1st NWA / CON flight which FF program to choose?
 

Hey All,

I figured instead of pondering this on my own I would ask the gurus!

My mom is taking her first flight on NWA (some flights operated by Continental) this week PSP - FLL roundtrip. She is a member of neither FF program or of any of their partners. I dont want her to lose the miles so which program should I enroll her in? It doesnt seem there are any enrollment bonuses now. Though the merge with NWA and Delta which I read about on here could be beneficial in the future.

What do you all think?

Thanks!

just in case you didn't know, i think you can put nwa miles into a us airways account... not sure if she has that either, but it's another option...

http://www.usairways.com/dividendmil...s/flyother.htm

but i guess it's a codeshare, so nevermind http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by dd (edited 04-27-2003).]

You might want to consider Alaska. They offer 500+1000(myalaskair sign up) miles on enrollment. NW flights are elite qualifying, CO flights (even on NW flight numbers are not). You can also earn miles in AA and other airlines so this is a nice program for someone who flies infrequently on a range of different airlines.

They serve both DC airports and charge only 20K miles for a domestic award (incl alaska) so it is possible to take a trip from Washington to Alaska for only 20K miles - maybe something to aim for.

If you want to maximize the miles you will get for the first time sign up bonus, first flight, actual miles flown, etc, go with Alaska.
If you absolutely do not want to go with AS, go with NW. You will never be able to redeem any CO miles on anything but useless eBay items.

Well... there are those EWR-DUB trips in BusinessFirst on a 757 for 200K miles... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

This is only on flights to the ORIENT (you have to look at the fine print to see that)

[This message has been edited by trvlr64 (edited 04-28-2003).]

Much depends on where future flight activity might come from, but I'd say go with NW.

NW rocks, the clear first choice.

For me the alleged difference is the quality of the F experience, but since I've never experienced it on CO, my ignorance is my bliss.

I like NW because they treat me right, I always ride in F, I can do same day standby for free, and they always have a bonus mileage promotion of some sort running. Right now, for example, be sure you sign her up for Mile-A-Palooza if you go with NW so she can get some May Double Mile-A-Palooza points.