Originally Posted by DanTravels

I'm Hawaii-based. ITO specifically, currently flying through HNL almost all of the time although I'll sometimes drive to KOA if there's a good fare on a direct flight from there to US48.

I fly for both work and pleasure (the balance of the two varies), always booked in Y, on fares that are comparable to the cheapest available. I, and others who book me for work, have a little leeway on price if it gets me a desired airline or alliance - but not a whole lot.

Since 2006, I've done 75K+ each year, and 100K+ some years. This year may be a little soft, though.

I'm currently a platinum medallion on DL (formerly NW), and have a lifetime membership in their SkyClub lounge. I've also been a non-elite member on UA for several years, and *A has been my second choice of alliance after SkyTeam.

Good geographic coverage is very important to me, as my common routes include places in Asia, North America, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa almost every year. When I joined NW in 2006, *A was very lacking in flights to my sub-Saharan destinations that didn't require backtracking from JNB, but of course that has since changed.

As far as preferred airlines, CO was the second airline I ever set food on (PEOPLExpress having since gone away) and when they were in SkyTeam and partnered with NW, I always felt I got good treatment from them. I've been less pleased with how UA historically treated me as a non-elite member, but I have 10,000 miles coming up on UA and CO in a couple weeks, and will see how that goes. I've got another 25,000 or so miles coming up in June and July that are yet to be booked...

I'm looking at *A for two reasons:

1) CO has announced daily ITO-LAX and weekly ITO-SFO runs starting next month. Everyone is happy about this, although among folks in the industry and FFs here in Hawaii, there's a non-zero amount of skepticism about what kind of loads they'll get, and what will happen to those frequencies at the end of the summer.

2) CO and UA have both been offering complimentary elite upgrades from the west coast to Hawaii. NW used to give Hawaii-resident elites upgrade certificates, but DL has done away with this practice.

Obviously, if CO/UA service to ITO sticks around, it's a great option for me. If not, I can still connect through HNL, or drive to KOA. But if I get to KOA, my options expand to include US and seasonal AC, and if I get to HNL, I get US, AC, NH and NZ.

So I could stick with my UA account, or go US, AC, NH or NZ. What say you?