RGreen--

I agree with yorock that it depends on what your travel patterns are, how you want to use your miles, etc.

The strategy I adopted was to focus on 2 programs which offered the greatest "coverage", both in terms of accumulating miles and using them. I don't fly that much so achieving status is not an issue for me.

I went with United and Alaska. That combination allows me to accumulate on any major US airline: UA, DL and US on UA; CO, NW, and AA on AS. That allows me to shop for flights based upon price, not loyalty.

For example, neither UA nor DL allow you to accumulate miles with travel on AA, which has a big presence in MIA. Depending upon where you live in Florida, you may be missing out on some bargains.

The other advantage is that you can shop around for award travel, which your AMEX card does to some degree. CO tends to be stingy with awards, but my AS miles allow me shop around for NW and AA awards instead.

I would disagree with yorock about CO's coverage of South America. They don't include SCL - a great city south of the border - and for a Floridian, they force you to backtrack to EWR or IAH to reach Latin America.

Since you have no miles with DL, you have no cost in dropping them in favor of another FF program. It's a good time to consider your options.

Finally, I would reduce your affinity cards to a single one to minimize on annual fees, unless they offer a good bonus, like the $50 companion fare on AS. I hear some FTers have several AS Visa cards!