I was talking to a friend of mine last week who is planning a trip to the US he was asking me what rental car company I use. I told him that I use National but then if the price seemed expensive I would check Avis.

When I think about it more carefully however, I rarely check any other company than National because they offer good service, reasonable prices, and no wait (saving my time). I often compare airfares and hotel prices and even switch alliances regularly however I don't seem to do the same for my car rental options.

I wonder how I can apply this to my own company to be more effective.

Since I've been an elite traveler on Air Canada(Star Alliance) and Delta(Skteam) I thought that this year I would be an elite traveler on American Airlines (Onewirld)- to round out the last of the three big alliances.

As of the end of April I'm at 43,000 miles so I am already Gold and will be platinum as soon as I hit 50 thousand.

This is what I've noticed so far

Generally Delta service is a lot better- on Delta I got used to people telling me thank you for being a platinum- flying on American is like going back to star alliance- never any recognition- maybe since I'm just lowly gold this will change when I hit platinum.

Delta always has wifi on their flights- American is hit and miss- sometimes they do and sometimes not.

Delta gave lounge access to their platinum customers, looks like American does not.

American Airlines flights seem to have less delays than Delta. I have read that actually they have more- but Delta stranded me three times last year leaving me to find my own hotel - this has not happened with American.

American definitely has more flights - at least to the places I need to go- so less connections means less time spent in airports (and luckily less need for the lounge access)

The American airlines points system seems to have more value than Delta sky miles- but it is slower to collect miles. I will talk more about that in a later post.

If you are thinking about American one last point is that they don't status match for free- you have to pay a few hundred dollars to get your gold or platinum early. I would status match for free but not if I have to pay for it.

That's all I can think of for now