Red,

A large part of your decision will be based on which particular airports you are flying to (i.e. which airlines serve them) - it isn't much use belonging to a ff program, no matter how good it looks on paper, if it's difficult for you to accure mileage/status.

One thing I do notice is that you have separate accounts with Delta, Swissair and USAir - (for now) you can accrue DL miles on SR (or vice versa), and you can also get SR credit for flights on USAir. Doesn't AA have a cosy relationship with USAir too? No point in having orphan miles...

oneworld and Star are the dominant worldwide alliances, and you have a foot in each camp via your AA and UA memberships - not necessarily a bad thing. There are rumours that SR will be breaking its alliance with DL and will eventually join oneworld.

If all you want is upgrades and ease of travel, aiming at becoming/staying elite on one or more US-based airlines is probably the way to go (if you'd like to earn awards to particular/exotic destinations, you should alter your plans accordingly) - but regardless of the programs that you choose, you should do your best to focus your efforts. My choice of ff plans involves mostly foreign carriers, so I'll step aside and let the AA/UA/DL/CO and USAir champs slug it out...

baobab

PS - try to find out whether your employer has a particular preference (read: sweet deal) for one airline rather than another - this could affect things for you too...




[This message has been edited by baobab (edited 07-02-1999).]