. What strategy should I follow to maximize frequent flyer benefits given my situation? I surmise it's not too clever to have mileage fragmented over 3 FF programs. Maybe it is? I don't know.


None of your mile would get you any where decent except for one way domestic ticket which is not allowed on Delta or US Airways but only on American and United/Continental.

2. Can miles from one frequent flyer program be transferred to another? I.e. transfer the miles from AA and Delta to the Alaska account. Since both AA and Delta are partners of Alaska, it wouldn't make sense to be logging miles in the AA Advantage and Delta Skymiles programs anymore if I'm making my Alaska account the central "repository" for miles earned through both flying and purchases.

No, you can not transfer miles from one alliance to another. At this moment he only exception is that you can transfer United miles in to Continental for no fee. If you have Alaska Card you can accumulate miles to fly One World Alliance.

3. Was it a good call to get the Alaska card? Yes good call.

4. I don't believe I fly a particular carrier or alliance enough to earn status. Would one achieve status with Alaska by mainly earning miles through the Alaska Visa card or would one be compelled to also fly X segments/year to earn status?

Your purchases will get you the miles but it will not count towards Status. Some cards like Delta Amex will count towards status if you spend a lot of money.

5. Where would you book a round trip flight to Vietnam from Seattle this December in business class for 2 people? Itinerary is SEA-SGN and then HAN-SEA on the way back. Trip dates: Dec. 14, 2011 to Jan 02, 2012. I'm looking for affordability but also sensible mileage accumulation.

It would be exceedingly difficult to get an award ticket in the month of December because of the Holiday Travel. If you had the miles today, you may be lucky to get a seat but it would become almost impossible close to the Holidays.

I fly about 30,000 miles a month and I thought I can help you but sorry for the bad news. But this is the truth.