inpd

Hi All,

I've decided to take the plunge and fly AA for the rest of the year. I got matched to AA Platinum (which is UA Gold). Here I'll document my experiences/observations.

Please don't hijack this thread, I just want to document my experiences not turn it into a pro-UA or anti-UA thread.

Right now its mainly booking observations and they are ...

1) UA.com does a great job at reporting cheap flights. But with AA.com you can easily find cheaper flights using HipMunk, Kayak etc. I mean much cheaper.

2) One world is much smaller than Star Alliance.

3) AA mileage earning for a Platinum (UA Gold) is much better (100% bonus vs 50% bonus) but some One World partners are stingy so you need to be careful, i.e. Air Berlin only offers 25% miles!

4) But AA has the nice policy of pricing things cheaply if you book months out. $900 fares to FRA in the middle of Octoberfest ... from the west coast!

Col Ronson

One thing i've noticed is that AA will offer 100% miles on any flight with an AA flight number (so codeshares on any OW airline), while on UA, the opposite is true and you get however many miles the operating carrier decides.

787fan

One of my most flown route is JFK-YVR on CX. AA doesn't fly that route but doesn't code share on it either so it's impossible for me to earn aadvantage miles if I book discount Econ.

tom911

You'll run into similar mileage accrual rates (0-50%) on Cathay, JAL and Qantas. You have to be very careful when booking the partner airline's flight number. The one workaround is to book the AA code share which will always accrue full AA miles and bonuses. Partner accrual rates are covered HERE.


That's a sale that either UA or DL started for mid-Sept to mid-Oct travel. That route is normally $1,400-$1,500 RT. I booked SFO-DUS on AA for $714 on the sale. Look at Nov and Dec and you'll see the normal AA high-priced fares to Germany.

scherzva

I did a status match from UA (1K MM) to AA (Ex Plat) earlier this year. Personally I think AA is a better airline and UA isn't as bad as everyone says. I am maintaining status with both airlines for 2015 and I will evaluate what I do after the new AAdvantage program is announced (though we might not see changes till 2016).

Strengths of AA:

- WiFi (UA has it on some planes, but not enough)
- Better catering
- Easier to get upgraded as EXP than 1K (from IAD)
- Sometimes low-prices P fares (discounted F)
- They still give free upgrades between LAX/SFO and JFK (UA didn't last I checked)
- EXP get a free drink and BoB in Y if not upgraded
- 8 SWU for EXP with no
- Far superior catering in F

Strengths of UA:

- *A is a better alliance than ow (IMHO)
- Superior J for international (except maybe AA's 77Ws and updated 763/772s)
- *A is stronger in the EU and Asia
- Easier to book award travel on partners (though it will cost you more miles)
- Easier to earn miles by non-BIS activities like mileageplusshopping.com, rental cars

Just my two cents

bmwe92fan

Seems like a solid list - My biggest issue with UA is the current path / trajectory they are on - going down while others seem to be improving, and when I think of how things will look in a few years it makes it hard to continue to "invest" my travel time with UA...

spin88

I agree its a solid list. Two quick questions though... when looking at partner awards, it used to be that CX was easy to book (at reasonable rates) with AA miles. Is that no longer the case?

Also AA and UAL has similar OT percentages (not great, and AAs is getting better, UALs has of late been worse) currious if either poster has noticed (a) similar or more frequent IRROPs on one airline or the other, and (b) if AA is better at addressing them when they occur?

UA-NYC

Adding to the list:

- You can fly OW partners and get lifetime mileage credit...all of them count
- IIRC if you fly premium cabin in any OW partner, you get the elite RDM bonus and 50% "points" bonus (unlike UA where it's only the JV partners)
- As a mid-tier Plat, I'm now 8/9 on the year with sticker upgrades...at similar flight lengths on UA, I'm 7/16. Reason: no TODs
- ACs are just damn nice...like having a quality drink at the bar and ordering food.
- Power, power, everywhere on planes!

Col Ronson

This is perhaps the best perk. i suspect it'll go away eventually but for right now im milking it like crazy.

And yes an Admirals Club > United Club. Less crowded (IMHO), and you can actually order a real meal. i think i had sushi last time.

Also Oneworld Emerald: First Class Lounge access. Star/Skyteam has no equivalent.

UA-NYC

It will go up, but it's insanely cheap right now...US to SE Asia, one way C is 55K miles and F is 67.5K miles. On UA partner carriers, C is 80K and F is, what, 140K now?

IME still pretty easy to find CX flights for awards.

Have an interesting story from last week on AA...LGA-DFW (so an hourly shuttle basically), we start to board when the captain comes out and says "sorry, need to de-board, this plane is going out of service".

With UA, this means "flight cancelled, you're screwed, may or may not be auto-rebooked, good luck". On this AA flight, they announced they were pulling a plane from another flight, just needed to switch gates, do paperwork, etc. Delay ended up being 45 min, no biggie.

Now it was a focus city for them, but not a hub, so not like they have tons of 737s sitting around. But based on past (UA) experience, thought for sure I was looking at a cancel. Just shows what you have come to expect w/UA though.

goingbananas

On CX awards, I have booked 2 seats in F to/through HKG the last 4 years now with not a lot of issues. In fact, cashing in an award next month. Try doing that with SQ. BTW...67.5K AA miles each way.

IRROPS on AA is waaaay better as an EXP compared to 1K today.....As a former GS (from the day of its inception) and now a lowly 1K for life at UA, I can tell you the IRROPS at AA is almost to the level of GS back in say...2010....I don't think anyone can match UA back in 2010 as a GS in IRROPS situation, not even AA, but it is better than "Jeffro Air" is today....

787fan

Regarding Asian awards, UA allows either ocean while AA must be pacific, and since JAL is so rare, if CX is not available on the day you need, you have virtually no other partners to pick except AA metal. I think the SOLE exception to the rule is if you route QR the whole way. No BA IB AB AY EY RJ to use.

With UA allowing either ocean, your options are virtually limitless. From SN to LH to OZ to NH to BR .... I've booked/done JFK-ZRH-BKK or HKG-IST-JFK or SIN-ICN-JFK or PVG-ICN-LHR-EWR just to name a few.

AA's primary European partner is BA, so you're frequently dealt with the double whammy of BA's heavy YQ and UK PFC/APD, while UA doesn't leverage YQ on any single partner, even if said partner charges YQ to their own FFers.

787fan

UA allows stopover at virtually any city (DME BNE CPT you name it), while AA (someone correct me here) only allows a 24-hr stopover at the international gateway city per the recent change in policy.

restlessinRNO

Please! Only a mere 130K for F to SE Asia one way (using *A carriers).

tom911

Isn't UA charging the same taxes/fees for UK departures/class of service that both AA and BA are?

Yes, you will pay the BA fuel surcharge on awards which can be up to $400 one way from reports I've read, but then you're not paying the additional miles you would to fly Lufthansa across the Atlantic or Singapore across the Pacific in premium classes. Some would say you sort of come out even there when you look at the dollar value of those additional miles you give up as a UA flyer. I've only paid the BA fuel surcharge once and that was on LHR-DUB which was the second segment on HEL-LHR-DUB. Still much cheaper than a paid ticket and a good value for me.