Best program BOS based?
 

I'm a long time reader, first time poster.

I don't fly for my job but I do fly semi often (every other month or so).

I'm a member of a few frequent flyer programs but I only have a few thousand or less on each of them.

BOS has almost every airline and I find that I always am flying on different airlines. I'm thinking that since I need to travel to JAX for family, it would be good to join a frequent flyer program that serves JAX also.

I also fly out of MHT or PVD depending on price.

Delta
Northwest
United
USAirways

I have removed the following out of the running because they don't fly to other airports that I need to go. (Independence Air, Midway Airlines)

or are always too expensive i've never actually flown on them. (Continental)

or doesn't fly to my secondary home airports (American, AirTran)

Right now i'm leaning towards Delta because of their large presence at BOS (with their new Terminal A which is very nice); and they have a nonstop BOS-JAX.

Perhaps i've already almost answered my own question, but all of your input is indispensable.


Additionally, I get offers for credit cards but it seems to me that takes a lot to rack up points, i'm not sure if that would be a better way to go.

Welcome to FT!

You might have already answered your own questions, but it is still good to get other's opinions. As a UA flyer I would suggest you fly on United. You can sit in Economy Plus (free for elites, or you can pay for an upgrade at the airport), and channel 9 allows you to listen to ATC!

If you are a true FTer you would not fly direct -- the more the connections, the better. Well, that's how I think anyway. See this thread for a discussion on what program to use out of Boston: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ghlight=Boston.

Not a better way to go, but an additional way to go. Once you've picked an airline, get its credit card and use it to add to your mileage totals. Credit-card miles generally don't count toward status with the airline, but there are some exceptions - including, often, Delta. Other than that, cards tend to be similar enough that your choice of airline should come first.

Since it sounds like you don't charge enough for credit card charges to earn you rewards in their own right, stay away from cards that accumulate points in their own programs and that you can't combine with, or convert into, miles in your chosen airline program. The fine print can sometimes be obscure on this point, as the cards with that type of program don't like to trumpet their disadvantage too loudly.

I signed up for both Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus since I traveled on both of them within the past 30 days. Apparently I already had a United account but I had never used it. (I don't think i've traveled on United in about 4 years).

I checked out the other thread and it was useful reading.

I looked at a few credit card offers which I could get for either Delta or United, but I would have to pick one for it to me worth my while to get enough points. Probably leaning towards United which has better international destinations within the Star Alliance that I would actually travel to.