Wanted to get a feeling of what airline folks fly out of their home town airport & why. I am based out of ORD & I fly UA mostly because of E+. It's a nice benefit being over 6 foot tall.
Based in YYZ - Air Canada - gives me the best routing from YYZ to all around the world and onward connections to *A partners. PS - welcome to milePoint NDFAN 2
I'm a loyal US flyer. Based put of PVD (with the occasional flight out of BO'S). I like them because they have 8 dailies to PHL, 5 to CLT and DCA, and 3 to LGA (until slot swap goes through). All flights except 2 to PHL have first class. Also, my upgrade percentage is quite high as a gold, even when traveling with my wife.
Based near ORD, and I fly DL. It works well, because DL PM's are relatively rare here so they treat us very well. If I was an ORD based UA 1P or 1K I'd be one of thousands, lost in the crowd. Just like being an ATL PM, it means very little there. Since I'm non hub, I end up with lots of extra segments/MQM's, and that works in my favor too. Although Chicago is a minor station for DL, it's a major airport, so I can still get pretty much everywhere in two or at most three hops if I need a shorter connection.
Based out of SEA. Fly UA, because my boss flew that and previous airport (MLI - Moline, IL) had only AA, DL, UA for legitimate options. I've enjoyed being a UA flyer at a decent sized airport but not a hub, my upgrade percent is good and love the lounge agents in Sea-Tac. Looking forward to 2012 and seeing how 1K is.
Various, depending on departure, arrival times and non regional jet. For instance, I love the flight times for the new upcoming Hawaiian Air nonstop JFK - HNL flights, 10am-3pm, sweet! Even though I'm 1K, DIA, EXP, I purchased first class seats on HA $1616 roundtrip. Sent from my iPhone using milepoint
Based out of ORD as well. I fly AA. Used to fly UA, but started to have too many "issues" arise, so I switched to AA, and I love it. In terms of US carriers and what carriers are available to us here in the Chicagoland area, I personally think AA provides the best product and value (just my opinion from my experiences). I choose my carrier based on the experiences I have had, not based on any particular "perk" or "product" that a carrier offers. I still fly UA on occasion, and I will agree that E+ is nice, as I am 6'4". I will say that although AA is better for my travel needs, my UA stock has served my financial needs WAY better than my AA stock. Thanks for allowing me to add my two cents. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday! Safe travels!
UA out of SEA. My parents live near SFO, my girlfriend's parents live near AMA (so we route through IAH and lately DEN). I have friends near IAD and LAX. She has friends near IAH. We both enjoy winter/spring trips to Europe, usually going straight from SFO or via IAD. Hopefully next year I'll take advantage of some of UA's TPAC routes. The E+ is definitely the reason I started, but I did think ahead and consider all the airports I was likely to be visiting. The only hub I haven't been to is CLE, and I knew years ago that I would probably be moving near SFO or IAD when I graduate.
UA/CO out of mostly BOS these days, though I'm literally 5 minutes from MHT, flight schedules/flights in general aren't as good as they used to be in MHT not to mention cost is much more these days. So I'd say 75% out of BOS and 25% out of MHT. Went to CO back when US stopped offering bonus miles for elites, never looked back even though US rescinded that later in that year.
For Business trips: LH out of Munich. For private purpose: Whichever airlines gets me the best price / routing out of MUC to the destination (EK, BA, LH, ...).
UA out of LAX. Best options to Asia, and it's nice being in a minor hub -- not as many 1K/1P as in DEN or ORD.
Currently, LON (mostly LHR) are my family of airports. I mostly fly DL, which is largely a carry over from having lived in ATL before moving here...I made PM as I moved over here and the many TATL's equaled DM the next year. The product and people have kept me on DL, although I've expanded some flying to AA/BA since they fly direct to many of the places I go.
Based out of LAX. I just recently got into the whole points thing so I'm thinking about adopting CO/UA for domestic due to their flexible points program with the Sapphire
in LA, fly DL mostly because I just moved from ATL. However, for the places I need to go, DL has great service from LAX, and having AS as a partner gets me to other cities on the west coast as well. I fly mostly for personal trips but flew enough to hit 67K miles this year. I like DL mainly for their domestic product and because their low-to-mid elite tiers give the most amongst US airlines. Sure, Skymiles are a pain to redeem, but I only redeem for 100-120K J awards, so don't have to deal with that often seeing as how I only earn enough for one award through flying each year.
I agree 100% only diff is I live near IAH and fly AA. While terminal A at IAH won't win any awards it is much quicker to navigate than C or E. plus the extra miles to a AA hub is nice. Plus the BA flights to Europe are always there if needed.
Looks like I'm one of the few small-city folks on here. Based in ICT, which "ain't a hub for no one." So usually choose AA -- and usually through DFW rather than ORD -- for two reasons: (1) my lifetime PLT status, and (2) it's one of a limited number of options to fly out of town on a "normal" (non-commuter) plane. If you consider MD-80s normal! Ha! -- Second choice out of ICT is G4's nonstop ICT to LAX, which also is on an MD-80. Love getting to the west coast without a change of plane or even a stop, but G4 has a lot of drawbacks too. -- So, be honest now, how many had to stop here and look up "G4?" Or, for that matter, "ICT?" <smile>
I'm currently based in ATL, transitioning from UA to AA (With the serious downgrades of the Mileage Plus program, I'm wandering). Used to be based out of GSO and RDU, did my time as a FO on DL, and 1P on UA. After my next flight on AA, I'll be Plat.
I'm based out of YYZ and fly DL mainly now. I know it's a weird mix - but they have the best frequencies, prices & FF program for me. Occasionally, I'll fly AC & UA, but they're certainly not my favourite. I used to be a US flyer, but gave up the status because I'm starting to go more global this year & US' network dosen't really compliment that.
ICT shows up in the Milepoint glossary (highlight the letters and the answer appears in the upper right of the browser window). G4 does not, I'll have to look it up, but I'm guessing it isn't your personal 4 engine Gulfstream.
