We all have different criteria when selecting
airlines, hotels or dry-cleaners for that matter.
No program is best for all people, some like the bonus miles, some go for the upgrades, some of us want it all, some just want to be treated like we are important.
For me, the first rule is they have to go where I need to go, or in a hotel chain, have a hotel where I need to stay.
Second, treat me with respect, and offer good service. Ok the upgrades and the bonus miles help
I agree with Misternice, that to me it doesn't matter if I'm flying on Business or vacation. If I'm going to "reward" an airline with all, or most of my business I'm giving them special treatment and like any rational player I'm going to extract something of value from the airline in exchange.
As anyone who knows me, or reads my posts here, I'm a sort of walking/talking Continental Billboard. I switched to them from TWA, about 2 years ago. TWA took my business(about $6000 a year) and treated me like I didn't matter. Well TWA I MATTER, I may not be a noble prize winner, or a big shot hollywood producer, but I matter. And this rational player decided that he wasn't going to give TWA any of his money(not one cent). I promote and fly Continental because
they've given me something(miles, upgrades, great service) in exchange for that.
Continental meets my needs, and unlike Jet, I like the midnight upgrades. Why? I'm a night owl, it helps me get more upgrades.
I'll leave the debate's about the details of different programs to the various program forums here.
I was at the Freddies and noticed one thing that hasn't been generally talked about. The airlines(Continental, Southwest) and hotels(Starwood, Hyatt) that won most of the awards spent more time listening to us flyertalkers than the non-winners did.
When I spoke to the United Rep there, he spent most of the time bashing other airlines
and bragging about how many posts there are on the United Flyertalk forum. The Starwood folks, that we spoke with, did lots of listening and asked for our opinions about
Starwood hotels and their PreferredGuest program.