SkyTeam - Yet another "Which ST program should I join?" thread

Hi all,

I bounced this question off of a few of the attendees at the MR seminar in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I should get some more input from the denizens here.

CO has been my secondary/tertiary FF program for years. With them leaving for *A (where all my non-LCC FF programs already are), I am starting to look at other ST programs to stash miles into when I can't get a decent fare on *A. Here are my criteria/preferences:

1) Ability to earn at least some redeemable miles on low fares (100% would be best (obviously), but less would not be a deal-breaker).

2) Ability to keep miles from expiring (no expiration date for miles, or miles kept from expiring via Credit Card or I-Dine, etc.)

3) A decent earn-to-burn ratio when booking flights. I don't expect to put enough miles here to earn C or F awards. Being able to book one-ways and/or having "cash + miles" options would be a big plus for me

4) Ability to use miles for economy tickets (probably in the US) - a program with no availability to use awards is useless to me.

5) Ability to earn some miles via non-flying methods - not at all crucial, but could break a tie between otherwise similar programs.

Oh, my mailing address is in the US, but if I need a mailing address elsewhere to improve my FFP situation, that may be possible.

Status-earning is irrelevant, as I can't see myself earning status in more than one FFP (but let me know if a status match from BD *Gold would help in any of the areas listed above).

Flights paid for would generally be in coach on DL/NW within the US - maybe into the Caribbean or Central America as well. If I hadn't heard all the horror stories with redeeming Delta Skymiles, I would just join their program - but before I do that, I would love to hear about any other reasonable options.

Thanks!

Delta is the clear winner for your criteria. It is hard not to earn Skymiles these days with the plethora of partners. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt on award redemption improving once the integration is complete. I have booked domestic coach at 25k and 37k if times were fixed without much issue and with the crazy partner earning a inflated redemption price is not as bad as it appears. If you do happen to stumble into status, the free upgrades are nice.

Distant second is AeroMexico, I checked out their program and am having some buyer's remorse about not going that way. They have a US Bank issued credit card and a decent slection of hotel/rental partners to keep the account alive.

Thanks for the reply - I will check out AM and compare to DL. Right now I don't have any ST flights scheduled, so I have plenty of time to check them out.

Having done most of my flying to date on OW/Star I now have some upcoming J UK-US flights booked on Delta.

I am looking for a ST programme that offers:

1) Miles don't expire - topping up miles through other activity (or using credit card to prevent miles expiring, if available in UK) is fine.
2) Status match from OW Sapphire (BA) or Star Silver (BD) - would OW Sapphire.
3) A decent earn-to-burn ratio when booking flights - one-ways and/or cash+miles would be useful.
4) Some opportunity to earn miles on discounted fares.
5) Reasonable availability when booking awards, ideally on other ST airlines.

Thanks for your suggestions.