Originally Posted by
kmesaaz
At this point I have 2 rt to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines, 2 rt to Bozeman on Delta, and 7 flights on Alaska Airlines to and around Alaska in 2011.
Hawaiian flights were purchased on their card, Alaska flights were purchased on their card, and then Delta was purchased on Alaska Airlines card because I had decided to focus on Alaska Airlines miles.
So, if I understand what I have read, I need to get the Alaska Airlines mileage plan # on the Hawaiian Airlines and Delta itineraries. Will this create a problem with my existing 80k miles on Hawaiian or with the 25k miles I just received for opening the Delta American Express card? Thanks
So, if the above represents your ongoing travel patterns, you may consider this:
Credit your Hawaiian miles into your Hawaiian account, where you already have a pretty good balance going.
Credit your Alaska and Delta miles to AS. This will build up your Alaska balance (which sounds like your focus for right now), and count towards MVP Status. Not sure where you're based, but if a significant number of those 7 flights are to/from Alaska, you're going to be close to MVP. Conversely, if your future travel plans would be better suited to Delta, you could consider crediting your Alaska and Delta flights all to Delta (Delta flights credited to Alaska's program are elite qualifying miles, and Alaska Flights credited to Delta's prrogram are also elite qualifying miles).
A word of caution - Alaska and Delta are very close partners. Unless you're going to be traveling a TON and get high level elite status on both airlines, most frequent flyers would probably support me in saying that focusing all of your earnings into one program and getting gold level (or higher) status is mare beneficial than achieving low level status on both airlines. Don't worry - the bonus miles you've earned by opening both cards is enough for a free domestic r/t ticket on whichever airline you don't choose as your primary, thus will not go to waste!
Finally...whichever program you choose, consider shifting your paid Hawaii flights to that airline rather than Hawaiian (unless you love Hawaiian airlines). Again...earning elite status qualifying miles is key...and by taking 2 trips on Hawaiian, you're losing the chance to be earning status miles in either Alaska or Delta's program because Hawaiian is not an elite qualifying partner of either.