Thanks Arcanox, the axis constraint did the trick. Still seems like a lot of work dragging the first vertex to the 2nd vertex you want to align to, especially if there are lots of verts involved. I dunno if they have a Max script that makes this more efficient but I guess this will do for now :/
I generally use this to quickly copy and paste global coordinates and apply them to other verts: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/vert-tool I know the axis constraint thing can be a bit finicky, but that's what you have quad menus for. If you take the time to set them up and use them frequently, then it can really…