Which airline has the best rewards program / likely seat bump?
 

Most of my flights originate out of Oklahoma City, which is not a hub to any single carrier. Does anyone have an opinion of which airline i should try and accrue miles with? At the start of the year i had made the decision to move forward with AA. On a recent flight, i overheard two experienced travelers talking about how the AA program sucks because there are so many travelers on AA that have a ridiculous number of points. This negates any seat bumps that might otherwise be available unless you travel an extraordinary amount. Do you find this to be true over other airlines such as Delta, United, Continental?

Most of my flights are domestic and with the carriers mentioned.

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The word "bump" has a very special meaning on FT. Are you talking about getting an "upgrade" to First Class? What's most important to you: upgrades? redeeming miles at a reasonable rate for award flights? free checked-baggage allowance? lounge access? Some programs are better at some things, but worse at others, so your priorities are important.

About how many miles a year do you fly?

Ah... when i say bump, i mean i am looking for seat upgrades. I probably travel 40,000 - 50,000 miles in a year across multiple airlines but i can consolidate it down to a single airline and get an airline miles card to rack up points that way as well.

Side note: i have an AMEX Platinum which gets me into most airline clubs. I always fly free using my AMEX business points

Well, it seems to me you're getting several concepts confused.

First, "bump" in the freuquent flyer world means getting a (hopefully voluntary!) denied boarding voucher on overbooked flights, and those people who are "looking for bumps" are looking flights which are likely to be overbooked on which they will be offer vouchers. I has nothing to do with upgrades.

Second, using a different terms confuses yourself because you don't distinguish between the different ways of getting into the front cabin.

Next, American has both points and miles and three types of upgrades, and they all work differently for different people.

Without flying 100k a year (or finding double EQM promos on which you can do oodles of mileage runs), you're not likely to get the top status level where you get SWUs (system wide upgrades), so let's forget that for you.

Next, there are upgrades with miles than anyone can do, but if they're flying on a paid flight. So what confuses me is your mention of Amex points. Does AA consider that a normally paid flight, a consolidator paid flight, or an award flight? If it's a consolidator paid flight or an award flight, upgrades of any kind are out. So only if these look to AA like normal paid lfights (just paid by someone else) can you even look at upgrades.

Next, does paying with Amex points let you attach your AAdvantage number? That is further more a requirement for any upgrades.

Ok, now we're up to the two kinds of upgrades you can use:

1. No matter whether you have status or not, you can upgrade with miles + co-pay. But unless you only book flights iwth upgrade availability at the time you book (which you have to use ExpertFlyer.com to determine, a subscription site), you're going to be on waiting lists, and with no status you're not necessarily going to "win" too many of those.

2. If you have status (at least Gold), you can use 500-mile upgrades (formerly known as "stickers") domestically (and a few nearby outside-US destinations). But if you only have Gold (earned with 25000 Elite Qyalifying Miles), you'll be in the lowest pecking order, and you'll rarely "win" too many of those. If you can get up to Platinum (which requires 50000 EQMs) you're "win" more of thse. (But EXPs, who flew 100000 EQMs or 100000 EQPs -- elite qualifying points -- a year, will still always be ahread of you. Perhaps it's the 100000 EQMs that so many earn that those people meant when they say it's ahrd to get upgrades because of "so many points"?). Btw, points can only be earned through fliying, and only through fliying on more expensive fares (no discount economy).

Finally, at most airlines (including AA), credit card spend does not help with anything other than mehtod 1 above, miles + co-pay upgrades. Credit card spend does not earn Elite Qualify Miles, so doesn't help you get ot 25000 or 50000 miles. (Delta is the main US airline with a bit of an exception to that, but reserach carefully before you decide to switch to Delta just because of that.)