I am new to this site and was hoping to get some help. I fly a moderate amount on business and personal travel. I am DL Silver and wonder about switching to CO/United. I live in NYC and can use any airport although JFK is most convenient. I take at least two trips to Europe every year. And next year, I have a trip to South Africa planned. South Africa Air has the most reasonable fares (much more reasonable than DL) and I am wondering if given this trip, it would make sense to switch to Star Alliance given that I am likely to be gold next year. Long story short, DL Gold or CO/United Gold. I paged through the threads and did not see this particular issue for NYC. If this has been discussed, please direct me to the thread.

Star Alliance would, IMHO, make the most sense. Delta's award program is vastly inferior to that of CO or UA. Since none of the three domestic *A carriers has much service from JFK, and UA and U serve only very limited destinations from LGA, it looks like you'd have to do most of your flying on CO out of Newark. For that South Africa trip, South African flies non-stop to Joburg from JFK (does stop on the way back), while Delta requires an Atlanta connection.

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. Now I need to see if CO will match my status.