Originally Posted by
bdohmen
The other thing to consider is how do you fly. BA is great if you fly in J/F, or even W, on a regular basis as you can earn status quite quickly and the avios start to roll in. It is also a distance based reward scheme so if you think you will be spending more of your miles on trips to Europe versus back to North America it has a lot of like. If most of your redemptions will be back to North America then the fees associated with using those miles are lower than BA.
This is a crucial question. If you're flying in business class you'll get lounge access and most of the other perks associated with elite status anyway, in which case it comes down to how you plan to use the miles you DO accrue. In my view Alaska's FF program is one of the best - one way awards, numerous partners, decent award mileage requirements. Living in the UK you can easily redeem AS miles for flights on BA, KLM, Air France, Emirates... not to mention AA (US), BA, DL, KL, AF for transatlantic trips. By comparison, Delta's program has very high redemption requirements, and very limited partnerships.
It's also worth noting that many people feel the Alaska - Delta hookup is not long for the world, as Delta is muscling in big time on Alaska's main turf - up and down the west coast, Seattle - Alaska, etc.
So if it was me, I'd stick with Alaska and only switch to Delta if and when AS and DL get a divorce (which may not happen at all) or if your travel is strictly in economy in low mileage-earning brackets/fare classes.