Southwest Rapid Rewards - If it couldn't be SW it would be....

We may be moving to Portland Maine....They don't have SW fly out of PWM. The other choices are Jet Blue, United, Delta and US Airways. What programs and credit cards type stuff have you guys experienced that make one better than the other? Thanks.

Portland, ME survived the cuts and should in theory be converted into a Southwest station at some point.

AirTran already flies out of Portland, and I doubt if WN will shut that down after the merger is complete. As far as other carriers, I would pick either UA or US, since they have a reciprocal agreement through the Star Alliance for mileage credit, including miles counting toward elite status. Choose the program for the airline you are likely to fly most often and credit the miles from the other one to that program. At the moment UA has the best credit card bonus offers through Chase, but that may not be the best criterion to use.

Portland, ME survived the cuts and should in theory be converted into a Southwest station at some point.
I don't want to bank on that.

AirTran already flies out of Portland, and I doubt if WN will shut that down after the merger is complete. As far as other carriers, I would pick either UA or US, since they have a reciprocal agreement through the Star Alliance for mileage credit, including miles counting toward elite status. Choose the program for the airline you are likely to fly most often and credit the miles from the other one to that program. At the moment UA has the best credit card bonus offers through Chase, but that may not be the best criterion to use.

What other criteria would be helpful? I figure the credit card miles stuff would be a large part of a tie breaker. We currently only fly to Orlando 2-3 times a year.

What other criteria would be helpful? I figure the credit card miles stuff would be a large part of a tie breaker. We currently only fly to Orlando 2-3 times a year.

When we took a vacation to Booth Bay Harbor we flew into MHT just so we could use WN. I guess I am the wrong one to give you advice. I sort of drank the WN Kool-Aid a long time ago. I can not remember the year, but it was the year that the nor-easter hurricane hit. It was in the 1990's I think. We were on the last flight to leave Manchester before the airport shut down ahead of the storm. There were no more flights for two or three days. That was an interesting trip.

We loved Maine.

OP's question is impossible to answer because he doesn't list his flying pattern. If he commutes 2x/week to ATL, it's DL, but if it's ORD, it's UA and so on.

He also missed FL & AC in his list of carriers. FL has been acquired by WN and the other end of most PWM service is BWI, already a WN hub so-called.

But, WN is a kettle-heavy / domestic carrier. If you want F and some intl. travel, best is UA or DL.

OP's question is impossible to answer because he doesn't list his flying pattern. If he commutes 2x/week to ATL, it's DL, but if it's ORD, it's UA and so on.

He also missed FL & AC in his list of carriers. FL has been acquired by WN and the other end of most PWM service is BWI, already a WN hub so-called.

But, WN is a kettle-heavy / domestic carrier. If you want F and some intl. travel, best is UA or DL.

The info you needed was in post #4:

We currently only fly to Orlando 2-3 times a year.

If you live south of Portland, you could use Manchester. It's not too bad of a drive.

I don't want to bank on that.



What other criteria would be helpful? I figure the credit card miles stuff would be a large part of a tie breaker. We currently only fly to Orlando 2-3 times a year.

You can get from Portland to Orlando on both US and UA. US has the most flight options with connections in Philadelphia, Washington Natl, and Charlotte, while UA flights connect in Newark and Washington Dulles.

With flights only 2/3 times a year, you will not reach elite status on either airline - so if it were my decision, I would sign up with United, get a couple of UA/Chase credit cards, and fly on either UA or US, crediting your miles to UA.

Of course, that's just my personal opinion. By the way, AirTran has two connections/day to Orlando via Baltimore. You might just wish to keep your Southwest RR program, fly AirTran and credit your flights to WN.

If you're going to Orlando only 2-3 times a year, I'd probably just go non-stop from Manchester via WN. That's unless you live an hour north of Portland.

If you live south of Portland, you could use Manchester. It's not too bad of a drive.

You can get from Portland to Orlando on both US and UA. US has the most flight options with connections in Philadelphia, Washington Natl, and Charlotte, while UA flights connect in Newark and Washington Dulles.

With flights only 2/3 times a year, you will not reach elite status on either airline - so if it were my decision, I would sign up with United, get a couple of UA/Chase credit cards, and fly on either UA or US, crediting your miles to UA.

Of course, that's just my personal opinion. By the way, AirTran has two connections/day to Orlando via Baltimore. You might just wish to keep your Southwest RR program, fly AirTran and credit your flights to WN.

If you're going to Orlando only 2-3 times a year, I'd probably just go non-stop from Manchester via WN. That's unless you live an hour north of Portland.

Thank you, I will investigate.
We would be looking right around Portland.

We would be looking right around Portland.

It's not routinely worth the drive to MHT, IMHO. Any theoretical savings on bag fees (!) will readily be consumed by the 95 mile drive each way. Now, if you can save $150 on ticket purchase and avoid a connection, MHT can be worthy of consideration.

The regular DOT Domestic Air Fares Consumer report shows PWM is a competitive market.

I'd vote for jetBlue. They have one of the best, if not the best, Y product in the country and all the majors are pretty bad if you don't have status.

I'd vote for jetBlue. They have one of the best, if not the best, Y product in the country and all the majors are pretty bad if you don't have status.

I agree, provided that JetBlue offers reasonable frequency (meaning decent back-up for flight delays or cancellations) on your route or if you can handle an occasional multi-hour delay. Once you are in the air, JetBlue's experience is the best.