Happy holidays to all...

I would love some advice from the experts.

Do to a career / Job change I will be I will be (for the forseeable future) doing a great deal of travel (mostly domestic) out of the NY area.

I have earned CO silver and have been comped Starwood Gold & Hyatt Platinum. I also have IC SCC and Amex Plat cards. Also have most car rental elite programs.

The question is which airline program and which hotel program would you concentrate on?

I like(d) the CO program b/c of the amex provided lounge access and the upgrades. I am concearned about the EUA upgrade policy costing me. (I also us MR a lot and have a lot of miles parked there)

Would it make sense to look at AA or UA? What is drawing me to AA is
1) Ability to hit lifetime status
2) More legroom for when you end up in coach
3) Ability for all points to count towards status (at least at AA)

For those who know these programs well -
are any of these thing compelling?

Does anyone know the # of flights from NYC and destinations for AA vs CO?

The inability to move around the westcoast on CO is a downside for me.

Also...

Which hotel program would you concentrate on. I like Hyatts, Marriotts, and Westins, etc. Marriott seems to have best mix of passable properties in lesser populated places - but seems to have a weak program. Starwood has a lot of less desirable properties. Which hotel program or programs would you choose?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

All points on AA do not go towards regular status, only lifetime gold or platinum status. Your base miles "count" - as points or miles based on type of ticket, but charges on your credit card DO NOT go towards status.

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DtG

You say you are mostly going to fly domestic, so here is my take:

I would think about CO seriously. Their upgrade policy is still excellent (esp for the top tier) and they have the Newark hub. Most people like their service. Downsides are in my opinion Northwest and America West. The first I hate and the second I dislike.

You say that CO lacks west coast routes, and this is a problem for you. But I believe they have a partnership with Alaska Air which can somewhat help in this area.

With AA, it seems to me that depending upon where you are going, you'll be seeing ORD and DFW quite a lot. If this is not an issue, it's something to think about. And certainly AA has a decent network on the west coast.

With UA, there are some direct flights but again you'll be in their hubs, ORD or IAD, I would imagine, quite a bit. They have an excellent network on the west coast, albeit it is the sh*ttle.

It depends on if you know where your destinations are going to be, what your priorities are in terms of NYC airports, and what you think about the UA/US merger.

If you're flying mostly in the Eastern time zone, you have CO and US, depending on if you prefer EWR or LGA. I can't see flying American Eagle, or United via IAD, or DL via ATL when you can fly nonstop.

If you're flying primarily to the Central time zone, you have a lot of options. CO/NW works, as does a merged UA/US as well as AA, although American Eagle isn't as good as United Express in terms of small-city coverage. If the cities are right, then you also have Midwest Express and 2-2 seating.

If you're flying west of the Rockies, then you need to look at the transcon services out of EWR/JFK and see which one you like and which has the connections you'll need.