Originally Posted by
FlyMeToBelize
Thanks so much for ALL your great information!! I did in fact go with NWA as my primary carrier, but will be keeping my stand alone accounts with Alaska and Air Canada as well. I've also gone with Marriott as my primary, with SPG as my back up (was already with SPG) because many of my clients are in areas that don't have anyone in the SPG family in which to stay.
I welcome any and all additional advice.
Thank you again!!
Hello and welcome to FT!
Since you only need 75K to reach Platinum on NW (versus 100K for most others) and the upgrades at that level are as close to 100 percent as you can possibly get, I say 'kudos' for your choice. PDX is a good NW city and they have flights to Asia, as well, with some other possiblities going East.
Your AC gives you the *A that will come in handy and AS, in addition to being a very good airline, covers OneWorld, so you have it covered.
For those times you can't use Starwood, you may want to look at Hilton, too. They allow you to double-dip and take points AND airline miles for stays, so a double-dip may be one way to send a transaction to an airline program you may not use so often to make sure that your miles don't expire. But the Starwood perk of trading 20K points for 25K airline miles still remains one of the better bonuses, IMHO.
As you hone your 'road warrior' skills, don't be bashful with sharing tips and deals you may find with the rest of the community.^