Originally Posted by joneja
My new job requires weekly travel and so I wanted to choose an airline loyalty program which would suit me best.
I am based out of Seattle and have an Alaska airlines mileage plan for now. However I heard from my collegues that Alaska airlines is a regional airlines(?) as compared to American airlines or United and that they are the best.
I have no clue reg which plan would b ebest for a person based in Seattle. I usually have to travel to westcoast but then my job can take me anywhere within US.
And one thing I wud like to add is that I am travelling by Asiana airlines in near future and can avail 20k or so miles for United mileage if I chose so.
Probably AS, with UA as a secondary program. Plus any of the isolates if you fly them (WN, B6, etc.).
If your travel is mostly domestic US to/from Seattle, AS has two advantages over AA:
a. Lots of AS flights from Seattle (more bonus mileage opportunities, and better chances to get domestic US awards at only AS's 20,000 miles instead of AA's 25,000 miles).
b. AS has mileage partnerships with CO, DL, and NW, while AA does not. So you have a greater choice of domestic US airlines to concentrate mileage on AS than on AA.
UA covers Star Alliance airlines like US/HP, as well as Asiana, so you may want to enroll in it as a secondary program in case your trip does not fit well with the flights offered by AS or its mileage partners.