America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Advice after moving to PHX

I recently moved to the Phoenix area and need some advice about which airline should I concentrate my travel on. I’m posting in both the AA and HP forums.

I previously lived in Columbus OH (HP and US), St. Louis (TW), and Minneapolis/North Dakota (NW). I built up plenty of HP miles when it had a Columbus Hub and TW/AA miles in STL. I qualified for Gold in both programs for awhile. Also built up miles with US (in-seat and AMEX-MR transfers) and recently burned them for RT tix for the family (three of us) in F/C PHX-LGW last month. Don’t have much left with UA or NW.

I fly a few times a year for business and fly to the East Coast 2-3 times/year to visit family. I hope to try to fly the family to Europe again in C in a few years after building up sufficient miles. I have 55K with HP and 66K with AA. My first inclination is to go with AA, but I would appreciate more expert advice.

This is tough one because I really like AA's international service but out of PHX everything goes to DFW or ORD and one poorly timed flight to JFK.

I switched to HP because of the non-stop travel options out of PHX. Now with the VS codeshare there are more options to Europe too.

Benefits of HP:

1. Non-stop flights to almost anywhere in the country from PHX.
2. Good red-eye bank out of LAS if you need to leave PHX late.
3. No-Saturday night fare restrictions. Generally lower fares than AA.
4. FC upgrades seem easier to get.
5. Good FF partners: VS, BA, NW (ASIA), HA.
6. Generally friendlier service than AA. The FA's are great and most of the airport staff are very helpful.
7. Only 15,000 miles needed for short haul free tickets

Benefits of AA:

1. More international destinations.
2. Better FC service.
3. MRTC on most AC except 757/A300's. The JFK flight is a 757.
4. One World Alliance
5. Better on-time performance

The main problem with AA is the lack of West Coast travel options. Every so often the tinker with RJ service to LAX, SJC..but there seems to be no consistency.

If you live in PHX, you really have no option but HP if non-stop flights and a good FF program are your goal.

Hope this helps!