At this point, unless you fly a lot for work, most people are going to be cost-conscious travelers and will not be earning many BIS miles. So these days, I'm earning most of my miles via credit card. And so it's primarily the credit card that dictates which miles I collect, as long as the miles I collect are usable (ie, redeemable for travel to Asia in my case).
Originally Posted by
CPRich
My choice was strictly driven by the dominance of flights at my hub. Why would I join any program but the one that flew 80% of the flights from my airport? I suspect this is fairly common - we end up in programs because of the airline we fly. I doubt that a large percentage of people "choose" a program independent of this.
I'm based at SEA. AS (or perhaps DL) would make the most sense based on your criteria. But in my case, AS makes no sense, since I do very little business travel and AS credit cards are so weak. UA Club Card is great, because you get 1.5miles/dollar. That 0.5 difference is worth at least $600-700 to me per year. Plus you get access to any Star Alliance business lounge as long you're flying Star. I probably only fly UA once or twice a year now, being in SEA. Fly UA no more than I do AS or DL. Yet domestic flying is no longer rewarding at all mile-wise, and so it doesn't matter that I don't fly UA much anymore. I cash out my UA miles on AC and NH and sometimes UA to fly to Asia.