Hi all,
This is my first post with this account so sorry if I am posting in the wrong thread. I was wondering if you guys can help me choose the best frequent flyer program for me. For "best," I just mean in terms of max. upgrade potential or lounge access. I'm basing this flyer program just on traveling without credit card spend.

I will be a college student in the fall, and will be traveling to LA for college. My home airport is OAK, SFO, or SJC, and for LA I will be planning to travel to LAX or any regional airport. I will probably be flying home twice every month, so 4 segments a month= around 48 a year on about $80 one way coach fares.

Most FF programs like Delta Gold require 50k miles or 60 segments, so I do not know how to meet the req. or can you recommend another flying program for me. I wanted to do Southwest but they don't seem to offer anything else then priority boarding and extra miles. Because I can get "A" boarding by just checking in five seconds after the 24 hour period.

Thanks and looking to hear from you guys soon!

I don't know what you expect in terms of status benefits on such sort routes. For that kind of travel, I would probably stick to the cheapest operator for every trip.

Hello and welcome to Flyertalk!

Do you anticipate taking any other trips during the year, such as flying for spring break, visiting family elsewhere in the country, etc.? And are you planning to in Southern California year round, or just during the school year?

You say you're looking at upgrade potential and lounge access, but then say you wanted to do Southwest, which offers neither of those, so it's a bit unclear: What attracted you to Southwest? And have you flown them regularly in recent years? In my experience, A boarding groups are a rarity unless you're buying early bird check in. I regularly am clicking the check in button repeatedly until check in opens and still find myself frequently stuck in B boarding groups.

What value do you place on free tickets? Because quite honestly, I personally would focus on that. You're talking about such a short flight that upgrades are a bit pointless, and you'll burn through them fairly quickly. (For example, American, which is my program of choice, gives you four upgrades for every 12,500 elite qualifying miles flown. Each of those upgrades is good for a 500-mile flight segment. Without even getting into the various EQM calculations, you first have to earn status before you'll get those upgrades, and then you'll probably have to fly in excess of 30 segments before you get four upgrades -- and you'll burn through those on four flights, then have to wait almost a year before earning your next batch.)

And lounge access? It's really of greatest value (IMHO) if you're connecting flights and have a long layover. How much time do you plan to spend at the airport once you've cleared security and before your flight starts boarding?

Thanks guys for your response [MENTION=22712]chgoeditor[/MENTION] I sort of meant that which program should I channel my flight segments towards. When I said I was looking at Southwest it meant that I was only researching its benefits, sorry for the confusion.

No I do not anticipate going anywhere else most likely from LA to SFO and SFO to LA routes.

So essentially I just wanted to ask whether I could channel my segments anywhere useful so I can get the most benefits at the airport/flying. For free tickets, the reason why I did not place an emphasis on them because it would take around 40 segments to hit 12,500 miles when sometimes airlines offer them for only $39 one way or $59.

This is a bit off topic but� i'm wondering why you assume two flights home every month? I teach in San Francisco and many of my students are from LA, and I would say none of them go home more than once a month if that.

squeakr has a good point. While many college students presume they know how often they'll go home, once you're knee deep in activities, making friends, joining clubs, etc., you may discover you go home far less often. Heck, beginning after sophomore year, I didn't even go home for the summers.

In truth, the way these programs have degenerated in recent years, unless you are able to fly 25,000 miles per year AND make the minimum spend, there is not much point in participating in the AA/UA/DL programs anymore.

The extra money you spend to stay loyal to one of them (versus just buying the cheapest ticket every time) will probably add up to more than the value of any reward.

Southwest might be a better bet, but you'd still need 25 one-way flights to qualify for A-list status, which is a monthly RT home from college and then some. And it would be silly IMO to buy extra, unnecessary round trips at the end of the year given the comparative marginal value of the reward.

This is not correct; as LAX-SFO is only 337 miles, OP would be eligible for complimentary upgrades and doesn't need to earn or burn certs.

I wouldn't go out of my way to spend lots of extra money concentrating flying on one airline. But if I tried to concentrate, it would be on AA or DL. Here's why:

The biggest reason... AA has about as many frequencies as DL, and essentially flies exclusively E-175s, which are among the most comfortable seats in the skies, even in coach. DL flies a mixture of E-175s and 717s (though the 717s aren't awful with the 2-3 seating). United flies a lot of A320s and 737s, which I don't find comfortable.

Delta flights between LAX-SFO are operated with the Shuttle product, with 14 flights a day, so there are plenty of options. Free food and beverage, even if you're seated in Economy.

DL plays a lot of games when it comes to offering upgrades, even to Comfort+ seating. On the other hand, neither SFO or LAX is a hub for DL, which helps keep the elite population somewhat down. I found my ability to get Main Cabin Extra seating on AA even as a Gold was far better than being able to get Comfort+ on DL.

One-way flights between LAX-SFO currently run as low as 5,500 miles on DL (we've seen 4,500 in the past) if you can plan ahead at least 3 weeks. AA's minimum is 7,500, and UA's minimum is 10,000. DL also has better availability at their "saver" rates than AA has at theirs.

The only way lounge access is going to happen is if you buy a membership or pay for a credit card that gets you in. Totally not worth it until you're 21.

All that said... I would consider how often you really will be going home. I don't know anything about you or your family situation, and I certainly acknowledge there may be perfectly valid reasons you are forced to return home regularly... but more often I have seen parents still trying to hold on to their kids after they go to college, and likewise I've seen students cling to their home. Assuming you're attending a typical 4-year residential program, and have no such demands in SFO that require you to return home so often, I suggest jumping in with both feet. Those 4 years will go by in a blur... you'll have the time of your life and will form relationships that you'll carry with you forever. This becomes much harder to do if you're constantly bailing out to go home.

My bad...learned something new today! (I rarely fly such short flights so hadn't realized those were complimentary.) Thanks.

It's not what the OP is asking, but I would advise him/her to reassess the plan to return home every other weekend during the academic year. You'll miss too much by doing so: activities with peers, extracurricular activities, study, friendships, learning to take care of yourself, independence from mom and dad, etc. Part of the college experience, if you can afford it, is being away from home.

Also, it doesn't make sense, in terms of ether time or the cost of ground transportation, to use any Bay Area airport and any airport in the greater LA area.

It's also unrealistic to expect free upgrades and free lounge access (except when traveling internationally within your alliance) at the 50,000 status miles per year level. You can pay for a lounge membership, but that doesn't make sense on a student budget, even if it would cover all of your airports.

Same here: you plan something and life throws you a curve ball. Personal story: Grad student in MSP (hey MSPeconomist!). I believed I was going to travel a lot with DL last year when I arrived because the gf lives in SBN and the only direct flight was DL. I did a really neat plan of the expenses, how many flights I needed to gain silver, and so on. It all made sense: I had to change from AA to DL.

A month into my doctoral programme we broke up and I never had to fly to SBN.

Two months in, new gf and now I fly with AA to MAD a lot because now she is living there. Never, ever, underestimate the potential that life has to surprise you and to change your plans. I would try to decide, after a few months in, if it is really worth it, and if you are flying a lot. In the mean time, I coincide with the majority opinion, DL or AA.

My only point in favour of DL is that they have a much better programme for –and percentage of– voluntary denied boarding –or bump, in flyertalks lingua is accepting to take a later flight because yours is oversold in exchange for a voucher, gift card or money–, and if you are a student, flying with them and taking bumps every so often, you can make money out of that and use it to buy more flights –thus, eventually reaching status faster.

If you fly enough with DL on a route which tends to be oversold, then I would go for their programme. If not, AA is also a good choice.

Hey everyone, thanks for your guys' suggestion, especially not only for airline advice but also for life advice for going off to college. Really appreciate it!