Either program is good. Can't tell you much about UA but I have had nothing but the best service from AA. Award availibility is probably one of the best in the business. The OneWorld partners are some of the best airlines in the world plus AAdvantage partners give you a world wide coverage.

AA allows you to take a status challenge.

It's based on points NOT MILES.

The challenge starts on the 1st or 16th of the month and you have 3 months to complete it.

Deep discounted econ fares = .5 point per mile flown

Discounted econ fares = 1 point per mile flown

Full fare econ, business and first = 1.5 points per mile flown

You will need 5K points to complete the Gold challenge and 10K points for Platinum challenge.

Plat status will give you 100% bonus on flown miles, lounge access during long haul international travel, first/business desk check in regardless of the class of service, etc. etc.

I live in the Chicago area and have had elite status on one or the other, or both, just about every year since 1992--since 1997 on UA . The FF programs are very similar, and as far as using miles, I've had decent luck with both.

There are pros and cons to both. American has better customer service. One of the big pluses for United has been Economy Plus seating. For my own travel needs and interests, I also prefer the Star Alliance. For example, there are seven (and soon eight) alliance airlines that have flights from O'Hare to Europe.

That said, United management seems committed to merging or selling...so who knows what will happen over the next year or so.

,"You will need 5K points to complete the Gold challenge and 10K points for Platinum challenge."

Would this Platinum challenge be pretty easy to obtain with 2 trips to Europe in three months?

Here's my advice. Collect miles with the airline that fits your need, the airline you're most happy with.

Even if AA has the world's best FF program, but if they don't get you to where you want, how would would that be?

And same with UA.

Would this Platinum challenge be pretty easy to obtain with 2 trips to Europe in three months?

Maybe, maybe not; depends on the fare class, and where in Europe.

Read this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=702660

Where will you be flying for the most part? In what class (discount coach, business/first...?)

What do you hope to attain through status? Upgrades? Increased mileage earning for awards?

One thing about ORD for AA and UA elites, and DFW for AA (and I presume Atlanta for Delta elites, MSP for NWers etc.) is that the big hubs tend to have a lot of elite members who live nearby, so things like space-available upgrades can get very competitive, with highest-tier elites (UA 1Ks and AA EXPs) getting dibs on seats before PEs and Plats can. Just a consideration; sometimes it might be counter-intuitive to aspire to elite status with the biggest airline locally. But totally depends on your flying patterns.

Where are you going to be flying to? I'm not clear on whether you are traveling as part of your new job or if it is leisure travel during your off-weeks, or is it both?

You could call United Mileage Plus and ask about a fast-track to an elite level. Might want to ask for a supervisor. The deal is that you agree to fly half the distance required for a tier and do it in six months or less. For example, fly 25,000 miles between now and mid-August and you'll getPremier Exec status (at least until Feb 2009). Fly to Tokyo twice next month and be Premier Exec in April.

But I'd choose the airline that had the best schedule, most nonstops, to places I want to go.

Get a credit card affiliated with whatever airline you choose and use it for everything - but only if you will pay it off in full every month. We get promotional stuff weekly for AA and UA affiliated credit cards - one is usualloy aboe to get 20,000-25,000 miles in first year in sizable chunks after each flight.

And watch the expiration date on your miles if you have a significant lapse in flying - including your NWA miles you are saving for future use. Rules are changing and expiration dates for miles is shortening and you rarely get a warning notice - they just disappear.

I can't speak directly to the Frequent Flyer program perks of each, but if customer service and on-time fligts are important to you, do NOT choose United. I flew to Chicago for work every week for 5 months in 2006, and I started off with United as they went direct. But they were late every single flight, coming and going - most times 2 hours, only once was the delay only an hour, and once the flight was cancelled so I did not get home until almost 24 hours later(not a weather issue, but "no crew")! That was the first 3 months before I switched to AA. I never had any problems with them, and even though I sometimes had to make a stop/change planes! AA is the way to go, in my opinion.
To add insult to injury, United, who is partnered with USAir (who I have FF membership with, so did not think I needed to enroll in UA's as well)did not credit any of my mileage to my USAir account until I sentin the partial saved the boarding passes. I had asked on my first trip if my flight would be credited and the counter, and was told "it should." They never checked to see if my member # was on my ticket, and I just assumed it was in the reservation that I booked through work and would be automatic (Now I know better). I trusted them, and did not save all my boarding passes in the beginning. Between that (no help from them) and the cancelled flight - no crew, not a weather issue or something beyond their control- with no meal money or anything, I felt I needed to write a letter to their customer service department. Never heard a word back. I will never fly UA again. (Wow, sorry for the rant. But I guess it gets my point across about the poor service of one airline over the other).

United Airlines may have failed you with meeting their flight schedule (from where?) but United Mileage Plus is not the cause of the missing Dividend Miles

"They never checked ..." ?? YOU never checked. It is your responsibility to make sure the miles get credited. It is easy to do, just look at your boarding pass for your FF number. Check your balance online a day or two after the flight.

If "booked through work" means that a corporate travel department or travel agent booked the ticket, then that is who you trusted to get your DM number into your reservation for you.

I fly in and out of O'Hare regularly on AA and am very happy with AA. I do occasionally use UA, and enjoy an upgrade (paid) to economy-plus, but AA's service is better and we've always had tremendous ease using our FF miles.

All that said, I only travel for leisure.

Good luck!

For your info, MRWUNFL (whatever), the USAir FF site said that 45 - 60 days (they changed it sometime in that year) to see if PARTNER miles posted,(NOT a day or two after) so I did contact them after the requisite time had passed and no miles were posted!
If one is not a frequent Flyer on a certain airline, why would one know that that a a partners FF # would be on their boarding pass? I didn't see it, so was hoping the wonderful UA agents would at least say "It should IF YOUR FF # IS ON THE PASS" and not even look. They were too busy to be bothered, even when I called them after asking before I flew twice!
With your snotty attitude, you must be an UA employee, and that sort of adds to my point.
I believe I did say that I learned to check & now I know better - obviously not everyone knows all the rules and intracacies the first time.
Either way, an opinion was asked for and I gave it, and I certainly didn't expect some stranger to jump all over me for recounting an experience. Have a GREAT night.

Mr/Ms Beach are you saying that all 40 plus flights were late "most time 2 hours"? Things must have improved a great deal on UA since then. My husband flies UA at least 2x/month Boston-ORD and rarely has problems unless there is a major winter event in either city - which can certainly happen considering location. On quite a few occasions he has made it as a day trip when he only has a short meeting. He has only once been stranded in Chicago and that was because of 8 inches of snow in ORD and a windstorm in Boston.

Welcome to Illinois and the land of cold and snow (at least this year). I actually have accounts with both and use both. But I have to say that American is the one I have used the most and have had very good luck with them. We have a credit card for both, but tend to use the American one more. We have been able to use miles for a reallt big trip every other year (2 years ago to Australia and New Zealand and this year to Thailand and Cambodia). Both are subject to delays and cancellations. I know that beachysis has had bad experiences with United, but we have missed or come close to missing connections with American on several ocassions due to delays. And sometimes there doesn't seem to be a good reason. So flip a coin or look to see which one has more routes to where you want to go. We went with American initially because they went to Bangor Maine and United had pulled out. Now American has also, so we are out of luck with either one.