AU Members with Frequent Flyer Affinity Status

[Trogdor]

Other than United and American do any other mainstream airlines do the clumsy backward facing seats?

British Airways, IIRC.

 

[jiml]

British Airways, IIRC.

Correct, and the ones on their 777-200's are particularly narrow and claustrophobic. They're disappearing with the roll-out of new Airbus models.

 

[Shortline]

I have spent way too much time in the air and on the train. About 5 or 6 years ago, I switched the vast majority of my air travel to Southwest, simply due to their Companion Pass program. I fly enough to easily hit it, so it was a no-brainer. My wife, or son have been all over the country with me on business trips. And th best part, is it even applies for award travel. So even when we fly on points, she can come free, rather than spend twice the miles. Plus, I hate gate checking bags on AA’s regional jets. Southwest flies all 737 planes, so that saves me time and convnenince even if I can only fly coach. Having free gate to gate live TV and wi-fi for A List Preferred/companion pass status is also a huge bonus for me. GoGo on AA, isn’t worth anything to me, it’s slow, and can’t be used until above 10,000 feet, and have to shut it down on descent 20 min or so before arival. Rarely pay for that garbage anymore. Southwest WiFi is typically pretty good, and wo is from the time you get on, to the time you get off.

I do miss the upgrades I got on Delta and American, but wasn’t worth trying to chase status on them, AND Southwest. Now when I fly AA or another carrier somewhere Southwest doesn’t go, I just book first class, and skip the upgrade game.

Also Select Plus on Amtrak for the time being, which, frankly, doesn’t do much at all for me. I have used the upgrades on Acela a few times, but otherwise, really don’t get any real value from it.

My travel in 2020 and so far into 2021 has decreased significantly, may not make Companion Pass this year. I Do have a 6 night round trip BHM-DEN early Feb, but not much else on the horizon. Been kinda nice staying home so much more!

 

[20th Century Rider]

Pitting American versus Alaska is an interesting dilemma. Alaska looks like a better experience with partner airlines I'm likely to use, but they barely serve my hometown and I'm already on the positive side of AA's earning curve. I could potentially status match after a vaccine becomes available but passing through DFW/PHX/ORD/LAX is much faster and more convenient than SEA. If anything goes wrong AA has many more options to get me back on track again. I think there's a good chance I stay with AA and only move to AS/DL if they do something really stupid or leave me stranded. Speaking of which, AA is the only airline (out of 38) that has ever left me stranded over something within their control.

I rarely fly US airlines internationally (other than NA) and here is our good friend Paul to remind me why that is.

Other than United and American do any other mainstream airlines do the clumsy backward facing seats?

Paul does a great job in his blogs! That was a very quirky seat he was in... but the food looked great!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I hate gate checking bags on AA’s regional jets. [...] GoGo on AA isn’t worth anything to me, it’s slow, and can’t be used until above 10,000 feet, and have to shut it down on descent 20 min or so before arival. Southwest WiFi is typically pretty good, and [works] from the time you get on, to the time you get off. I do miss the upgrades I got on Delta and American, but wasn’t worth trying to chase status [...] Now when I fly AA or another carrier somewhere Southwest doesn’t go, I just book first class, and skip the upgrade game.

Can't argue with the gate check stuff. Sometimes it's fast but other times it seems to take forever. Back in 2019 AA looked like they were moving away from Gogo. My complimentary access stopped working but performance improved. Not sure what happened since then. Most of my flights are short enough that MCE/ER is still workable if I'm honest.

 

[DCAKen]

Pitting American versus Alaska is an interesting dilemma. Alaska looks like a better experience with partner airlines I'm likely to use, but they barely serve my hometown and I'm already on the positive side of AA's earning curve. I could potentially status match after a vaccine becomes available but passing through DFW/PHX/ORD/LAX is much faster and more convenient than SEA. If anything goes wrong AA has many more options to get me back on track again. I think there's a good chance I stay with AA and only move to AS/DL if they do something really stupid or leave me stranded. Speaking of which, AA is the only airline (out of 38) that has ever left me stranded over something within their control

Alaska is joining the oneWorld alliance, so you'll be able to fly AA and earn AS miles (and vice versa). Take a look at this FlyerTalk discussion.

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are working together to become closer and more integrated partners with the addition of mileage accrual across both airlines. As Alaska Airlines prepares to join Oneworld in 2021, Alaska and American are expanding codeshare agreements and providing frequent flyers of both programs to once again earn and redeem miles. Starting April 1, 2020 all flights on either airline can earn miles (award and elite qualifying, as of an April 7 update to the AA web site) for the other airline’s frequent flyer program.

 

[B757Guy]

If any members have United Premier 1K or especially Global Services, please let me know. I'd like to chat about how the airline is meeting your expectations in-flight.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

American has suspended (or perhaps cancelled) most flights to my main domestic destination and this has created a bit of a problem that now requires me to mix flying and driving, spend the night in a connecting city, or leave before dawn to make it work. That is not a situation I find convenient compared to just driving the whole way. Anybody else running into similar problems? It probably wouldn't bother as much if the prices weren't so high for limited service.