Julie,

When contemplating a main FF miles program, one should at least consider
the nearby airports, and which airlines use these airports.

Having said that, it would also make sense to evaluate how your wish to
earn these miles, and how you wish to spend them.

This includes considering the three main alliances: Star, One World, and
the NW, KLM, CO and AS alliance.

Personally, I prefer AA and AS. AA may have arguably the best FF program
of any of the major US carriers. Their upgrades are cheap, and even non-
elites can use them. (We are talking basically North America here.)

NW, AS, and others, have unlimited upgrades (again, N.A.), but only for
elites in their program.

Keep in mind, that, if you have miles in one FF program, you can earn and
use them with the partner airlines in that alliance. Just check for any
"gotcha's", such as higher award levels, and other restrictions.

Now here is the interesting part. AS is actually allied with AA, and the
NW, KLM, CO bunch. You you can earn and redeeem miles on AA, NW, KLM, CO,
and others, with your AS mileage program (but you can't do this with the
AA, NW, KLM, or CO programs). So, AS is in a unique spot. (But this may
change, and be careful, award redemption levels can be higher using a
partner airline's program, than using the same airline's own program.)

In fact, I am AA Plat, but am considering building elite status on AS next
year. I will still have a chance at upgrading cheaply on AA (but with less
of a chance, and no perks), but as an AS elite, you get free upgrades on AS
and some free upgrades on NW as well.

(Just keep in mind that some transcon AS flights are much more expensive
than on other airlines).


I put together the table below for my own use, but others may find it
useful as well. You just need to copy it to Word or Notepad, and use
a non-proportional font, such as Courier, to properly space out the
columns. Please note, I have NOT includes award levels for partner
airlines from another partner airline, as a rule (basically only CO
and Quantas, using AS miles), and no F on three class int'l flights.

Airline--------Saver-----Saver-----Upgrade---Business/First
---------------Off-peak--Peak------OW--------Regular--Peak

US/Can

Alaska------AS-20000----------------5000-----40000----60000
American----AA-25000---------------15000-----45000
Continental-AS-25000-------------------------45000
Northwest---NW-25000---------------10000-----45000
United------UA-25000---------------15000-----40000


Alaska

American----AA-25000---------------15000-----45000
Northwest---NW-25000---------------10000-----45000
United--------(25000)--------------15000----(40000)


Hawaii

American----AA-35000---------------15000-----75000--(60000)
Continental-AS-40000-------------------------65000
Northwest---NW-35000---------------17500-----75000
United------UA-35000---------------15000-----60000


Europe

American----AA-40000-----60000-----25000-----90000
Continental-AS-50000------------------------100000
Northwest---NW-50000---------------20000-----80000
United------UA-50000---------------30000-----80000


Asia

American----AA-50000-----65000-----25000-----90000-----(Japan only)
Continental-AS-60000------------------------120000
Northwest---NW-60000---------------25000-----90000
United------UA-60000---------------30000-----90000


Australia

Northwest---NW-80000------------------------110000
Quantas-----AS-80000------------------------105000
United------UA-60000---------------30000-----90000
.
.



[This message has been edited by IJK (edited 08-21-2003).]