Do you really think AA is going to offer 1K to EXP status matches indefinitely? I'd be worried they'll take that off the table down the line and just offer paid challenges again.

+1
That horse has left the barn.

UA is going to have no choice but to beef up its schedule out of US hubs. I flew from PHX-EWR a few weeks ago & was shocked to see that UA cancelled every single flight after 5PM from PHX except EWR. They used to have a late flight to ORD, A late flight to SFO & another red eye to IAD (I think a flight to CLE & IAH as well around 6-7 PM. NOW JUST 1 FLIGHT!!!! They may not need more right now as US flys those routes at night as well but w US gone, I can't believe UA is going to give up on PHX

The strange thing is that they are also reducing the US codeshares without adding their own frequency. I just don't see how they can come up with all the capacity if they don't start planning and announcing now. Also, some kind of reassurance from them would prevent people from jumping ship.

Temporary from last October to this April - then the 787 problem happened and now it is postponed until end of March 2014. TPE is obviously not their priority.

Yes, understood. What I was saying was that the longer US stays with *A, the longer I can at least earn PQMs on US while trying to do UA when schedule/fare is acceptable. It is not as fast but better than no US.

Correct - but United does some domestic code share routes with US, so an itinerary could be something like this:

1st segment on United metal: earns UA EQM's/earns UA BIS miles
2nd segment on USAirways metal: earns UA EQM's/but no UA BIS miles


SunLover

Living in central NJ, EWR is obviously my airport of choice. However, when the flights out of EWR don't work for me, the next options are JFK and PHL, which are both nearly the same distance from my house. Of course, PHL is the better option than having to drive over to JFK.

That being said, more flights out of PHL would be much appreciated as it's always better to have more options. I am actually flying PHL-IAH in a few hours because it was $400 vs. the $1000 they wanted for an EWR-IAH flight.

The US acquisition of AA will give US-AA the opportunity to revamp is program with some cover. I would expect to see PLT be more along the lines of GS, with a serious BIS spend requirement after a transition. Would very much doubt that 1K would automatically map to PLT given that 1K can be earned on spends in the $8K range.

I'm not sure if you know what you're talking about here with this comparison...

I find myself in a similar situation, although I'm a bit more equidistant from EWR (50min) and PHL (60min), so JFK isn't really a viable option. I've been trying to avoid EWR whenever I can for reasons obvious to all on this board; US from PHL has provided me with a lot of options to smaller markets (and in some cases, better aircraft options - E170s or CRJ700s instead of E145s or Q400s). But the ability to get a healthy number of options from either airport was a huge benefit of the jump to *A (and the eventual merger).

I had AA Gold when I started flying often for business, but tired of connecting through ORD, so I matched over to CO. The US/AA merger seriously has me considering jumping back, but that would all but kill EWR as a reasonable alternative to PHL.

Maybe Often1 means EXP?

AA+US will still be weak to Asia so still no go for me....

I think your right bust it still does not make sense what he's trying to say. AA does have CK & it would be easier to upgrade that to a GS type tier then EXP (which I also think he means). EXP can also be gotten on the cheap, just like 1K

If the airlines are smart (no indication so far that they are), AA & UA will spruce up the benefits of EXP & 1K while putting a minimum spend and weeding out the people who's sole goal is to get these levels as cheap as PSBL.

I disagree. AA has been pretty smart so far. They have lured a large number of Continental high volume travelers.

I expect to see AA moving more towards a systems like DL though. Where the tiers will be $$$ based.

I'm not sure I believe AA lured so many HVF's from UA. Some for sure but not the amount people are saying. FT is not really a good barometer for what's truly happening. The FT community is a small sample made up of people who put way more importance on FF programs then they deserve nor is it a true indicator of what the average business traveller will do. Add to that the act half of what is written here is wishful thinking at best and pure BS at wort, well...I just don't believe that many HVF'S have defected. UA for sure is losing some if this market share. I can't argue with that but I am more willing to put a lot if those losses under the heading of natural attrition. All airlines lose HVF's every year by the nature if their jobs but for every one they lose, they get a new HVF. UA's problem is they have an infective marketing department (do they even have a marketing dept)? They also are not giving any new passengers any reason what so ever to fly them

Natural attrition? Really? :rolleyes: I'd suspect it was more the post 3/12 integration issues, the summer operational breakdowns, the selling of seats previously handed out as upgrades, and the increased use of RJs on routes formerly served by mainline aircraft. Coupled with enticements from AA and DL, that's where the UA HVF loss comes from.

Bet there is a third airport closer to Central Jersey than PHL or JFK ;)

One of the side effects of the AA/US merger is that prices out of Philly specifically will skyrocket. Right now AA has been having the lowest prices and UA have been matching them. DL and US are on the top of the price range. Take the current AA low prices out of the equation and you will see UA prices jump pretty high.