Help a future geobachelor choose an airline program

Hello,

Seems like forever since I have been on here. I think I was last active a decade ago.

Anyway, I had the good fortune to get promoted to the northern Virginia area at work. This fall i will relocate to the Dulles area for the next couple years. Difficulty: my wife will not be able to join for a year or two due to career commitments. So it looks like I will be joining the ranks of geobachelors.

All my programs (except IHG hotels where I still have status) have been deleted due to inactivity. So I am starting from scratch and need help picking a new airline.

Here's what I'm looking for:
1) Direct non-stop service from Dulles (or maybe Reagen) to BTV (bonus points for MHT as a backup) on Fridays and Sundays.
2) Low cost is a plus since I'll be paying out of pocket two or more round trips a month
3) decent rewards options to the Carribean and South America or elsewhere is a plus.

Thanks!

Welcome back.

The first place I'd start is looking at flights.google.com. You can set it to nonstop or one stop. Check days of week of interest to you and you'll quickly sort out who offers the flights and what the prices are. You can put in both IAD,DCA as the originating airport. Then you can move on from there and investigate the award plans should you have more than one option. AA has nonstop flights to both MHT and BTV.

1. IAD-BTV non-stop is only United Express. DCA-BTV and DCA-MHT non-stop is only American Eagle. There is no IAD-MHT non-stop.
2. Use google.com/flights, Kayak or the operating airlines websites to compare prices.
3. You can check which airlines fly where direct by checking each airports wikipedia page.

Go to google flights, search IAD, DCA to BTV, MHT. You will see that UA is the only one that offers non-stop IAD-BTV, all others require a stop. AA offers non stop from DCA to both BTV and MHT. Price is around $250. They both offer several options a day, you need to determine what will work for you as far as timing goes. Once you determine which carrier to go with, you could check with them regarding activating your expired account. Depending on how many miles expired and the cost, it might we worth it.

AA also has a status challenge you can do for Gold or Platinum if you decide on AA. That would make your life a lot more comfortable in the short term.

Instead of making a stop or taking RJs, would it make sense to look at nonstops to/from BOS (or other nearby large airports, perhaps PVD or BDL)?

The latest IAD-BVT is 17.30, which isn't likely to work for someone with a full time job. Realistically the only option becomes AA from DCA who have a 22.20 departures

As a resident of Northern Virginia for the past 16 years, keep in mind commuting times in this area are a major issue and should play a role in where you decide to live.

As someone that did a long distance relationship for too many years it's also good to change it up. While you traveling to Vermont can be the standard it's also good for her to come visit you and for a few "lets meet in ____" trips that way it's a break for both of you.