Except for the UA crowd that mostly uses the UA's DEN hub. Fly enough out of DEN or COS enough and inevitably you have to fly F9 sometimes due to irrops (half my lifetime F9 flights) and when last minute purchases price out UA out of reach.

To me F9 is a credible alternative, especially if leg room is important to you. Given OP's travel patterns I think he should go to F9 unless he thinks might have any long hauls in 2011.

My prediction is that F9/Republic will be AAcquired soon, and then of course it will be a no-brAAiner (except for the loss of leg room). AAnd I will hAAve to look AAt that myself.

I'm surprised there are no 3P or 2P memberships on CC yet. At 125K EQMs, 1Ks will get a 2P, and at 175K a 1P. And this is the time when those milestones start kicking in.