jsmirand

Auto, for silver I get an upgrade email usually T-48 hours. I also get an email if it says I haven't yet cleared. Gold and above clear earlier. A neighbor is top tier of US, he says if he buys domestic > 7 days he pretty much always gets up front with very few exceptions.

So on the whole, I often get an email two days prior to departure that I am in First on US while UAL would still be mulling if they should give me E+ or TOD kettles instead. Those funny jokers...

windhund

When I was GM on US, I used to get emails about a week up to the day before before departure letting me know that there might be upgrades to first class available. You could waitlist for one if you were interested, though I think in some cases they were confirmed instantly.

But when I was Silver or Gold on US, I got upgrades very frequently, especially on shorter flights. A very different experience from UA. It'll all change soon (upgrade stickers will be required for flights > 500 mi within the year), but it's nice while it lasts!

spsDC

Thanks all for reading and glad it was useful...a few quick responses below

@enviroian: No data on domestic upgrades yet. I've only taken one domestic AA flight since moving over to EXP and it was actually a BA award ticket so I think they were already doing me a favor by letting me standby for free on an earlier flight and the upgrade would have been asking too much (it costs 4,500 Avios vs. 12,500 AA miles for short-haul 1-way domestic US flights under 650miles. A great deal, btw, if you have a few Avios lying around.)

@gspurr and @lhrsfo: You're right that with LHR and NYC being the primary cities it was an easy switch to make. I would've had to think about it some more if AA didn't offer lots of direct flights with nice upgrade odds. As lhrsfo says, the problem with the SFO-LHR route is no AA direct service. I guess you could buy WT+ on BA and hope for op-ups but there's a lot less certainty in that than buying V/W fares on UA and using confirmed upgrades. BA does let you pre-select exit rows and bulkheads at time of booking with AA EXP # showing in the booking so that's a bit like the automatic E+ access on UA. If only AA would let you use upgrades on BA metal that way UA lets you use on LH...

@windhund: Will definitely report back about upgrade % anything else relevant on this thread as the year progresses

NiceLanding

While I accrue AA miles, I'm a big fan of those 4,500 Avios award tickets (using credit card points). Short-haul F-coded seats (should really be J IMO) are quite overpriced by comparison and just increased to 18,000. Fortunately AA has several times upgraded me just because I asked nicely even though upgrades are clearly not permitted.

FLYDCA

As a recent 1K convert over to AA EXP I'm simply delighted with my dometic upgrade success over at AA. I'm batting around 95% success with upgrades clearing well before I go to the airport. It has been far more relaxing too. I"m also enjoying the fact that I can spend more time in the lounge prior to boarding. Because AA does not create an artificial boarding line panic by making everyone think they have to stand in zone lines, I can now arrive at the gate shortly before boarding time and still board in time to find overhead space. I love not having to arrive at the gate so early only only to stand in a long zone 1 line or risk finding no overhead space.

weirdlyndon

Same! ^

StingWest

I'm flying BA WT+ on that route this summer and will report back on how hard it is to upgrade to business! I'm trading my 1K status next year for Gold on VS and silver on BA as most of my travel is SFO-LHR. (I don't know if I would have done this if I didn't have lifetime Platinum on UA)

Regarding Avios on BA, while they've recently devalued the accumulation of Avios points, they are a still a really good value for travel within Europe. To/from the USA, though, like VS they add big surcharges for travel using miles, unlike UA (so far).

Shareholder

Codeshare partners often have inventory on the same flights as the metal airline but availability in the lowest fare categories when the metal carrier's inventory for the same fare has been sold out. This happens with many airlines since most people don't consider checking the codeshare partner when booking their flights on the metal carrier.

halls120

^^ to AA's boarding practices - much more relaxed than UA's. And even though I'm just Plat on AA, I've been upgraded on 9 of 10 flights so far this year.

Two days ago I experienced something on AA I've yet to experience on UA - a courtesy upgrade on an international flight on a OneWorld partner. Amazing...

lhrsfo

I once received a courtesy upgrade on AC as a UA 1K.

Flyflyguy

The flip side is also true. With clearly demarcated lines for each zone, I can arrive half-way through the boarding process, walk up to my lane, and have the gate agent hold the rest of the line while s/he boards me.

Without the dedicated lanes, even if you're entitled to priority boarding, it would feel like someone jumping the lines (and have everyone give me a dirty look) [personal experience : even with split priority vs. general lanes, many gate agents I've observed simply call the group/zone numbers and board everyone via the same lane, thus nullifying the purpose of the split lanes]

I like the lanes concept because they keep the area in good order instead of being infested by gate lice.

itsMoe

Recently I've had a weird mix of itineraries where I found myself on three 757s within a short period of time. One United, one Delta, one American, all in domestic F. With all the posts here about how the grass is greener on the other side(s), I figured I'd share my experience.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions, and they're just that, opinions. Also, with n=1 for AA and DL, this is about as unscientific as it gets, so take it for what it is.

Anyways....

The app
Winner: UA
Runner-Up: AA
Last: nobody, because I didn't bother to download the delta one. Maybe it's super awesome.

The one thing I like about the AA app is that you get a countdown until boarding time, which is nice. Everything else, not so much. Couldn't use it to locate an Admiral's club. Couldn't use it to find out about food or amenities on my upcoming flight. Showed the wrong gate. The United app had none of these problems, though it does seem to crash more frequently. Importantly though, it does what I need it to do. I wish it would show my next flight on the home screen like it used to, but even without that it's still better than the AA offering.


The club
Winner: AA
Runner-Up: UA
Last: nobody, I don't have access to DL's clubs.

Drawing on some previous experiences her. I've been to AA's clubs at SFO, MIA, BOS and EWR, and UA's clubs at those and several other locations. With the exception of EWR, which I guess is just crappy overall, the AA clubs were generally nicer, seemed better equipped, and have buy-a-meal options. The one shining exception for UA is the club at LHR, which is great, and I'm not just saying that because the bartender there got me tipsy. I should note that now that UA has revamped their food offerings for United clubs, the playing field is being leveled somewhat.



The plane
Winner: Let's not kid ourselves, these are extremely old 757s. There are no winners here. However, the seats seemed a bit plushier on UA. Then again, AA had power outlets. AA weirdly loaded the plane through the front door, and half the FC seats remained empty - I've never seen that on UA!. Must not have been an elite-heavy route. The DL plane had a mechanical issue, and so we had no water. The FA helpfully explained that the tanks were full but the pumps were dead, and that there were wet wipes available in the bathroom. The UA plane had a mechanical issue where we broke two tow bars and were then served chicken sandwiches with no chicken on them. That last one is on catering, but I blame the 757. The AA plane had no mechanical issue on this flight, which probably means that it fell apart on the next one.



The food
Winner: UA
Runner-up: AA
Loser: DL

Ever since UA has "re-imagined" (which I assume is marketing speak for "fire whoever cooked up the crap they were feeding us before and hire people with actual taste buds and cooking skills") their premium cabin dining, they seem to have left the competition in the dust. 3 meal choices on some flights, much tastier food, and oh my, raspberry sorbet. AA's food was thoroughly mediocre - microwave dinner quality rice glued together with cheese and cream served next to a not-too-shabby piece of chicken and some veggies - and DL had a "healthy" option that consisted of dry chicken, bread sticks and some kind of roasted vegetable. This was inexplicably served with a tub of mayo that I used to combat the dryness of the chicken, which may have affected the overall "healthiness" of the food.


The FAs
Winner: I think AA, by a whisker
Runner-up: DL
Loser: UA

Yeah okay I have to hand it to them, the AA and DL flight attendants were nicer. Again, small sample size, I may have lucked out. With UA, it's total hit-or-miss, I've had fantastic crews and abysmal crews and so I suppose on average they're okay, but on these flights, I got the surly type. The AA people were making sure my glass was never empty, and were very attentive. The DL ones took the malfunctioning water situation like champs and stayed friendly and attentive throughout.


The Verdict

Well I have no status with AA or DL, and I have to fly *A routes a lot, so I'll stick with UA. I gotta say though, it seems like all three airlines have their strengths and weaknesses. Based on the posts here I was expecting much better everything on AA and DL, and that wasn't the case. So I guess it's not so much a matter of extremes as I thought it was. I'm curious to try the new AA biz internationally, which I've heard good things about. Maybe things are different over the ocean.

CO_Nonrev_elite

For the 757, I'd say your comments more or less matched my own. I'd say that this is arguably the only configuration where I'd feel this way. I'm surprised that you had UA over AA/DL on food. Were all flights similar in length, time and general market ?. There is no doubt that the UA food has improved, but I haven't seen an improvement yet to the level where I felt it was above the others, but no doubt its improved.

Flyflyguy

Regarding the app part, I'll rank it UA > DL > AA. AA's app modern and bright but rather lacking in functionality. DL's app allow wi fi pre purchase or viewing e-ticket receipt which is a plus. But overall, the UA app is miles ahead in terms of all types of usefulness.

Will Dearborn

It blows me away how good the United app is in light of how goofy their overall IT is.