Surely there would be some connections through PDX. Carriers that don't really fly the route might require a LAX or SLC connection, which of course would be out of the way.

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You can see which carriers fly nonstop from SFO to SEA (or any other destination) by Googling "SFO airport wiki." The SFO Wikipedia entry will list all carriers serving the airport, and their destinations. @:-)

With most carriers, one can find a connecting service:

AA: SEA-LAX-SFO
AS: SEA-PDX-SFO
DL: SEA-SLC-SFO; SEA-LAX-SFO; SEA-MSP-SFO
UA: SEA-LAX-SFO; SEA-DEN-SFO
US: SEA-PHX-SFO
WN: SEA-LAS-SFO; SEA-PHX-SFO; SEA-SAN-SFO

The only nonstops I'm aware of are Alaska, United and Virgin America. Southwest would be an option from OAK but no first class cabin.

AA doesn't have any routes north from SFO. Their service is strictly to their hubs (LAX, ORD, DFW, JFK, MIA) and you have the addition of US routes to PHX and the east coast, but nothing to the Northwest. They do partner with Alaska, though, and you could credit to AA. Alaska, in turn, partners with AA, Delta and British Airways, among others, and might be the most versatile program if you like mixing and matching carriers aside from SEA flights.

One thing I noticed is that you buy first class fares. As we're talking less than 700 miles one way, it's going to take a long time to build up significant miles at AA (if you credit Alaska there) for award tickets as you'll just bring in the actual flight miles plus the 50% first class bonus, so around 1,000 miles in each direction. At UA, where you would earn 5 miles per dollar spent without elite status, you may actually accrue more miles based on the cost of a ticket. Anything over roughly $400RT after taxes would give you more miles as a UA flyer when you don't factor in any type of elite status. Strictly from the point of redeemable miles, UA might be your best option with paid first class.

If you fly more than 25,000 miles a year and can accrue elite status, you'd bring in additional miles at AA (25% bonus) while UA would still be dollar based (you jump to 6 miles per dollar after you hit 25,000 miles).

Should note that Alaska flies to SEA from OAK where UA no longer flies from, should you consider OAK as an option to SFO. I don't have Alaska as my frequent flyer program as I credit their flights to AA, but hopefully someone familiar with Alaska's program can give you some more detail on it.

Another nonstop option is Virgin America. Don't know anything about their frequent flyer program and they do have a limited route network. Have you ever flown with them? In terms of seat comfort, I've heard some very favorable reviews about them from friends, but not a word about their frequent flyer program.

AS and DL haven't been getting along very well recently, so there's been speculation that their bilateral partnership could end.

DL grants RDMs based on fare, the same as UA does now. Advantages of DL, beyond general good operations/good IROPs recovery/good frontline staff (including FAs) who seem happy to be working for DL, would be the fact that miles currently don't expire and the ability to earn status miles (enough alone for their lowest (Silver) level) on DL AmEx cards, which carry additional perks when flying DL.

There's speculation (that word again!) that the AA program will change dramatically and perhaps in the directing of rewarding spend at a later stage of the AA/US merger. We can only wonder how AA operations will go during the merger.

UA is still a big mess.

Delta.

/thread.

For SFO-SEA?

It was just a suggestion. But yes, they do offer plenty of non-stop service for around $200 or so.

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But not on mainline equipment -- in case that matters to the OP, who usually travels in F.

I would suggest choosing a mainline aircraft when picking flights from those airlines that have non-stop service on this route. Since OP didn't have a large FT post count, I looked up a few of her past threads - OP has/had a disability, sometimes need wheelchair access and having comfortable seating are more important factors.

OP, you can do a few mock bookings at airline's website to see which airlines provide best seating - after you get the aircraft type/model use it to check the width/pitch size from seatguru.com. Also you have a disability, airlines would give you priority to bulkhead seating (e.g., first row in coach, so you'd have a bit extra room, easier to get in/out). This might be an option to pay coach fare and retain some of the comfort for a short haul flight. You could use the savings in fare difference to secure wheelchair service to make your travel easier, for example.

On SFO-SEA you have four choices.

Alaska is the frequency / convenience leader, and it's all mainline planes.
Virgin America is the quality leader, but they have low frequency.
Delta is the current promotion leader, but who knows how long they will keep it up, and it's not mainline.
United is the last-resort choice, but I believe they do have the latest SFO-SEA departure... around 1030p or 1045p... which makes UA unavoidable for me now and then.

On any given day any entrant can offer the lowest price.

Alright everyone, I fly YVR-ZRH once a year because of family and don't wanna keep paying for it, so I'm starting off with the whole FF business. Given that I'm in Canada, Aeroplan is obviously the biggest earning possibility, but there's some more. BA works too, but sucks with fuel surcharges, so I've mostly set my eyes on AA&Aero, with maybe Alaska/Delta too. According to the award map, the following trips have little to no fuel surcharges with the FF programs:

Skyteam:

YVR/SEA - AMS/CDG/JFK - ZRH (with Delta and KLM/AF respectively)

*A/Aero: YVR/SEA - EWR/ORD/IAD/SFO - ZRH (with UA only or UA&Swiss)

AA/Oneworld:

YVR - JFK - ZRH (Cathay and AA)
SEA - JFK/PHL - ZRH (Alaska and/or AA)

am I missing anything? BA charges surcharges on UA flights, right? What's the availability like on those from your guys' experiences?

Just wanna make sure I'm not missing anything obvious :)

I fly somewhere else in NA just maybe once a year or so, so that's not as important to me as redeeming for Business/First (preferably) on YVR-ZRH


EDIT: YVR/SEA-GVA might be an alternative IF it's much better in terms of availability

You got me there! Deepest apologies.

Why not UA? Way more earning possibility than AC and no PQD. Plus you can use 15k award miles to get to a base with cheaper revenue flights. I hear UA can be pretty cheap out of SEA, and if you have a Canadian billing address you are exempt from their PQD spend. But yes it is UA (but free booze on international flights coming next month).

However you are correct in pointing out that yvrjfkzrh is a much better routing than going anywhere on UA or most of the "new" AC.

I do not think you can redeem UA via BA unless I am missing something (I'm also new to this)

Help!
 

Hi All,

I've been lurking for a while, and really appreciate all the insight and information. I recently posted in regards to my dilemma in choosing between UA and DL, but this thread might help make things more formulaic in figuring it out.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: Route flexibility/flight options (amount, etc.), flexibility in award routing
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: 25,000 - 50,000, usually in economy (unless upgraded)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Economy (or premium economy within 24 hours (free))
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose my own airline, but live in Queens, closest to LGA and JFK. I travel for both work and pleasure, about 1/2 and 1/2
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: I'd say 60% domestic, 15% Latin America, 15% Europe, and 5% each Africa and Asia (India, Japan, China, Taiwan mostly). European flights are 80% to Spain (Madrid and Barcelona).
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: JFK/LGA/EWR
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Reply: UA Silver, 60,000 million miler miles, 180,000 redeemable miles
AA: 16,000 redeemable miles | DL: 60,000 million miler miles, 5,000 redeemable miles
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: United, Delta (and alliance partners for both - LH, LX, AF, KL)

Thanks in advance!