Hello FF experts:

After several years of a job where I did not travel for business at all, I just accepted a position which will require a huge amount of travel. (Hated the old job but loved not traveling.) Based on what they told me, I estimate (conservatively) 250K miles / yr.

I have been crunching the numbers, looking at flight schedules to the most frequent places where I will be traveling, etc. But I am stumped as to which program which would be best. So I thought I would throw out some details to the experts here and get your thoughts.

Here are the relevant facts. Let me know if more are needed:

- As mentioned, I estimate 250K miles / yr., all domestic.

- I will be based in the N.E. U.S., but the travel will be mostly to the West and South. Most frequent destinations will be LAS, TPA, LAX, but also trips to ORD, MCI, MIA, ATL, DFW (among other places).

- I will be a one hour drive from a smaller N.E. airport - not a hub. I know my handle currently says PHL, which is where I am now, but I will be moving a few hours' drive from there. If I were to stay in PHL the choice would be easy: USAirways, because I value a choice of nonstop flights. The airport that will be closest to me is served by all the majors' Express carrier. The point is that if I use that airport, all schedules will be equally inconvenient. I could fly CO and connect through CLE or EWR to get anywhere; UA through IAD or ORD; DL through CVG/ATL/DTW; LCC through PHL/CLT; AA through ORD (though I hate ORD - see below - and that is the only airport AA serves nonstop from this one).

- Alternatively, I could drive two or three hours to larger cities that have hubs. Pluses: more choices of nonstop flights to where I need to go; less overall air travel time because of no need to connect. Minuses: longer drive to/from the airport; metro area road traffic congestion to fight to/from the airport; bigger chance of weather / ATC delays at those airports. If I do the longer drive, I would choose the program of the carrier based out of there.

- I HATE connecting through large, delay-prone airports like EWR, PHL, ORD. I go out of my way to avoid those types of hubs and instead would prefer CLT, CVG, DTW (maybe even IAD; I don't really know what ATL is like as a connecting hub).

- I currently have a fair chunk of miles on CO, and some on LCC, mainly through the leisure travel I have done over the past couple of years when I was not traveling much for business. Not enough to have earned status anywhere, and not enough to seriously influence my choice going forward, but maybe something to consider.

- I am not sure if I would rather redeem miles for upgrades on my business travel, or for tickets on domestic or international leisure travel, or some combination of that.

My questions:

1. Is it worth the extra drive to fly out of the hubs which offer better flight schedules but also potentially more delays? I place a high value on nonstop flights, but I find I enjoy flying out of closer, smaller, less chaotic airports. I suppose I would accumulate more miles with more connections, too.

2. How important is it to go past the 100K mile threshold? I could probably reach 100K / yr. on two airlines. At 250K miles / yr. total, is it really beneficial to put all miles with one airline vs. reaching 100K status with two?

3. (BOTTOM LINE) What airline / program would you recommend based on the above information?

Thanks so much for any insight anyone may have as I get back up to speed on all of this.

Since you already have quite a few miles on CO and CO has no Starnet blocking that UA does, I think CO could be the best option for your primary carrier.

Do you expect to spend $30,000 a year on flights? If you can pass this threshold with flying 250K miles, then focus on CO to get the Presidential Platinum Elite status.

Otherwise, it is a good idea, as you suggested, that you could try to reach 100K on two carriers, say CO and AA. You get 8 eVIPs a year as EXP and other benefits. And all miles collected from not only flying, but also credit cares, car rental, hotel stays, etc., are counted toward the status of lifetime Gold (1MM) and lifetime Platinum (2MM) on AA.

With 250K flying a year, you can reach the top tier in two legacy airlines of two major global alliances and enjoy the perks.

In term of delays, you might want to take another perspective. If you have some flexibility of time, delay and irregular operations could bring bump opportunities, in other word, free $$ for another travel. As top-tier, you should be well-accommodated when delay or overnight bumping comes.

Thanks Nelumbo! I appreciate your thoughts.

I have no idea how much my company will be spending on my flights. I only know that it has some corporate travel arrangement. As a "pre-employee" I am not aware of the details of that arrangement, nor do I know what information regarding that arrangement it will share with me once I start working. Based on the travel requirements as I understand them so far, I assume my air travel costs will be around / at least $30K/yr. From what I can gather, the company seems pretty flexible in that as long I as am willing to travel a lot, the company seems willing make my life as pleasant as possible, even if that costs it some $. But of course I will not know that for sure until I actually start working there, which will not be until May.

CO is my favorite U.S.-based airline as far as my personal experience with airline service is concerned. So I like the idea of sticking with CO as much as possible. AA concerns me because its only flights from the closest airport are via ORD, which I detest.

Today I have done some more research into airline flight schedules and my own travel needs. From that it looks like UA may be the best match. It offers good nonstop schedules from IAD to many of the places I think I will be travelling to the most, and IAD is not THAT terrible of a drive. Plus IAD would be a primary connection point to my closest airport, and IAD does not seem as horrid as ORD / EWR / PHL for connections. Also, with *A, I could connect via CLT on LCC, or CLE (or even [shudder] EWR) on CO to the closest airport as alternates.

Just wondering what my secondary 100K airline would be. Based on your post, CO might be a good choice, but does it make sense to have a second *A carrier in lieu of a carrier in another alliance?

I just wanted to add one thing. You mentioned that you weren't sure if you wanted to spend your miles by upgrading your flights you take for work, or for leisure travel. By obtaining top tier status, you will be getting some very good first class upgrade benefits on just about any airline. Most airlines will upgrade you to first class for free in one way or another if you hold top tier status, so don't worry about spending miles on business travel. You can save those all for leisure.

Also, don't bother getting top tier status in two airlines within the same alliance. Since CO will cover you with your Star Alliance needs, just look at OneWorld and Skyteam for your second alliance. I would still recommend AA, because they count all kinds of miles toward the lifetime million miles status, not just butt in seat miles, which will make you an elite for life. If you get an AA credit card, I could see you crossing the 2 million mark easily with the amount you will be flying.

Thanks, dabears. I will keep the info about an AA credit card in mind.

Oops - posted by mistake.

Aside from the initial sign up bonus, earning points through AA credit card may not be the best way to maximze your miles/points. Two things I would recommend (1) credit card affiliated with your hotel stay - Marriott/Marriott Rewards Visa perhaps (2) Plat Amex for lounge access.

Thanks jam.

I think I have narrowed it down to UA and DL. (I just cannot stand the thought of beginning and ending every trip through ORD.)

I am just not sure which of UA or DL to make my primary program. Since it is already almost May, I may only be able to make 100K mile status on one this year.

I was an elite on NW for 4 years, and I spent a lot of my life connecting through DTW. Now, my experience was a bit different, because I very rarely had to fly on an NW Express (well, Airlink) flight, but DTW was a very smooth connection point for me. I very rarely encountered significant delays. If you have to connect from the B/C terminal, you'll get some exercise with every connection -- not unlike UA's T1 Concourses B/C at ORD.

I don't know if you plan on traveling internationally for your vacations, but if you do, the UA SWU's are handy, so I'd make sure you have some of those. (Disclaimer: Despite the fact that I've been around these boards almost as long as you have, it's hard to keep up with the changing nuances of all of these programs.)

IAD isn't a terrible airport for connections. I worked there for a UAX carrier for two years at the beginning of the decade, and our operation was night-and-day better than what it was at ORD (I did some temporary work there, too.)

UA's miles are probably going to be easier to use than DL's, so if you have to pick, that may be one reason to do so.

Thanks DHAST. I think I will be making UA MP my primary program for the reasons you said. Plus I may be on LCC a fair bit and I credit those miles to UA as well.

Also, I used to be a UA employee (and was even based at IAD, like you were with UAX). It will be fun to go from whiny, self-entitled airline employee to whiny, self-entitled FFer and run into my old co-workers!

Oh, don't forget that UA also has E+. Although UA gives upgrades to 1K's now, when you don't get them, E+ is a nice "consolation" prize.

I used to be a plat on NW, and one of the things I didn't like about that was status was all about the upgrade (and free changes to award tix, but I digress). If your upgrade didn't clear, you may as well have had no status. (Ok, you got early boarding and special checkin lines, but if you had a seat in the front of the plane, checked in online, and didn't check bags, it really truly didn't matter.) At least UA status gives you something meaningful on every mainline flight.

Re: LCC -- you may find you're better off skipping the "express" segment of your journey and driving straight to PHL. It all depends on the reliability of your commuter carrier.

You know, I thought it was funny when a person with 2000+ posts and almost a decade on this board wants to know what program is best for him/her... and now that you mention it, I recall that you used to be an FA, right? There's an ex-UAX'er whose now a 1K, but I think he's out in SFO or something like that.

I'll never run into my old co-workers, at least with my former company, because it no longer exists! One thing that amuses me to no end is that my aviation employment has come full circle (I still work in the industry, just not for the airlines). When I left UAX, I worked for another employer at the airport, then moved out to LA, then to Cincinnati, and now my current office is adjacent to the IAD north employee parking lot. That said, I have run into some of my former co-workers -- people I haven't seen in 7 years. It's been kind of funny.

One last thing... when you think you're having a bad trip, just remember, you could always be traveling NRSA. Something about that thought always made me feel better.

Yes, that's me. So while I know a lot about the airline biz and travel lifestyle generally, I was always able to remain blissfully ignorant about the details of FF programs. Alas, it is now time to figure it out. I appreciate the input and advice I can get from people here about that.

And now that you mention it, I just noticed my handle says I joined FT in May 2000, so I guess I have a big anniversary coming up. It is nice that I still have some pretty good seniority in something aviation-related!


It cannot be any less reliable than the Schuylkill Expressway. (And IAD would actually be a shorter drive if it comes to that, which is another reason to stick with UA.)