American AAdvantage (Edit)

American Airlines, the world's largest airline, has one of the strongest frequent flyer programs. AAdvantage provides even the most discriminating passenger a multitude of redemption opportunities and American is one of the few airlines that still offers three classes of service on most international flights. In addition, American is the ONLY airline that allows elite passengers to upgrade on ANY fare purchased directly from the airline or the airline Web site, http://www.aa.com

Features

American has a three-tiered elite structure -- Gold, Platinum, and Executive Platinum. To achieve Gold, a member must fly 25,000 base miles each year, Platinum 50,000, and Executive Platinum 100,000. In the event an elite member does not maintain the threshold each year, their status will go down one level (i.e., ExPlat to Plat and Plat to Gold), unlike other airlines which drop you to the base membership level.

Elite members can also upgrade themselves AND a traveling companion within their upgrade window -- meaning that if a Gold member and an Executive Platinum member are traveling together, both can upgrade at top level together if seats are available; unlike other airlines which only allow day of travel upgrade for companions, if any at all. Upgrade windows are 24 hours for Gold, 72 hours for Platinum, and 100 hours for Executive Platinum. Key point to note -- elite members can upgrade on ANY fare purchased directly from American or AA.com.

Elite passengers traveling on a full Y, B, or M fare can receive complimentary domestic upgrades. This is also extended to their traveling companion on a full Y, B, or M fare. Executive Platinum members may receive complimentary domestic upgrades on any fare.

Special Note -- American is the ONLY airline that allows upgrades on any fare for international travel systemwide (American Airlines planes only). This includes Web Fares.

Pros

Service is second to none. Top tier members do not have blackout dates for travel and receive either 25% or 100% flight mile bonuses. American allows their Platinum and Executive Platinum members to exchange all their upgrade stickers for miles. Every time you get four stickers you can exchange them for 10,000 miles, which means you always get triple miles on all flights. Flights booked on AA.com earn up to an additional 1,000 miles per trip. Bose Headsets for First and Business International travelers. Multiple opportunities to redeem miles on other partner carriers. First Class International seats turn into 180 degree flat seats that you can sleep in. Few airlines have flat sleeper seats.American dominates Latin America and flies to many Hawaiian Islands directly.

Cons

Upgrades on domestic/international flights are capacity controlled. American lacks a presence in the Northwest part of the United States. American has a small number of international flights. More cities should be added such as Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Athens, Moscow, etc. AAdvantage does not offer complimentary upgrades on domestic flights like Delta, Continental, or Northwest. American knows it is the 800-pound gorilla and, therefore, the airline doesn't give any breaks on upgrades or eliminating the $100 change fees. Admirals Club charges high annual fees and charges for drinks, unlike Continental and Delta.

United Mileage Plus (Edit)

Overall Mileage Plus does a good job of meeting expectations. Travelers will tend to get better results if they live near a United hub (Dulles, SFO, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago), as those areas tend to have better trained agents who most likely deal with more customer service issues than other airports.

Features

At a modest level of travel one qualifies for Premier status. At this level the traveler is able to pre-board the plane, which is probably the most important travel benefit. They can also select Economy Plus seats, which provide more space than standard coach seats. The traveler also receives a 25% mileage bonus for all travel.

The second level of status, which is also reasonable to obtain, is Premiere Executive. At this level the traveler is able to pre-board and earns 100% bonus miles for travel. They are also able to obtain upgrade seats in advance of the flight.

The top level of status is the 1K. At this level the traveler can pre-board, earns the 100% mileage bonus, receives more upgrades, gains access to a special reservation/help phone number and other privileges.

Pros

At each level of status, the traveler receives access to a phone line that is dedicated to their travel needs. United also looks after its travelers who are not frequent flyers by having targeted promotions from various cities. Even a casual traveler can find ways to increase their mileage balance.

Cons

While there are not too many down sides with United, when the traveler faces one of them, it is usually at a time when the traveler is already in a stressful situation. Among the down sides are 1) lack of space on flights to use miles for award tickets; 2) customer service representatives on the dedicated lines who do not know the rules of upgrades/fares; 3) United's recent decision to take away some of the "customer satisfaction" ability they used to allow their representatives to provide; and 4) new rules for using upgrades that are covered by vague language. There is also a serious problem with inconsistency between agents. If you do not like the answer given, politely end the conversation and call back -- the next agent will probably have a different (read as better) answer/solution to your problem.