Originally Posted by guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

If you do not expect to attain status with any program, I would not count on too many upgrades.

UA and/or its commuter carrier fly to your listed destinations, as does the combination of AA/AS. I would probably either fly UA and credit my miles to its program, or fly a combination of AA and AS, and credit the miles to AA.

If lounge access were important to you, I would look into whether it makes sense to fly UA, but credit the miles to Aegean Airlines' FFP. Like UA, Aegean is a Star Alliance carrier, but Aegean currently has low mileage requirements for attaining Star Alliance Silver and Gold status. (Gold status will get you free lounge access in the U.S. when flying on UA, CO, or US, even in Coach.) You will get Star Alliance Gold status with Aegean if you can credit 20,000 flight miles in a year. The catch is that deeply discounted Coach fares on CO and UA only earn 50% of flown miles on Aegean, but always
earn at least 500 miles. But once attained, status earned on Aegean lasts for two years. Aegean miles can be redeemed for award travel on other Star Alliance carriers, but redemption rates for some awards differ from the rates offered by UA. If interested, check out the thread about this on the FT Star Alliance forum.