Interesting thread. As I've now moved to Europe I'm shopping for a new *A program next year (I will renew 1K next month so I'll be *G through 2/08 anyway).

Bmi and Spanair seem to have some of the most competitive programs in terms of redemptions. I think Bmi is even better.

One thing to keep in mind though is that United doesn't charge a fuel surcharge for award bookings, whereas Bmi does and I'm quite sure Spainair does as well. This negates the miles savings in some cases i.e. intra-Europe routes.