Hi everyone -

I've been a member of FT for a while, but not a very active one I must admit. Occasionally I will read a hot thread if it tweaks my interest. However, I thought this was the best place in the world to get some opinions on which FF program might work best for me. I am now a platinum on Delta. I came up a few miles short of diamond this year but will most likely be diamond in 2012 if I stick with them through 2011, if for no other reason than the carry over miles, which I love about the delta program. I just want to make sure that I'm in the right program.

My home airport is Tucson AZ (TUS). I travel frequently to Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, others) and some to Europe (maybe 2 trip per year), plus domestic travel. My domestic is mostly to the east coast (NYC most often) on Delta and when I go to the west coast it's typically on SW as they just have better options out of TUS than Delta does. I often fly SW to LAX then transfer to Delta to fly to Asia. I collect a freebie on SW about once per year.

I work for a start up, so every penny counts at this point, and as a result it's all coach tickets, as cheap as I can fly mostly. Of course there is occasionally the last minute trip that ends up with a M or better fare, so I use about half of my system wide upgrades I get from Delta. I almost always get upgraded domestically. Delta's Asian routes are very popular, so even when we start making some money (looks like it will happen this year) being able to afford M fares does not guarantee an upgrade using the system wide upgrade certificates. I do like Delta's inter-Asia route availability since the NW merger. Of course collecting miles is important to me, so bonus miles etc. are meaningful. But really I just want the best chance to travel comfortably, which means the best shot at upgrades. I'm just looking for some input into what you all think. I can not imagine there is a better place to ask this question than right here on FT.

I hope to hear from some of you. And I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year. Travel safely!

Mike

Gee, I'm wondering what I did wrong to not get even one reply in all this time. No one has an opinion? No one? I did not provide enough information? You all think I'm already in the best program for me? I should know myself by the time I make elite status? I give up I guess, I'll just have to work it out for myself.

Welcome to (posting on) FlyerTalk, handlebarmike!

Well, things always change.

So the one thing that I would mention is something has changed been your original post in December and your updated post now:

Southwest is thoroughly overhauling its program, and you will earn way fewer award trips start March 1 by flying them on cheap "Wanna Get Away" fares than you are now. So in cases where you've been flying them just for the FF program (on trips where you're connecting to DL anyway, like at LAX), you may want to rethink that. You should probably still use them where it makes much more sense connection-wise, given that you're in TUS, but you may not want to go out of your way to fly them when your main FFP has good flights too.

AA seems out of the picture for you, since it does not fly its own metal from LAX to anywhere in Asia yet other than NRT. And it doesn't even fly its own metal at all to Seoul for example (you'd have to connect in NRT to AA alliance partner JAL). Plus everything other Asia than NRT would require "backtracking" to either DFW or ORD. On AA you can use SWUs even on the cheapest fares, but only on its own metal, and you would have to fly 100k miles a year on AA and its partners (no EQM help from credit cards or partner promos like at DL!) to earn 8 one-way SWUs a year, and it doesn't sound like you can depend on flying that much every year. (And next level down, 50k flight miles a year, doesn't give you SWUs, you have to use miles + $$$ copay to upgrade, but once again you can upgrade from the cheapest fares.)

So that presumably leaves only DL vs UA/CO for you.

And I don't know enough about DL vs UA/CO to advise on that. And I'm really sure who does, as UA/CO haven't explained yet how their merged FFP will draw on UA vs CO!

Really appreciate the input, sdsearch! I've considered looking into the UA/CO program, but have been waiting to see what changes might come from the merger, and which program the combined companies FFP will look more like. UA does run UA express service TUS to LAX, which is good for going towards my Asia destinations, and CO has decent service out of TUS going east, so the flight availability is there. I need to do some more research.

I'll look hard at the changes to the SW program. I do use the web special prices when I can, although their full fare is often competitive with DL and others.

It's funny, DL has mostly treated me very well for a long time, and especially when I've had a problem or whenever I have had to deal with them directly, except for this continuing issue with the SWUs. So I am feeling a bit guilty for focusing so much on this issue, but 10 to 12 hours in a coach seat can be a serious motivating factor!

I just returned home from S. Korea, China and Japan on Saturday. Flew a code share with Korean Air, and was pleasantly surprised with the comfort of their coach seat. But I was on an M class fare and could not upgrade on the code share. As you said, not their metal, no upgrade allowed. Bummer.

I will continue to look for input from other Flyer Talk folks. This has to be the best place to get other people's opinions on this topic. Too bad someone doesn't put up a web site just to compare FF programs.

Thanks again -

Mike