Alaska mileage plan 2018 strategy
I was a long time BA Executive Club Gold (OneWorld Emerald) member when I was living in the UK. I moved to silicon valley in July 2016 but kept crediting my flights to BAEC until March 2017. I then re-evaluated my options and decided to target Alaska Gold 75K. I liked the airline, they have a base in SJC and SFO, nice international partners and for any domestic routes that I can't fly with Alaska, they had American. Lots of earning potential domestically. Starting in April, 2017, I have managed to earn 110K partner qualifying miles. There were a few AA first class segments in there. SJC-PHX-MCO-MIA-SFO, SJC-PHX-JFK-BOS-PHX-SFO and so on.
But in 2018, with the AA partnership ending, I am finding that I may have a number of segments where I can no longer earn Alaska miles. For instance, in January, I have to do SJC-NYC-MCO-SFO. I don't have an Alaska mileage earning option for NYC-MCO and this is probably true for most of east coast. It is kind of difficult for me to estimate how much travel I will be doing on the east coast in 2018 but it could add up. I also travel to Europe at least 2-3 times a year and I was hoping to use Air France/KLM and not the BA club world dorm seat. But that option is also pretty much gone.
At this point, I am just thinking I will continue to target 75K status in 2018. But I hope I don't regret it. I don't see Alaska finding another partner for domestic flights and I don't see them expanding massively out of the west coast. I don't really fancy switching to United or Delta both of whom have bases and routes out of SFO.
Are there any other in a similar situation? What are your thoughts on continuing to target 75K status?