I'm relocating to the Baltimore area (north Baltimore County) and have been using Alaska Air almost exclusively for the past 5 years up and down the West Coast. Lots of miles and Gold Status on Alaska, but alas, no Alaska service into BWI.

Does anyone have suggestions on the best FF programs for me with most of my travel now occurring east of the Mississippi, split evenly between Northeast and Southeast? I am big on accumulating miles on one account from various affinity program partners.

Thanks!

Southwest offers the most non-stops out of BWI. If you want a legacy carrier, I would recommend Delta but you'll have to go through ATL for a good deal of your flights. I think they have some non-stops from BWI to the New York area.

I would go with DL too. Southwest would also be good choice if your travel is only in the US.

Depends on where you're traveling. If business/leisure takes you to the west coast, United offers nonstops to DEN/SFO/LAX.

AirTran also has a big presence there, flying to: Atlanta, Boston, Burlington (VT), Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth [seasonal], Dayton, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Los Angeles [seasonal], Miami [seasonal], Milwaukee, Orlando, Portland (ME), Rochester (NY), San Juan [begins December 20], Sarasota/Brandenton, Seattle/Tacoma [seasonal], Tampa, West Palm Beach [seasonal].

Southwest destinations:
Albany, Albuquerque, Austin, Birmingham (AL), Buffalo, Chicago-Midway, Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Hartford, Houston-Hobby, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Long Island/Islip, Louisville, Manchester (NH), Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Tampa, West Palm Beach

easy trip to EWR, which is a real airport

if your travel is really scattered, chances you will have to travel to DCA or IAD

none of the alaska air partners has major presence in any DC airport.

BWI is my home airport for 10 or so flights a year. I have flown AA/United/Southwest out of Baltimore. One thing to keep in mind is that the Southwest terminal is a lot nicer than the others. There is a diner, and a couple of decent for airport restaruants, good coffee, and the seating is more comfortable. The other terminals for AA/United are crappy (not sure where Delta was).

Why not stay in the Alaska program? You can still earn on AA, CO, DL and NW. Out of BWI, unless you're planning on flying Southwest there is no one clearly dominant airline. Of those four, NW probably helps you the least based on your expected travel patterns (except if routing through MEM is useful), but all four have something to offer.

Southwest will probably have the most nonstops towards wherever you are going, but you'll have to weigh that against how you like Rapid Rewards vs. the alternatives. Southwest does allow for rapid accumulation of credits (particularly if you fly shorter segments and play the car and hotel bonus credit game), but some people don't want to accumulate only domestic awards so they prefer another program.

If you're not going to switch to Southwest, I would definitely consider staying with Alaska since their program is the only real option that crosses airline alliance lines.

Welcome to the neighborhood, we live in Northern Baltimore County.

All good advice. The biggest drawback of SWA is any desire for international awards or updgades.

We chose AA as we can get to DFW/JFK/ORD for international connections.

We also will drive to IAD if necessary-and even EWR once or twice.

BWI has virtually no intercontinental service, the "I" is a misnomer. But for east of the Miss, WN goes just about anywhere from the airport, and FL covers the big cities like BOS and ATL than WN doesn't.

Why go amtrak to EWR to fly from there? Personally, I hate EWR. BWI is easy to get to and has many, many lowcost parking options.

I fly AA from BWI and have been able to get everywhere I have needed to go.

This might even be an overstatement. I believe the only "intercontinental" flight BWI has is a daily BA flight. All other international flights are to Mexico or to the Carribean.

Yep. They used to fly to Iceland, back in the good 'ol days...

Like Mr. Vker said...welcome to the neighborhood! I too live in northern Balto. Ct. in Phoenix (yes you read correctly!) MD. Since my job requires travel in the US and to Europe, I tend to favor the various Star Alliance airlines. I can use either US or UA out of BWI to reach various destinations in the US. For flights to Europe I prefer to either drive to IAD or PHL to get a direct flight to Germany on LH (also a *A member). I also use SWA frequently because of their direct flights to numerous destinations. Flying SWA to Chicago Midway is much nicer than flying UA or AA into ORD IMHO. I would really look at the cities you will travel to most and then decide based on those options. Most of the options with legacy carriers will require a connection and that is why I look to SWA more and more often for my domestic travel.

...and it's subsidized by the state of MD, BA had planned to pull the route