What is the best miles program for JFK/LGA?
 

I recently moved to Long Island from NYC. I used to use Continental out of Newark and was happy with them.

I now have to find an airlines out of LGA/JFK (Continental does not really fly out of there).

I don't like American - I hate feeling guilty when I have to ask for the whole can of coke as opposed to a half of a cup of soda filled with ice. They are too cheap (I was on a 1st class flight from NY to Seattle with a stop over in Chicago, so it was not considered a cross country flight. They served us 1/2 egg salad sandwich on both legs, and this was first class!!

Nor, am I a fan of Northwestern. I am 5'6" and my knees touch the seat in front of me when sitting in economy.

I have never really flown any of the others such as Delta, JetBlue or United, etc.,

Can anyone recommend a good airline with a good mileage points program? I travel a lot - domestic, & world wide.

Thank you :)

Depends on where you fly to. I like Delta because I travel alot on the Shuttle. And when I'm flying elsewhere, with status, I got free upgrade most of the time. Though DL's planes are not that great (esp compared to CO), I feel that I get more bonus miles from them over the years, as opposed to CO. And Delta.com beats United.com any day.
I don't fly JetBlue anymore because their miles expired after a year.
United is not bad if you can fly their routes. Plus internationally they have advantage over DL.

I'm sure others can give you more insights.

I'm from LI too and have made AA my primary airline. Even so far as to go into LGA to take a flight to Florida instead of ISP on WN. From what I hear AA, UA, DL all have inflight pros and cons. The only downside of AA ex-NYC is if you fly internationally. To Europe (other than LON) DL is better and to Aisa UA is better as far as flight schedules and same carrier service go. Other than that I think AA does a good job taking care of their top-tier elites.

Where internationally and where domestically? What's your tolerance for connections? Will you be flying in paid Y, C, F? It really does make a difference. And do you fly at least 100K a year?
I'm a big fan of the UA program in general, and UA's E+ product if you're stuck in coach, but flying an airline without a hub in NY has definite disadvantages.