Great site. I've spent way too much time trying to figure out which ffp to use and still haven't come up with one for 2010. I am new to the ff game and could use some guidance on who I should use.

Currently, I have no status with any airline. As far as accumulated miles go, I have 49k sitting in Delta with no miles anywhere else. I will be using PHL and EWR although ABE is closest to me. I'm flying on my own dime mostly which means back of the bus. Domestically, I will be going mainly to the southeast - ATL around 12-15 times(leave fri & come back sun) and if I go to corp hq that would be TYS once or twice a year. International will be tatl. Looking at 4 trips - TXL x 2, cdg and lhr/lgw. No interest in tpac.

The two programs that I'm looking at are CO and DL and am leaning CO. CO looks great because I could use onepass on US from PHL - ATL and I like ewr-txl. DL seemed fine as well until I found out that 49k SM is valued somewhere around the german DM circa 1920s. I'm not sure if this is hyperbole or what. There seems to be no middle ground with SM amongst the FT community. Love or hate. Am I missing out not considering US or UA? AA doesn't help me with my domestic travel.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mark

Welcome to FT!

Is your goal to try to gain status on an airline, or are you just looking for a cheaper way to fly business/first for some of your international flights?

Well I will try to break down some of it from a feasibility perspective. I try to go for FFP/status with I use the most, alliance are nice but in the end, your home airline is going to protect its own elite before other ones

DL-Hub at ATL which you'll be flying often, potentially easier domestic upgrades but hard to use to almost worthless miles from what I hear, analogy of the 20's German mark isn't far off and you might want to use those PMU to start your stoves too.
CO-Hub at EWR, and you said you like the TXL flights, from the CO board, some fuel stop issues in winter. They also run CO brand bus service which can help you add up segments rather easily but harder upgrades.
US-Hub at PHL/CLT, I think you might be underlooking it here. With TYS and ATL, you do have connecting flights from ABE to CLT, or in the case of ATL, direct from PHL. CLT works great with flights in the SE especially if it helps you avoid the northeast mess and I think upgrades chances are pretty good on US, getting them that is, not service.
UA-Hub at IAD, similar to US although you lose that non-stop to ATL when you really need it, starnet blocking
AA-Closest hub at ORD, valuable miles but not really an option for you unless you really want to pad up your account


If I were you and timing(or saving them) was my top priority, I'll go with US.
Ya their 1st class sucks
Both EWR and PHL will have enough delays to annoy you, trust me on that one! Slept at an airport as a 16 y.o because of EWR.
But in the end, you have more outs/options, either connecting in CLT from ABE on mainline and if the weather goes bad, non-stop from PHL.

Hope that helps a bit, if you were looking from a different perspective, please said so as the outlook can be completely different.

CO >>>>>>>>>>> DL

I would go with either US or CO depending on the airport you choose. If you prefer PHL, go US. If you prefer EWR, go with CO. They are both in the same alliance so if you ever get a cheaper deal flying out of the other airport, you wont have to sacrafice the miles and elite progress like you would with DL.

Thanks for the help. I didn't give any consideration to US going in given the less than stellar rep the program has amongst FTers. But a couple of points stuck regarding US. The home airline is going to protect its own elites and the hub at CLT works with SE travel. And, if I'm using PHL or ABE, US seems like the fit. Status would matter most to me when I hit elite. It's just hard to swallow going in that direction knowing US gets killed/shredded/destroyed/punked on the boards for its service.

I also have the tatl component. EWR would only be an additional 25 min ride which is why CO was in play. I could utilize PHL to europe, but flights have been cheaper, sometimes considerably, out of EWR. PHL is not out of play for tatl which then makes US the choice of program.

So out of all of this, I do have another question. I will be taking many more flights domestically, but I would earn more miles going back and forth to europe. So I am unsure which I should value more when it comes to status and evaluating ffps - domestic flying with many flights or the 4 tatl that I have scheduled? This trend should continue for 2011.