Originally Posted by
orangato
I fly most often on Frontier out of Des Moines which is the only airline I have status on. Recently I've started to fly much more for work with my primary destination being New York but also Dallas, Detroit and New Orleans. With my minimal past usage, I would consider myself a clean slate ready to start earning miles on a major airline. Delta looks like to be a good option - I'm not excited about the prospect of flying on the new United due to O'Hare being my closest hub.
Delta has the worst redemption rates of any of the airlines.
With Chicago being close, UA (and CO since they merged) and AA are both options. One thing to remember is that on AA, EVERY MILE EARNED counts towards 1MM status which gets you lifetime elite status. They're the ONLY airline that does this. Considering that you fly to DFW and NYC, that might be a good option.
If you're interested, check my blog out - I'm going to hit EXP this year for the first time, and you can see how things have worked for me on AA.