I don't work for any airline, but my question was this...if his boss told him to be in Kansas City Tuesday, and come home Friday, A nonstop from Philly costs $458....a connection on United thru IAD costs $609. Would his company say "hunky dory...you rack up those miles"...or would they tell him he'll go on the cheapest flight? Then the question becomes...how late will they let him get there on Tuesday? He can be in MCI as early as 9:45 out of Philly by catching a 7:45 flight out of PHL. He can be there by 10:15 out of ABE...but he's got to catch a 6:15 flight. Otherwise, he won't be touching down in MCI until 2:25....is he willing to get up a lot earlier to rack up the miles...especially considering both legs are on RJ's with no comfy first class cabin to upgrade to. So how long would he put up with that because of a FF program?
KCFlyer, my post wasn't aimed at you; it was aimed at those that made snide remarks.
As far as travel costs, I wouldn't make a blanket statement that all fares are going to be more expensive on United than what USAirways charges. Some will be more, some will be less. His employer is already somewhat price insensitive, because it sounds like FF-US-FLIER has done all of his flying on USAirways. And some employers actually strive to keep their employees happy. There are more than a couple of employers that allow their employees to choose which airline that they fly on.
On the connecting vs direct flights, since we don't know where FF-US-FLIER travels to, everything is speculation. He may be traveling to Europe, Asia, Australia, or South America. He obviously wants to remain in the Star Alliance for some reason; I'm guessing that it's due to the worldwide network.
For right now, he would be taking an RJ to Chicago. But that route may change to 70 seater RJs which do have a first class and economy plus seating. However, the ABE-IAD route still has a prop aircraft on it; the Saab 340 with 30 passenger seats. Fortunately, all of the 'A' seats are both window and aisle.
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You pointed out the additional travel time of going through ABE vs PHL. Depending on where the OP flies to, it may be faster to fly on United; I'm not willing to assume that it's going to take longer. But going out of a smaller airport has a lot of advantages over a large airport. I'd be willing to bet that checkin and security lines are much shorter at ABE than PHL, saving a lot of time. And parking is probably cheaper, saving his employer a few dollars (not that it's a major issue); I'd be willing to bet that parking is much closer to the terminal at ABE. And ABE is small enough that the agents will quickly recognize the OP by face & name ... FF-US-FLIER, for that reason, I'd recommend making a good first impression. Those people will do a LOT to take care of you if they like you. I doubt that the agents in PHL can give him the same level of service that he will receive out of ABE, should he decide to go that route.
I don't think that FF miles are the most important thing to FF-US-FLIER, so he's likely not going to care if he gets a few extra miles on United or USAirways. He logged 127K actual miles last year; once you're past 100K, all of the additional miles are merely more time away from home. With the 100% bonus for FFs, he's looking at 250K FF miles to burn every year. BTW, FF-US-FLIER, United gives a lifetime PremierExec status once you fly a million miles. Here's a link, read the last sentence:
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51404,00.html
I think that FF-US-FLIER's been around the block for long enough to know what the positives and negatives are for him to switch FF programs. He's made a decision to give United a try; if he doesn't like it, he can always go back to USAirways.
I agree with KCFlyer. Unless the OP has had such consistently horrible service from U that s/he has sworn to avoid U out of principle, I believe life is easier by sticking with the carrier that provides you with the most nonstops to the places you want to go.
And an all-ABE strategy on UA will condemn you to a life of IAD/ORD connections and unreliable (i.e., first-to-cancel) RJs. Even assuming PHL is a worse hub, if you arrive PHL and the weather (or something) is causing havoc, you are home. If you arrive in ORD/IAD and there are major operational problems, you'll be sleeping at the airport.
Bear96, you are assuming that the OP's flights are all nonstops out of PHL. The OP can post where he normally flies to, but since he wants to remain in the Star Alliance and had 127K BIS (butt in seat) miles last year, I don't think that he's strictly domestic.
I wouldn't say that RJs are the first to cancel; there is a priority ranking of flights going in and out of the hubs in adverse weather. Plus, if the weather's bad in PHL, he has no choice on USAirways. If the weather's bad in ORD, he can go through IAD and vice versa.
As for sleeping in the airport, I don't think that it will happen to him. With his status, he is the first to receive a local hotel room. Courtesy United. Just an additional perk of being a high revenue FF.
