From Cattle Call to AA Executive Platinum: Why I Broke Up with Southwest Airlines

The twins love the snacks in an American Airlines Admirals Club before or even after a flight.

I am based in a Southwest “hub”. I know they don’t call them hubs, but Southwest is by far the largest carrier at my local airport in Nashville. As a consultant on the road 100 nights a year, when I moved to Nashville in 2019, it became my de facto choice after over a decade with American when I lived in DC and DCA was my home airport. 

I liked SW because their planes were largely on time and most importantly, they had the most significant direct flight options compared to the other carriers in Nashville. I quickly was an A List Preferred member and while the perks weren’t great, I got a ton of points that made flying with the twins easy and essentially free. 

However, over time, I started to get aggravated by the lack of loyalty the airline showed to its most loyal customers. I would get A boarding groups every time, but the wifi was slow. The free beverages were nice, but the seats were cramped. There was no inflight power. 

And worse, despite usually being in the top half of the A boarding group, I would have to navigate dozens, sometimes 30+ or more pre-boarders that would take valuable aisle seats towards the front of the aircraft. As someone who is focused on efficiencies as a consultant running from the plane to a meeting or from the plane to home, those examples of lack of loyalty really sent the wrong message to me. 

So I decided to make a switch. In late 2024, American offered a status match for those with Southwest status. I decided I would switch my allegiances and see how the status match goes. Despite not having the same direct flight options as SW, AA did offer directs to a lot of places I needed to go for work and even to visit family in other markets. They also had a small lounge at BNA -- not a spectacular lounge, but it beats the alternative. 

Now, American isn’t perfect. They don’t have seat back in-flight entertainment. Their first class cabins leave a lot to be desired. In fact, I would have rather chosen Delta or United, but they didn’t have the direct flights I needed, and their miles portals don’t offer the same value that American does. After all, since I am on the road so much for work every year, the small benefit of being able to take the twins and the family to fun places for free was what I was shooting for. 

Since switching, it reaffirmed every reason why I switched. I quickly hit executive platinum as a result of flying so many and the status match. This meant main cabin extra seats for free at booking -- including flights booked in Basic Economy like a $350 RT flight with the family to London for Spring Break one year. I consistently get upgraded given my loyalty. The planes are newer. They have a great international network out of JFK. And most importantly, I don’t have to worry about people cutting me off in line as pre-boarders like I did on Southwest. Since AA assigns seats they are far less likely to have significant pre-boarders. And as executive platinum, I board after first class (when I am not upgraded).

In addition, the international network has paid huge dividends for me. On a coach fare ticket to Madrid I was upgraded using one of my system wide upgrades for free on both legs from JFK to MAD and back. 

Finally, I also signed up for the AA Executive Mastercard. It has a $595 annual fee, so it isn’t cheap (tho cheaper than the Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum I also hold), but it comes with a Admirals Lounge annual membership which would be $750 as an Executive Platinum members, gets 4x miles on flights booked on AA and gives you 20x loyalty points for the year once you hit 90k loyalty points (the first 10k come at 40k; the next 10k at 90k). That will help me maintain status. 

Again, American isn’t perfect. It is the worst run of the other major airlines Delta and United. But it fits the bill for me.