Originally Posted by
TProphet
I'm based in SEA and here's my strategy for paid flights next year.
Primary program/airline: AS/VX - I'll continue to fly Alaska and their partners first where it makes sense. However, as an early stage startup founder lacking cash, I'm price sensitive. This means that I'm most likely to travel with Alaska when fares are competitive (such as to LAX) and when I'm flying on an award. I am as likely to accrue Alaska miles on their international partners as on Alaska themselves.
Secondary program/airline: Delta - Lots of flights to places I go from Seattle and fares that are usually competitive with United and American. I credit to Czech OK Plus for their high accrual rates (1:1 in most cases on discounted fares).
Tertiary program/airline: Southwest - the main sticking points for me are the lack of seat power, regularly delayed flights (their Bay Area hubs are choke points on the West Coast) and the lack of nonstops to southern California. I like Southwest; they're friendly and give free checked bags. Their mileage program is better than other revenue based programs because although you earn at the same low rates, awards are priced much lower.
One-offs: If I need to fly a major airline with a checked bag, I'll go with American and credit to Avios. This will continue as long as Barclays keeps waiving the annual fee on my Aviator Red credit card. Of course, I'll gladly fly American if I'm not paying (award tickets), and that's usually when I am on board with them.
Avoid: I'll continue to go out of my way to avoid United. If you don't have status with them, it's just a miserable experience and they go out of the way to make you feel unwelcome on board. Their operation is also relatively unreliable so... yay? If I do end up on a United flight it'll be for a specific circumstance (such as needing a nonstop to Dulles, or flying on an award) and I'll credit to Singapore.
NOPE: Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant.
What's your 2018 strategy?
IMO you're splitting your miles over too many programs. It's far better for FF benefits to concentrate your earnings on one or a few programs.
SQ miles expire if not used before the deadline even if there's activity in your account, so IMO it's really unwise to credit there unless you earn and burn with high frequency. Someone else in this thread posted that the same is true for OK. OTOH at least DL miles never expire, so there's an argument to credit to DL if you don't frequently get enough miles for useful award tickets.
Originally Posted by
morphogencc
I'm based in Boston; my staple route is BOS - LAX and BOS - SFO a couple of times a year and an international flight on a partner, which usually gets me pretty close to MVP by itself. The past few years I've used AA flights to fill in the gaps (I fly to smaller cities around the country a half dozen times a year; mostly commonly MSY, MSP, DEN, MIA, and PHX) and push me over 25k to MVP status; I'm not sure what I'm going to do now.
I'm also a SPG / Amex Plat, so I've been considering whether I should switch to Delta (Crossover Rewards + SkyClub) or United (Silver status via Marriott match). Delta's got the better flight product, but SkyMiles are useless; I like United much less but at least I'll be earning miles that I can use.
Having psuedo-status with American was really the best of all worlds for me, so this new world is killing me
The most likely scenario for me is to fly Alaska + partners whenever possible, and then just be a free agent between Delta / United / JetBlue / Southwest depending on my route and pricing.
Again, it's better to avoid splitting between too many programs. IMO you need to decide whether the Crossover benefits plus lounge access when flying DL is better than flying UA as a Silver.