My new job requires weekly travel and so I wanted to choose an airline loyalty program which would suit me best.
I am based out of Seattle and have an Alaska airlines mileage plan for now. However I heard from my collegues that Alaska airlines is a regional airlines(?) as compared to American airlines or United and that they are the best.
I have no clue reg which plan would b ebest for a person based in Seattle. I usually have to travel to westcoast but then my job can take me anywhere within US.

And one thing I wud like to add is that I am travelling by Asiana airlines in near future and can avail 20k or so miles for United mileage if I chose so.

Any advice in this matter would be appreciated.

Thanks

Actually, AS has a pretty good catch-all program with miles earning possibilities on a lot of airlines:Asiana and United are Star Alliance members. Joining United's program, for instance, would allow you to earn miles on flights from all Star Alliance carriers.

Why not join both American & United programs? You will always be flying different airlines based on where you are traveling to/from and they belong to different partner programs. You will never be able to find one program to satisfy your needs. With the Star Alliance and One World Alliance partners all over the place, you can use majority of the airlines. PLUS, if you reach a higher status with one program, usually the other program will match your status as they want your business. Only drawback with Seattle is if you fly AS, you can get the miles for flying on AA program but you won't get the bonus miles for booking online. Small penalty to pay for worldwide resources in the future.

Probably AS, with UA as a secondary program. Plus any of the isolates if you fly them (WN, B6, etc.).

If your travel is mostly domestic US to/from Seattle, AS has two advantages over AA:

a. Lots of AS flights from Seattle (more bonus mileage opportunities, and better chances to get domestic US awards at only AS's 20,000 miles instead of AA's 25,000 miles).

b. AS has mileage partnerships with CO, DL, and NW, while AA does not. So you have a greater choice of domestic US airlines to concentrate mileage on AS than on AA.

UA covers Star Alliance airlines like US/HP, as well as Asiana, so you may want to enroll in it as a secondary program in case your trip does not fit well with the flights offered by AS or its mileage partners.

You can't beat AS for travel from SEA to the rest of the West Coast.

For your Asiana travel, UA is probably the best, though depending on your travel patterns (and how close you live to Vancouver), you might consider Air Canada as well. I believe it's only 35K to become a *G member.

To the OP, what miles you have now are insignificant. Once you get decent status, you'll get at least 2 miles for every 1 you fly. Those 20k miles won't mean much of anything. The things to consider in making your choice are being able to choose flights that keep your miles in one place. How often/easily you'll get upgraded and the availability of competetive flights and the lounges you'll have access to are other important factors.

Your best choice is either AS or NW (CO is another good alternative, but the benefits are no better and NW offers many more promotions).

AS will get you upgraded on AS flights. You'll also be able to fly their partners and redeem miles on them as well. Out of Seattle they have some handy direct routes (Chicago, Orlando, Dallas), but they aren't exactly great in being on time. AS also does offer reasonable mileage pricing for points flights domestically. The real drawback is that you'll be flying NW/CO a lot and won't be eligible for upgrades.

NW will let you fly CO, NW, AS and DL. You'll basically be missing out on AA flights, but they aren't that competetive out of SEA anyways. NW offers many mileage promotions and they also upgrade you automatically based on fare class, status and availability. This benefit will apply on any CO flight. Once you get to platinum, you'll be riding up front automatically most of the time. In any case, its effortless and you don't need to do anything for it. You'll also get great availability on NW flights across the lake with your status.

I'm not sure of the exact rules of AS Board Room memberships, but you will be allowed to use them at NW, DL and CO (and maybe more) clubs when travellign on those airlines. An NW membership basically means that you can go into a CO, NW and DL club whenever you want. You can also go into the AS club (very nice on in Seattle).

"Why not join both American & United programs?"

Because they don't give him great upgrade, their flight availability is limited in SEA and he'll end up flying US Air coach quite a bit. Just because you fly these doesn't mean that others should. No need to join two and waste miles. Ever gotten upgraded on United? Didn't think so. It takes being a platinum on AA to get auto upgrades. You get that at silver with the alternatives. Splitting miles up into two groups is wasteful. Those 25-49.9k miles you put into your UA program would be much more if you put them into your AA account. The problem is AA has limited partners which is probably why you have to fly UA.

thanks for your input guys.
Thanks for the detailed input 'thegeneral'. I think I will stick with AS or NW then.

i couldnt of said it any better then thegeneral