Originally Posted by number5858

I would go even farther than the last poster. Try real hard to stick with one alliance. I have a slightly different strategy. UA is my main FF program, but I credit any flights < 500 mi (since the UA 500 mi minimum went away) to BD (BMI, who is also a *A partner) since BD still awards a minimum of 600 mi per segment. I also credit Hilton Honors to BD for miles and points since Hilton gives BD a minimum of 1000 mi. I credit Hertz to BD as well since you can get 1700 mi (and even 3400 mi with a current promo) per rental. I don't really lose anything doing this because those Northeast 160 mi flights on United Express are all Saabs, CRJs, etc., where an upgrade is not an option, so I might as well collect 600 mi per segment. BD miles are quite useful because they are *A, but without the star net filtering on awards that UA does. BD also has one way awards and awards that combine miles and $ to give you more flexibility. I try hard not to stay at hotels out of my main alliance or fly airlines out of my main alliance. It isn't always possible, but I try to minimize it. One tactic a lot of people have is to collect in two programs for those times when you can't stick with your main one so that you have a fallback position, i.e. maybe stay at Hilton and Hyatt or Hilton and Marriott, etc. I used to do what you appear to be doing such as flying the cheapest flight or the quickest, most direct route and ended up with orphan miles in many different accounts that did me no good. Sure it's a pain sometimes because you need to connect when you would rather not, but at the end of the year, you will be better off for doing it. As a UA 1K, I haven't missed an upgrade this year, even on difficult routes. That wasn't the case when I was both a UA 1P and an AA Platinum. You will see similar results with your hotel programs. It is better to be a top tier in one hotel program, then it is to be lower tier in 5 programs. Good Luck.