Originally Posted by Renard
The road from 1k to 1p is a long hard road ...I've been there...don't recommend it. You would miss being 1K.
I am 1p with UA and silver with CO....I would prefer 1k status and no elite status with co but living in houston CO is very hard to avoid as UA/star alliance service is very limited. Also sometimes UA fares are just too much higher than CO's fares to justify it for leisure travel.
I have been debating the same thing myself. It looks like I am flying a steady 125K miles per year so if I split with CO for any decent level, I lose 1K. But for me, 95% of my direct flight time is UA. I do need to get to EWR and IAH every so often (6 times a year about) and would love to go direct, but at this point I risk cutting into my 1K qual. So figure I made the right decision to throw all my business at UA, even though I have to connect to EWR and IAH. My co-workers look at me funny when I say I have to drive an extra hour (if lucky) to IAD from Baltimore to pick up my Houston flight, while they take a 15 min cab ride to either CO or SW out of BWI.