I'm not a total new guy here at FT (long time lurker, etc.) but I feel it's finally time for me to truly get on the frequent flier train—I've wasted enough time already, haven't I?

My situation—

Home airport: AUS
Who am I: student (personal traveller)
Flights: rather infrequent, domestic, usually for visiting family/friends in major cities (SFO, BOS, SEA, DC area). Occasional trips to Asia, mainly China/Taiwan for more family. Looking to travel a bit more after I get out of school, but it would be nowhere near the crazy levels some of you guys go to. I'd be up for mileage runs if any come at convenient times.

Alaska Mileage Plan is a good solution for your situation, as you can fly Alaska, Delta, and American to earn miles and consolidate into one account, then redeem on any of them, plus Cathay and Korean Air, which might help with your Asia trips. Mileage Plan is also good with sending you invitations for the survey sites and dining (to earn more miles), and don't forget about the mind-numbing games on Club Bing that can add up to 1/2 a domestic RT.

More info here: http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileagep...rs_Airline.asp

As someone who flies out of AUS regularly, I've focused on American Airlines, which has treated me very well. Outside of the annoying AUS>DFW hop that is.

Thanks for the advice, guys! I'm definitely considering the Alaska Mileage Plan—it sounds like a good fit. One final question of mine is I already have a small amount of points in a CX Asia Miles account, around 15K from a previous trip to Asia a year ago. Should I just disregard those and start fresh with Alaska or is there any way to transfer those?

I'm also a student living in Austin, having occasional trip to Asia (Korea, once a year), and often visiting friends in many places in US. Well, UA is usually the cheapest and the only decent option to Korea, so collecting miles in UA is the best for me. In the end, long-haul matters for collecting miles. Check which airline is good (cheapest) for your frequent destination in China. Also, either UA or CO or US is always one of the cheapest option to any place anytime, it's very easy to get miles wherever I go. Also very easy to redeem as *A has a lot of trans-pacific flights.

AA is awesome in terms of schedule choice, but sometimes it's not the cheapest. Price matters for student.. With 15k asiamiles, I think you can get AA roundtrip less than 600 miles or oneway trip up to 1200 miles. Or get some dining when you visit HKG.

The AUS-DFW hop can be a good thing .. as a Gold or better that 183 mile flight = 500 EQM's and even more RDM's (625 as gold, 1000 as Plat or above) and it means going just about anywhere RT is going to be good for at least 4 segments ;-)

The 1000 mile thing is VERY nice.