CLTRob

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Kevin AA

Spending money on top shelf liquor only to mix it with a soft drink is a waste of money.

milepig

DA201

cur

other than lhr and hkg, united clubs suck. meh food, the only reason i go is to get free well liquor before a flight, or maybe see an agent during irrops. just get priority pass/amex platinum if lounge access is important, but we don't know which exact cities you going to

FlyerTalker70

That's alcohol abuse!

On a more serious note, status with UA doesn't automatically give you access to the United Club - you need to be on an itinerary that goes outside the 50 states (i.e. CLT -> EWR -> YYZ) to get that for free. There are a couple of lounges in the US you can access regardless of itinerary such as the LH and TK lounges at IAD which also offer way better food spreads (and showers!). Otherwise you'll have to purchase a membership from UA or AC ranging from $375 to $500 USD depending on if you want just US coverage or Global Coverage. Is the United Club worth it? It depends! If you're flying out from a UA hub in the morning (i.e. EWR or ORD) the breakfast spread is pretty nice and I've managed to make a full meal out of it. AC's lounge at YYZ is also respectable and has a showers. Outside North America the lounges are noticeably better, especially those in Asia like ANA's lounge in Narita which feature a noodle bar, sleeping pods and first rate shower facilities! LH lounge in Frankfurt is okay (better than US lounges but nothing to write home about). However, the LX lounge in GVA and ZRH are very nice indeed (especially for breakfast which have a made to order omelette station)

The other major benefits to getting UA status are complimentary upgrades within North America and access to Economy+ seating. I could be mistaken but I suspect the upgrade success rate for CLT should be pretty good since CLT is not a hub for UA. Looking at the United Upgrade offers spreadsheet I put together, the typical United upgrade offer is between $70-$100 USD between IAD/EWR. These prices imply that complimentary upgrade availability is good since UA only prices upgrade offers at those levels when the front of the cabin is empty.

My recommendation would be to first determine what you're looking for in an airline including: routes (i.e. 1 stop versus 2+ stops), on time performance based on the routes you're taking, customer service, first class cabin quality (and likelihood of upgrade), fare, connection airports (i.e. how easy it is transit around them), lounges, and last (but certainly not least) frequent flyer program. Try out each airline (and alliance): AA (OneWorld), DL (SkyTeam), UA (Star Alliance), WN, B6, AS when you get a chance. Then after you've made those comparisons I would choose the one airline and alliance and stick to them to gain the requisite status. If you end up travelling enough it may even make sense to achieve mid-top tier status across multiple alliances (i.e. AA, DL and UA!)

In my case I did the calculation over a year ago and determined UA was the best for me. Where I live (near Toronto, Canada) means that my choice of airlines when travelling domestically is either AC (*A) or WS (garbage). Travelling internationally, generally UA's got the cheapest fare for me (connecting in the US but no biggie for me since I've got GlobalEntry) and if not AC or a *A partner has me covered. Lounge access works out well for me with UA since I'm almost exclusively on an international itinerary meaning that every time I access the UA lounge be it in ORD, EWR, DEN, SFO, etc., I'll be granted access. In a couple of months I'll be moving to the UK for studies but even then *A still makes sense for me (connecting with LX/LH/OS/TK/AC) even though BA is the elephant in the room.

If UA ends up being what you choose I'd recommend aiming for UA Gold which to put simply (albeit the fine print is a little more complex): 50,000 miles on UA and *A partners, 4 UA segments and $6000 annual spend. UA pursuits might disagree with this analysis arguing that you should aim for top-tier status like 1K or Global Service. However, the difference between UA Gold and 1K are limited and you'll likely not notice them on the flights you take. Gold gives you what you need: lounge access when travelling internationally (or are in IAD ), a decently high pecking order in the upgrade lottery and E+ seating when you book your flight on UA. You also get status with hotel partners like automatic Marriott Gold and car rental companies like Hertz. Most importantly you get *A Gold status which means you are treated like a VIP when flying with UA (and *A partners). If a flight gets cancelled or gets delayed you get priority over everyone else on flight rebooking and re-accomodation. This benefit alone has saved my tail on a couple of occasions.

Safe Travels,

James