Originally Posted by
treydawgmt
That was, generally, my thoughts in the past. I am looking to become a slightly more frequent of a flyer. As in 2-4 times a year for sure. We take about 4-6 mini vacations a year, and I imagine 1/2 ish of them being flying. I'm trying to figure out if that will be enough to make being loyal worth it. I've looked at Alaska Airlines (am a rewards member there, since I took one flight years ago to Seattle or something) for that reason.
Generally, when I've looked for the few trips we've taken, American Airlines, Spirit, or Southwest are the cheapest flights. We've typically traveled Southwest, and done AA once. Doing something like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines or Avios seem most realistic, if I were to want to fly with AA and partners maybe? Southwest isn't bad, I go dining at least once a year to keep my dining rewards, and often go more often, which keep my RR points (that's the only way I still have those, flight was 4 years ago).
Or maybe I do just go for cheapest. Thoughts?
To be honest, the only time I think that choosing your airline based on anything other than price, is when someone else is paying for it. Sure, I would happily book expensive tickets to get more miles if a client or employer were picking up the check. But when it's on my own dime, I will take the hard cash savings. The only exception to this is if you really value the perks of high-level elite status, which is not a realistic prospect unless you are flying at least tens of thousands of miles each and every year.
My best advice to you is to keep buying on price - you seem to be making wise decisions already - and grab what miles are on offer for those cheap fares.