Southwest Rapid Rewards - Thanks WN, wish you flew more transcons

I'm taking over a new sales territory which will require me to fly from the bay area to the northeast (Boston/NY mostly). Sadly my days of short haul, direct WN flights to the southwest seem to be over, aside from visiting family.

Because I've been an avid WN flyer, I trust the board's opinion... I will most likely fly AA but does anyone have any thoughts on any of the other airlines who offer more direct transcons? VX and Jetblue have nice features but their FF programs aren't as good as the legacies. Any thoughts or opinions are always appreciated!

I might consider UA, trenas-cons are a lot of flights in coach potentially regardless of who you fly and at least UA has E+.

I would second the UA recommendation, although you should research the various *A FF programs before committing to UA's Mileage +. If you want to gamble, bmi is still by far the best earn-to-burn ratio among FF programs - current rumor is that their program won't be devalued or migrated into LH's Miles & More for at least a year. Another good choice is AC's program - 35,000 miles gets you gold status, which includes lounge access worldwide (UA gold only gets you lounge access outside North America). If you expect to fly SFO-JFK, the UA PS service is quite good, with all econ seats having E+ pitch.

At the risk of turning this into a political thread, I will add that I refuse to have anything to do with AA since they decided to fight WN's attempt to lift the Wright Amendment. I know that some people in some locales have no reasonable choice other than AA, but for transcons that is not the case. Unless their is something about AA's FF program or OneWorld that is strongly compelling for your circumstances, I would ask you to at least look into AA's behavior WRT the Wright Amendment before finalizing your decision.

I'll "third" the motion for UA, however I'll add a new twist to HPN-HRL's suggestions and throw CO into the mix for carriers to actually accrue miles on. Once you're CO Gold you'll also be Star Gold which will give you additional priviledges (express checkin/boarding and free baggage allowance) when flying any *A partner. (Plus lounge access when traveling internationally.) Also the relationship between CO and UA far exceeds the regular *A members' reciprocity. Starting next year when UA switches to unlimited space-available elite upgrades as a CO elite you'll also be eligible. As a CO elite you'll also have free access to UA E+. And if you're traveling to the NYC area you'll also have the option of SFO-EWR on CO in addition to SFO-JFK on UA. F sercice on CO's true trans-cons is really nice.

The biggest benefit to accruing miles in OnePass is that while you get all the perks of an elite when flying UA when it comes time to redeem those miles CO does not and has stated they will not engage in StarNet blocking. If you're unfamiliar with the term just go over to the UA forum and there's a rather lengthy thread all about it. In a nutshell UA blocks some award availability from other *A carriers so they don't have to pay those carriers when Milage Plus members redeem UA miles for partner awards. Ther may indeed be award space available on ANA or CO or LH but it won't be bookable through UA's CRS using UA miles because of the *Net block.

I'll "third" the motion for UA, however I'll add a new twist to HPN-HRL's suggestions and throw CO into the mix for carriers to actually accrue miles on. Once you're CO Gold you'll also be Star Gold which will give you additional priviledges (express checkin/boarding and free baggage allowance) when flying any *A partner. (Plus lounge access when traveling internationally.) Also the relationship between CO and UA far exceeds the regular *A members' reciprocity. Starting next year when UA switches to unlimited space-available elite upgrades as a CO elite you'll also be eligible. As a CO elite you'll also have free access to UA E+. And if you're traveling to the NYC area you'll also have the option of SFO-EWR on CO in addition to SFO-JFK on UA. F sercice on CO's true trans-cons is really nice.

The biggest benefit to accruing miles in OnePass is that while you get all the perks of an elite when flying UA when it comes time to redeem those miles CO does not and has stated they will not engage in StarNet blocking. If you're unfamiliar with the term just go over to the UA forum and there's a rather lengthy thread all about it. In a nutshell UA blocks some award availability from other *A carriers so they don't have to pay those carriers when Milage Plus members redeem UA miles for partner awards. Ther may indeed be award space available on ANA or CO or LH but it won't be bookable through UA's CRS using UA miles because of the *Net block.

This is the WN board so this is OT but if I sign up for OnePass and fly on CO, UA, Air Canada, etc... I'll get all the same benefits and earning with OnePass as I would if I was using my UA Milage Plus account even if it turns out I fly UA more than CO?

Sorry for being a green horn... Most of my frequent flying life has been on WN.

You won't get "all the same benefits".

If you fly UA and join Mileage Plus, you will earn two types of miles (EQM and RDM) at 100% on all UA fares. Once you have reached 25,000 EQM (Elite Qualifying Miles) in a calendar year you will also 1) earn 500 miles minimum per segment, 2) get free first two bags, 3) get access to E+ seating (several more inches of leg room), and a few other things - look up UA's Premier status for more details. Upon reaching 50,000 EQM in a calendar year you get more goodies, most notably including free lounge access outside the US when traveling on any Star Alliance airline. The really good benefits start at 100,000 EQM - I'll stop here for now.

If you fly on UA but credit your miles to CO OnePass, you should get all of the above - at least that's how it appears the cooperation between UA and CO is working. You also get to use your RDMs (redeemable miles) for award travel and upgrades on any Star Alliance (*A) carrier. UA theoretically offers this as well, but UA has a nasty habit of "blocking" it's Mileage Plus members from accessing flights on other carriers that can be accessed by everyone else in *A - see the "Starnet Blocking" thread in the UA forum.

If you fly UA but credit your flights to some other *A carrier, say AC or BD (bmi), you will lose access to E+ seating on UA but gain other benefits. AC lets you earn Star Alliance Gold status with only 35,000 miles flown, and their program allows you access to lounges worldwide (including the US) when flying on any *A carrier - so even though you fly UA all the time, earning *A Gold status is insufficient to let you into their club, but *A Gold status with AC (or any non-USA carrier) WILL get you into UA lounges here. BD has similar advantages along with earning 2x for Business Class and 3x for First Class, relatively cheap rates to use miles at, especially in C and F, and a great "Cash & Miles" option to stretch your mileage redemptions; although both AC and BD will earn less than 100% on many cheap fares outside the USA.

In short - it's complicated! If I were in your position, I would first try to estimate my annual mileage flown, then look at BlondeBomber's charts on *A programs in the *A forum, and finally ask in the various airline forums (fora?) for guidance.

Good Luck!

I think you should give Virgin America a try. The flight experience is so superior to the others that I bet you'll decide to stick with them even if you say their FF plan isn't as good as the others. Obviously it depends on how you use the FF plan freebies (domestic trips, international trips,etc.) but I think it's pretty solid.