Hi all,

I bounced this question off of a few of the attendees at the MR seminar in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I should get some more input from the denizens here.

CO has been my secondary/tertiary FF program for years. With them leaving for *A (where all my non-LCC FF programs already are), I am starting to look at other ST programs to stash miles into when I can't get a decent fare on *A. Here are my criteria/preferences:

1) Ability to earn at least some redeemable miles on low fares (100% would be best (obviously), but less would not be a deal-breaker).

2) Ability to keep miles from expiring (no expiration date for miles, or miles kept from expiring via Credit Card or I-Dine, etc.)

3) A decent earn-to-burn ratio when booking flights. I don't expect to put enough miles here to earn C or F awards. Being able to book one-ways and/or having "cash + miles" options would be a big plus for me

4) Ability to use miles for economy tickets (probably in the US) - a program with no availability to use awards is useless to me.

5) Ability to earn some miles via non-flying methods - not at all crucial, but could break a tie between otherwise similar programs.

Oh, my mailing address is in the US, but if I need a mailing address elsewhere to improve my FFP situation, that may be possible.

Status-earning is irrelevant, as I can't see myself earning status in more than one FFP (but let me know if a status match from BD *Gold would help in any of the areas listed above).

Flights paid for would generally be in coach on DL/NW within the US - maybe into the Caribbean or Central America as well. If I hadn't heard all the horror stories with redeeming Delta Skymiles, I would just join their program - but before I do that, I would love to hear about any other reasonable options.

Thanks!