE. Little to Asia - only Tokyo.

Domestically, not too much difference at the end of the day. But sounds like UA going downhill faster. Lots of things to split hairs over like meal windows and predeparture beverages and IFE/connectivity. Internationally a mixed bag. AA's hard product is a relatively consistent slightly-angled flat bed. UA varies from very good full flat (most pmCO) to decent full flat (pmUA) to pretty bad old-style recliners (some pmCO 767 and pmUA 777).

I think UA is better. More carriers (better availability) and more flexible routings. I think you can still do a stopover at your destination region on UA if you redeem round-trip. I can think of a few examples where the redemption chart is better for UA too, like US-South Africa awards. There might be awards where AA is cheaper, I'm not sure. More difficult to avoid surcharges on AA if traveling to/via Europe. OTOH J->F upgrades are very easy on AA as the upgrade bucket is also used for revenue tickets.
Star gives you a lot more options (most partners) but its not cheap and requires expensive fares. AA works on BA and IB but also not cheap, and I think there are restrictions on how you have to purchase your tickets. Really, neither are great for personal flight upgrades on partners because of the fare class restrictions.

1KPath

I felt the same way you did when our organization left UA last December...but to be completely honest, I have not had a non-exit row seat yet when I wasn't upgraded in seven months of flying...and I have been upgraded 85% of the time!! When I have been in Y I have received free snacks and sandwiches as well as any number of comp adult beverages. The change, at least for me, has been a good one...and I say this with nearly 80K under my belt this year on AA! I have only had about a 40% upgrade success on my 20K on UA this year and a lot of unnecessary drama!...As FriendlySkies indicated, AA is introducing their version of E+! It seems that AA is willing to learn from their mistakes...can we say this about the "new" UA?

I say all of this with a heavy heart...after of nearly 40 years of loyalty to UA...family members pilots still flying with UA...and lifetime(?) status...I am afraid to say that the grass is greener on the AA side (at least today!)

bseller

Had they simply ASKED, they would have learned that the "new UA" is really the "old CO". Might have saved them the trouble.

Interesting. If he'd listen to UA's CFO, he might have a different opinion. OOPS: That would be the "newUA"s CFO.

Nicely said! ^
The idea that a company should be customer centric was universal until the advent of "fortress hubs" - wherein a company / airline would abuse their frequent flyer public B/C they had no alternative.

I suspect that the effort to implement this business strategy to the world's largest air carrier will fail. Please don't ask the CO FanBoys to comment.

Dave

LarkSFO

Thank you for your post. Interesting information.

I'll believe this when I see one, just one, new flight out of SFO...

When the AA Executive Office called me earlier this week, they even acknowledged that SFO is a 'UA stronghold'... But that they would still do what they could to earn my business.

FlyWorld

If that's the only reason you are with UA, then the next time they take you out of your confirmed E+ aisle or window seat and throw you into E- middle (see Random Seat Changes thread), you might decide to accelerate the switch.

1KPath

Interesting that you bring SFO up...it is the one city he mentioned that they were looking at for some expansion!...I too will believe it when I see it

I actually asked him if they were getting many status comp requests from the Houston area...he said that it was proportional with other cities...and that they were looking into expanding in Texas...and he was not meaning Dallas!

Since AA is in reorganization, they might be able to do things not available to them in normal circumstances. I sense AA is smelling blood...UA/COs blood! Only time will tell.

FlyWorld

I had the same conversation with them this week, I'm also out of SFO.

tom911

If AA wants to take UA on at SFO, maybe they'll consider bringing back SFO-HNL and SFO-BOS as starters. Not sure they'd do SFO-IAD as they're closing the Admiral's Club at IAD and it's not a route they've flown before. See enough flyers doing SFO-IAD with a DFW connection, though, might be just what AA needs to reopen that Club and start the new route.

demkr

Just out of curiosity, what routes do you take on UA that would be inconvenient out of AA out of the Bay Area?

I find that most of my destinations I have to connect anyway ..

A lot of those hesitant to switch from UA to AA complain about the Bay Area. I used to be one of those people when AA was making some cuts. Since then, though, planes have been upgauged out of SFO.

In my view SFO's O&D outside of hub-hub traffic domestically is pretty light. Destinations like MSP and MSY and STL only have 1 frequency per day (though STL-SFO has 2 on Sunday, but not SFO-STL--weirdly), and a lot of them are at inconvenient times

Whenever I go to DC, I am not one who drives a car so IAD is extremely inconvenient for me. Going in the winter and having to deal with the bus+metro, it literally took me longer than if I were to fly into BWI. Instead of that hassle, I'd rather fly into DCA.

SFO has one frequency a day to DCA that was recently added, but as I had said in the post above, it's not designed for O&D and mostly for connectors. It gets you in at 9 pm -- I'd rather take an early morning flight and get to DC in the afternoon.

That's why when I was flying AA I felt UA would offer much more out of SFO, but with my destinations they rarely do. The only direct flights that are convenient for me are MSP and STL (and with one frequency a day and very low capacity, prices are not cheap--often the connectors cost less than the direct)

gegarrenton

Understatement of the Epoch.

LarkSFO

Yes, it is route/destination dependent.

Without including Alaska Airlines, here are my only AA destinations from SFO: Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK

I have flown to all of these places in the past year, mostly on UA, and also:

Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Boston, Austin (hate the small jet on this route), Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney (), Honolulu, Houston, Newark, Salt Lake City, Denver, Orlando, Wash DC / Dulles, Albuquerque, and probably a few others I can't recall off the top of my head.

Yes, Minneapolis, Albany, Hartford, Grand Cayman all flights that require a connection (there is one direct daily to MSP on UA, but more options connecting through DEN or ORD). So, for these destinations any airline that flys there would do.

If the majority of my flying is already on UA though, it makes sense for me to do the connecting flights on UA too to achieve status. (I don't fly enough to achieve meaningful status on more than one airline.)

What destinations do you fly to that require a connection on UA?