Moving to SFO - switch from SkyMiles?
 

This year I am borderline being able to hit Diamond on SkyMiles - I get high volume of miles, not segments, due to fewer but long trips.

I am moving permanently from LAX -> SFO, and SkyMiles is a lot less useful to me there. So, I'm debating what I should be doing as i book my next trip:

- Continue in 2021 on SkyMiles - Book on Delta, probably hit Diamond by end of year
OR
- Switch now do status match on United, hit Premier Platinum by end of year.

Then - next year, status match on United? The perks of Diamond on Delta are obvs a lot less useful in SFO. :(

depends on quite a bit. where are you traveling to? what types of fares? which FF benefits are most important to you? keep in mind SF has a huge concentration of GS and this has an impact on the relative value of 1K.

As a 1K out of SFO, don't count on any upgrades or special treatment. Everyone is GS, especially now that they've been extended multiple years due to COVID. You may not even make it into the top ten on the upgrade list on a lot of flights.

It's very difficult to make DL work out of SFO if you're doing anything close to Diamond level flying. Assuming that UA will work better for you (and it almost certainly will) I would suggest challenging to 1K as soon as you've made the move.

(I challenged to DL Plat several years ago and couldn't sustain the status because DL couldn't take me where I needed to go.)

We could still use an answer to the questions above to help give you a better answer, but I wouldn't understate the Delta Diamond benefits in SFO. It doesn't have the non-stop reach domestically, but it has a great Delta Club, good service to NYC, and int'l Eastbound connectivity from VS, AF, and KLM. Westbound there are options via Seoul. I don't know the exact Diamond upgrade experience out of SFO -- on that I front I think the reality is there is just a lot of paid premium cabin travel out of SF -- but it is sure to be better than 1K.

Anyway, we could use more info, but I don't think moving to UA is a no-brainer.

Might have missed it - do you connect or will majority of flights out of SFO be non-stop?

You likely won't get much out of 1K out of SFO but would be useful on other segments or at connecting airports with delays/cancellations.

That's not entirely true. The PlusPoints are useful if especially if traveling internationally

I have to respectfully disagree that DL is in any way comparable internationally for an SFO based flyer. UA's nonstop TPAC offerings from SFO far surpass what DL offers one-stop via LAX/SEA. And SkyTeam options absolutely suck compared to *A. KE is simply not in the same class as NH/BR/SQ. TATL is a bit closer, but I still much prefer LH Group over KL/AF/VS. VS will only get you to LHR; nothing onwards. CDG is a transit nightmare.

Another current UA advantage is it has much better IT and cs availability. I'm frankly surprised frequent flyers aren't bailing on DL in droves given its inability to offer a functional app/website or to answer a call in anything less than three hours.

I don't disagree that UA has a superior network itself and superior partners (especially to the West), but the network is still there if there were other compelling reasons to stay. VS offers connectivity to India and South Africa and London naturally.

Ultimately it all depends on OPs travel patterns and what they're seeking to leverage from an FF program.

Premier heavy hubs kinda suck to be based from. Had a flight 2 years ago that was ORD-SFO (or was it LAX?) anyway, they boarded by row because the flight was more than 75% elite. I talked to the GA and he told me that there were over 50 GS flyers alone. There were over 100 on the upgrade list. I never felt better about coughing up the cash for a seat in F, because I don't even think that you could get an E+ seat as a 1K on that flight!

I agree with Kacee above that it's quite difficult to focus exclusively on DL out of SFO. I've been moving some flights away from UA for reasons discussed elsewhere, but I generally only wind up on DL when I am willing to connect and/or when I am elsewhere in the country.

Generically, the only possible reason I could see for sticking with them is if you're certain you can hit Diamond and if it's sure that a status match DL to UA would then get you to 1K on UA (I don't have experience with that), all caveats for 1K value as noted by others above. Otherwise it seems you don't have anything to lose just matching now.

Do you have some regular travel patterns that you can use to game out possible itineraries? That could influence the calculus.

I can't imagine being a very frequent flyer and not sticking mostly to the carrier/alliance at your airport that gets you the most places you need to get to with the best schedule, the least hassle, and the best chance of IRROPs recovery. The differences between the legacy carriers IMHO can't override convenience. I was a CO FF at IAH and had planned on switching to UA when moving back to Hawaii in 2012. I guess CO and UA got wind of my plans and made the transition easy by merging at exactly the right time :)

Before doing a status match, i would do some quick back-of-the-envelope math and make sure you would be able to requalify on UA after the status match. If you aren't flying many segments you would probably have to qualify with PQP alone, and for 1k that is $24k of spend in a non-pandemic year, so significantly higher than Diamond MQD in a non-pandemic year.
I would also consider Alaska, the partnership with AA fills some of the holes in their domestic network and I've had pretty uniformly excellent experiences with them out of SFO.

Another factor to consider is your current lifetime mileage on UA, DL, and anyone else.

If the majority of your flying is domestic and business-related, ditch DL and move to UA.

If international, leisure, and anything else, just buy the cheapest ticket in your preferred class and forego loyalty. Shop on price.