Originally Posted by
thegeneral
There is a strong argument for AS, but hands down? I don't think so. Your AS status isn't going to help you when moving abroad. Being a CO/NW Gold gives you SkyTeam Elite status vs AS's program which gives you nothing.
The low award rates might be nice, but an informed flyer would save the miles for international first class trips vs. a domestic trip. Don't get me wrong, I love and fly AS, but they're not the ideal.
I would suggest NW not only for this, but in place of UA period. Here's something that UA elites don't realize. You get upgraded automatically on a space available basis when you're a CO/NW elite on both CO and NW metal. No expiring upgrade certs, no buying more certs, no more putting yourself on a wait list and no more long flights home looking at up and wondering why the front section is empty and UA is making you sit in back.
The only reason why anyone should ever bother with UA is if they fly a ton and mostly international and want the SWU's. NW offers SWU's as well for people who fly the most, but UA does have more international routes. I just shake my head at people who fly United domestically.
The OP is a UA flyer and has an oddball CO flight, so it doesn't seem he's going for status on this second carrier. Hence, the "hands down" remark. Your points are valid for someone looking for SkyTeam status, or looking for upgrades. But my take on this post is that he's just looking for a place to dump a few miles and not let them orphan. AS is likely the best place for that.
Similarly, if we're talking about a low number of miles, then saving them for an int'l trip in a premium cabin (what many of us FTers do) is not necessarily feasible. I may have a ton of CO and UA miles, but I also have a DL account on life support for several years. If I can get that to 50K and redeem for 2 x 25K domestics just to run it out, I'll be happy I won't have to worry about it anymore. Sure it's not the best use of miles, but there are other circumstances as well (it's also an expensive market I tend to redeem to, so it's not really that bad of a deal).
And as for your NW vs. UA ploy, again that's an uninformed suggestion. We're not sure where the OP's home is, and where they fly. Suggesting NW to someone who lives in say SFO or LAX may be impossible if they do a lot of travel within the West Coast.