nottarockstar

After a year off of flying, I'll be spending at least 2-3 weeks per month flying from SF-NYC next year. Booked the first few flights on UA, but can't even get space for premium economy at booking and wondering if there's a better option; VX, AA..? What would you do if you're basically starting from scratch? Falling down to Silver next year, so will take a couple months to build back up, which is why I'm thinking a new carrier w better upgrades, mile earning would be a better fit.

aCavalierInCoach

None of the carriers are headed the right direction in terms of upgrades, miles redemption, etc and they're constantly changing, so really hard to think about the long-term. The only consideration if this is a multi-year engagement is that AA gives its EXPs complimentary upgrades SFO-JFK, but as with DL and UA it seems like space is pretty rare.

If I was solely thinking about productivity and comfort for the 36 x-countries you've got slated for next year and didn't have any status, I'd probably go with B6. Free high speed wifi, better legroom, and affordable buy-ups to Mint which is as good as anything outside of AA's F product.

aacharya

If OP is flying 3x a month, that's 15K a month, and that's 1K by July.

Silver will be tough on that route, as you'll only get E+ at check-in, but if you do maintain that, you can pick E+ at booking when you hit Gold in early April.

With all that being a 1K gets you, I'd stick with UA for that route. They fly almost hourly.

EWR764

If your travel is best suited to EWR (and JFK is less convenient) then objectively I think United is the best pick in most metrics. VX has a limited schedule and your benefits as a 1K exceed those as Elevate Gold, IMO.

Otherwise, AA (EXP upgrades) and B6 (overall product + Mint) are strong contenders if JFK is in the mix. If you're routinely going to be purchasing premium cabin tickets, I'd replace AA with DL.

mduell

If you want EWR, UA is the way to go.

If JFK is better for you, consider AA or DL depending on your other travel plans. If this is your only travel, consider B6.

VX doesn't have the schedule at either airport to make sense.

nottarockstar

Yes, JFK or EWR are doable.

Most flights out will be red eye, so waiting to get economy plus in April will be rough...

curmudgeon6275

That's a hard call, especially knowing your mostly redeyes. If you're going to Manhattan, EWR is generally superior IMO due to the NJ Transit airtrain and your ability to skip by rush hour car traffic. UA has many flight per day betwenn the two cities, so if you have to make a change, it's hopefully easier to find a seat. Once you hit gold, the same-day confirmed standby is quite useful. As others have said, B6 probably has the best hard product and affordable Mint buy-ups are very nice. I still feel that 1k is valuable and like that UA still has a zone-based award chart, if that matters to you...

findark

If you are only focused on quality of product while traveling those trips, I think B6 is the way to go. Otherwise I would go with the hub flow (looks like you're SFO-based so I assume other business/leisure travel is ex-SFO) and go with UA. The grass isn't particularly greener with any major, and you're not going to be getting upgrades with anyone. All of this is moot if a choice of NYC airport sways you, though (go with the better airport).

But really, 3-4x monthly redeyes in Y... I would be have a long talk with someone at my company explaining why that wasn't going to happen. (Not everyone has the flexibility to get J, but I would at least be trying to talk my way out of a role involving so much brutal travel.)

aCavalierInCoach

think this is OT, but since someone else broke the seal I'm going to pipe-up and second this -- same was the first thought that occurred to me reading the redeye comment. My company has a paid F policy and, looking back on the last five years or so of travel, I am regretting the damage I've done to my health by not pushing back on the domestic redeyes in particular.

nottarockstar

Fair point, but my job is in NYC and I'm choosing to stay in the Bay Area and go back and forth on my dime... So, it's me being cheap to fly Y & not miss an extra night with the family, not the company

aCavalierInCoach

I get that, still, even the NYC redeye is pretty short on sleeping time and you're probably hurting your effectiveness the day after... I'm assuming you are SFO-EWR on sunday night given the family comment. If that's the case I'd recommend the really early redeye (8:50 usually) which gets in about 5AM. You can get to your apt or hotel and still get a full REM cycle is and almost catch up with a full nights sleep before OOB on Monday.

GSBEWR

As others have said, if you have options, you have AA, B6 and DL if you choose JFK over EWR.

If you want EWR, than I would stick with UA. For one thing, UA has clubs at both ends, and to me that is always good, especially when there are delays. Yes, the EWR clubs are not the best, but they are being worked on, so they should be as nice as many of the renovated clubs in the near future. And I always appreciate the agents in the clubs in case of IRROPS.

That being said, I would keep an eye on AS/VX. With the pending merger, you might want to see what kind of operation the combined airline will have at SFO (and the rest of the West Coast) and for your purposes, it might be more attractive than UA's.

fly2nrt

They're all the same crap... go with whoever is cheaper/convenient.

SFO_FT

If you're flying that frequently, you might consider targeting two preferred carriers rather than becoming beholden to just one.

mahasamatman

You can always pay for E+ until you get the status.