So I'm about to be off the Australia, and I'll be sure to report on the 77L flat bed experience. I really enjoyed the 76D flat beds, and I have little doubt that the equivalent will be better.
In thinking about everything, and buoyed by CO's recent addition of system wide upgrades, I've decided to split the baby. Next year, I'll use Delta for domestic travel, and Star Alliance for international (which means Continental) and west coast short hops that aren't practical from San Francisco on Delta (which means United). Ironically, San Francisco is the only big west coast location that isn't serviceable for Delta and its partners. How is it I couldn't get going in Los Angeles, Portland, or Seattle, where I would get help from Alaska?
It's going to take 200K miles per year (125 for DL and 75 for CO), but I think it's doable. It would be even nicer if I could get another 38K on BMI. As I reported earlier, my concerns were simply stated:
- UA won't match top tier. Now, the CO upgrade options (which Fozz tells me are transferrable) will help this problem greatly. If a corporate travel option allows me to get 1K on UA without having to "earn" it the hard way, I'll switch. Until then, I'll be looking for ways to get my hands on more CO certificates.
- UA and CO don't have the product that DL does for inflight purposes. Still true, but I was pleased to see leather on the UA flight from SFO to SAN. My main issue is Wifi, and since I'll be doing really short hops on UA or really long hops on CO (no carrier has wifi - except the BA thing - on these flights), the issue is muted.
- Non-stop destination issues. No longer a problem if I use DL for domestic.
- Labor problem. I'm still screwed here.
Ultimately, a way into the UA 1K problem would fix a lot of this, and Wifi equipped aircraft would fix it to the point where I could be happy. But this is a good interim fix.
Comments
It's nice to see that you've finally come to your senses. Welcome to Star Alliance. You won't go back!
It's going to take 100K on CO to get the SWUs.
Wait till double eqms and do co ua aa top tier and dl gold.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the disadvantage for you on UA that the FA's are often very old or else men. Won't the lack of hot FAs affect you?
@Gene: Let's not make this a habit, OK?
@Rob: Correct - my fault and thanks for correcting me. Thankfully the difference between 200K and 225K isn't great. Unfortunately, it's going to take me a while to get these SWUs. Looks like it will be beg / borrow / steal for a while.
@wojo: Wish it were that simple. It helps to remember that I am not a mileage runner, and connecting to everywhere out of SFO makes it harder. I'll stick with DL and CO (with heavy UA use on the west coast short runs).
@HunterSFO: Nice to hear from you, chief. I don't know much about the UA crowd, but I believe you. The DL crowd is OLD AS F*#&, especially out of SFO and ATL, so it won't be anything new. SLC is getting older, but at least you get the Skywest crowd from time to time. The LA base is old, although well preserved, and the only other base I see is JFK, and only when I'm going abroad. JFK is littered with dudes, anyway. If anyone can point me to the best FAs on a non low cost carrier, I would think about switching. Seriously.
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