Originally Posted by
contra21
Hey guys, been lurking for awhile now and I finally decided to register. I've tried to learn as much as I can from reading the forums but I have a loooong way to go. Figured this was a good place to start, any help would be much appreciated.
Hi Contra, welcome to FT!
You might have flown already, but I'd count the OZ flight to Aegean unless you have made up your mind on another * program already. United isn't bad, but Aegean gives good bonus miles for biz and you can add to your total for a nice redemption. However, since you have already reached status with them, I'd start to look at their award chart and plan how you want to use those miles, and not just blindly keep adding miles to them but decide an amount of miles you need and then once you hit the target, look to accumulate elsewhere with the occasional credit to keep status.
As for most of your flights from PHL, I'd think about AA. Since your US miles will be combined with AA at some point, and AA allows one-way awards and treats status pretty well, I'd look at them for a possible accumulation and maybe you can reach status at some point.
The comparison then you have to personally value is * flights can get you priority check-in, bags free, lounges, etc, but you will have to often connect or fly RJ's from PHL. On the other hand, AA/US will have more direct flights, but you won't have status. Note though, you can get boarding, free bags, and maybe priority check-in with a AA credit card, so that might help lessen the blow.
Hope that helps a little, and keep your eye on the AA/US updates and potential changes in the future as you're making up your mind.