first post here from lurker who has searched many boards but has yet to figure out how to choose which FF program is best for planned 2007 travel.
apologies in advance for lack of actual flight details and/or if posted in wrong forum:

Assuming same itinerary availability - are there some generally accepted thoughts/factors to help choose which program to tap for following:

Departing from NYC (in order of preference: LGA, JFK then EWR)
Class: First

Planned Flights

NYC - TUS (Feb or Mar 2007)

NYC - Hawaii (LIH or OGG) w/ layover in SFO (Oct 2007)

Under Serious Consideration that May Alter Advice

NYC - AMS (May 2007)

Long Shot that Changes Everything:

NYC - New Zealand (Dec/Jan 2008)

PROGRAMS:

OnePass: 53.192 (never fly anymore)
SkyMiles: 154,619 (active - flights & AMEX SkyMiles card)
AMEX Cards: 80,151 (active - Business Gold, Skymiles Gold, & MRGreen)
AA: 83 (semi active & Citicard - low bal cause just booked LGA-BUR)
TrueBlue: 24 (semi active)

tia

imho i think it doesnt matter as you dont fly often enough. If i were you i would keep banking with DL and try to amass them there since its your highest point balance. good luck

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I was asking how to choose between OnePass & SkyMiles to BOOK my planned flights NOT on which to accrue future miles.

thanks though for your input

I have no idea what this means.

Know your hubs. For low traffic routes, you may well find more availability for direct flights. But beyond that, it's a matter of reading through all the rewards redemption charts, and hoping things work. Remember that availability for awards become available at ~330 days from travel date, and can drop precipitiously from there.

You easily have the number of points for your travel, so it's just a matter of availability.

Your thread title suggests that you were looking to see which program you should consolidate your activity to.

Good luck!

<<I was asking how to choose between OnePass & SkyMiles to BOOK my planned flights NOT on which to accrue future miles. >>

Until I read this I thought I understood your question. Are you asking for advice on which arline to fly, or on which program to credit, or something different? We assume you realize that Continental and Delta both belong to the Skyteam alliance and that you can credit flights on any Skyteam carrier to any Skyteam program, which means you can mix and match trips on CO and DL while accumulating miles in a single program.

It sounds to me like the OP wants to burn his miles on award flights.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do BUT I'd like to if there are any factors (besides seat availability) that would make me choose to use my miles to fly on Continental vs Delta.

For instance, maybe Delta FC service to Hawaii generally has better food, or equipment or whatever. Alternatively, maybe Continental to Amsterdam is a must to avoid?

Here is a specific example where I need to choose between 2 similar Delta and Contental flights.

thanks again for your help (and patience)

LGA-TUS (2 options)

CONTINENTAL

Your flight on Wed., Feb. 14, 2007 22,500 Miles
Depart: 5:00 p.m. New York, NY (LGA - LaGuardia)
Arrive:8:03 p.m. Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) Flight Time:4 hr 3 Flight: CO1433
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Meal: Snack or Brunch
No Special Meal Offered.

Change Planes. Connect time in Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) is 42 minutes.
Depart: 8:45 p.m. Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) Arrive10:33 p.m.
Tucson, AZ (TUS)
Flight Time: 2 hr 48 mn

Travel Time: 7 hr 33 mn Flight: CO1538Aircraft: Boeing 737-500
Meal: None

DELTA - SkySaver

Delta 1052 757 First LGA 5:00pm 14 Feb 2007 ATL 7:33pm
Delta 627 738 First ATL 8:08pm 14 Feb 2007 TUS 9:48pm

CO will allow you to upgrade based on your status on either CO or NW. I don't think Delta offers this.

Since your CO and DL programs are redundant (since CO and DL are mileage partners), you want to put future accumulation into one of the programs. For the other one, do your best to use up the miles on award flights or upgrades so that you get some value out of them.

If you want to use up the CO miles, but prefer to fly non-CO, try to use the CO miles on partner flights (DL, NW, etc.). Similar if you want to use DL miles on non-DL flights.

Taking the preferred NYC airport out of the equation, I would think CO's business & int'l product better - top up the CO account with Amex for upgrades esp. on the AMS trip - and also burn redundant miles as suggested, if possible