Well, the time has come, I think.

With the new last-minute award fees for award travel, maintaining status with NW/DL is not worth it to me anymore. That was the last great use of miles for me, and DL has completely eviscerated it.

So now what?

• Us: married, 1 young child, live between PDX and SEA.

• travel: except for 1 or 2 trips to LAX, all our travel is leisure. We fly between 25k-50k EQMs per year, it is a stretch to make the 50k level.

• destinations: DTW 2-3 times per year; DFW 3-4 times per year; SLC 1-2 times per year; Europe once per year; Mexico or C. America or Caribbean once per year; Hawaii once per year; a few other domestic destinations thrown in.

• most important benefits: no more gouging and nickel-and-diming fees. Especially baggage fees and last-minute award fees. Domestic upgrades have been nice, but I'll give those up for a more humane program. Bonus miles combined with miles that I can use without exorbitant fees and with fair availability. Call center agents that speak standard American English.
• benefits that don't matter a lot: international upgrades (we don't travel internationally enough). pre-boarding. lounges/clubs access. associations with hotel programs. free drinks and food on the plane is not a priority.

So what to do? Thoughts:
1. CO - love flying them, I love their service, I like their website, they have good service to DFW but only fair service to DTW. Biggest problem is 50% EQM for cheap fares, but we usually buy on line so this won't often be an issue. Route network matches our needs. But a UA partner... does this portend badness down the road?
2. UA - will not fly.
3. AA - great service to DFW, obviously. But to DTW I have to fly through ORD. There would be almost no upgrades... what are their junk fees like? I read through their elite benefits package and other than bonus miles, preboarding, and the smallest chance for an upgrade as AA Gold, I didn't see much to offer.
4. AS - awesome for the west coast, but partners everywhere else we fly (even DFW doesn't usually price right out of PDX). I don't think AS elite benefits on their partners are noteworthy, so I'd spend a lot of time flying as a non-elite. OTOH, they have a lot of partners.
5. combination of WN and nobody - has the time come to bolt eliteness altogether? Would I really do better just taking the cheapest flight everywhere I go? As an elite on NW, I already see minimal benefit to flying internationally with them, so I guess I don't lose much. Would it be better to maintain at least silver with NW and then fly the additional up to 25k miles on the cheapest airline?

As always thanks in advance to the FT community for your insight and advice.

CO's program is a joke. I've spent close to $400 right now on a reward ticket that cost 75k points. I wasn't let into the President's Club because the last leg was on an RJ. The 50% EQM thing screws business travelers. Their program will continue to get worse until it's on par with their new buddy United.

AA's program is really only good if you fly internationally and fly a lot.

AS is really your best bet. You'll be able to fly on CO, AS, NW, DL and AA and keep the points in the account. You're also in one of their hubs. I'm not sure what their fees are like, but they can't be worse than the other carriers. You'll have plenty of places to redeem the awards as well.

sorry to hear that about CO OP, as I still like flying them.

Maybe AS MVPG, since I can get EQMs on all the above airlines?

I would move to AS too.

Clearly there is much more to this story than you are disclosing here.

For the OP I agree that AS sounds like it makes the most sense for their needs.

I am PM on DL and MVPG on AS. If you are going to leave DL/NW, definitely switch to AS. You will get upgrades on DL later this year, already get them on NW, and you can earn miles from AA, CO, DL, NW, and a bunch of international carriers. Also since you fly out of SEA and PDX, you can get direct flights pretty easily.

If I were you, I would do a status match to AS and give it a shot. Takes about 1 week for it to go through.

I agree with AS. As one who travels up and down the west coast after a transcon, I think you'll find it most flexible and useful. Status Match is a fine idea.

thanks for all the suggestions - AS sounds like a winner. Just one clarification - CO earns RDMs but not EQMs, is that correct? Whereas AS, DL, and NW earn EQMs as well?

If you are serious about jumping to Alaska, it is a simple matter to ask for a status match on AS. Even at MVP, you will enjoy some benefits while you are building up your AS mileage plan account.

Some things to consider. Alaska Airlines Visa: free yearly companion ticket at $50 + fees. Downside is that it costs $85 per year without first year being waived. Since you are also a successful business person, they have an Alaska Visa Business card that is about the same cost per year and it comes with a $99 companion ticket. Companion tickets book with any fare. In fact I have multiple cards. Be sure to charge everything business related on the cards.

If wife and baby have any status even NW silver, ask for status match for them.

AS status gets you FC check-in, I think both levels get you thru PDX fast track security on the A,B,C gates. You also have priority boarding and seat selection. MVPG is the same qualifying level as NW gold.

Best thing about AS is award availability especially to South America and Europe sometimes at lower points levels than you may be used to. I understand that Asia availability kinda sucks. The large number of partners opens up multiple ways to get where you want to go. The partner desk for booking awards is especially good.

Great partner list that earn you each miles in the account quickly.

PM me quickly if you are going to jump and want to book some AS flights for the family. I have a nice gift for you if you do move. Needs to be done in January and I am gone the whole month after the 13th.

Best Regards

Correct... CO is RDM only

AS, QX, DL, NW, AA, KL, AF & LAN all give AS EQM's... RDM's on many more carriers...

AS & NW have a nice partnership currently, with UG's going to AS MVP/G's after NW Silvers... and this is supposed to be extended to the whole of DL over 2009... including access to better seats...

AS & AA - apparently EQM's is the only reciprocal benefit... No UG's, recognition, better seats, etc...

And I know AS does not have the nonstop from PDX-Hawaii yet... but its an extra 500 EQM's to route thru SEA and those are some nice non-stop flights... with UG's quite possible... (Especially when not traveling during peak holidays)

Finally, I'd take a look at the AS Boardroom, as it may be a nice reprieve for your family while waiting in the airport...

Welcome to AS

"Clearly there is much more to this story than you are disclosing here. "

Booking a ticket without being far in advance = big fees on CO.com

ANY change to a reward fare for ANY elite is $150. CO has the highest fees in the industry. OnePass program is now a joke.

I'm no apologist for CO. I think the fees are all bullsh*t. That said, you are incorrect in that the fees are more or less the same across the legacies and Plats are exempt. Regarding change fees on award tickets:

CO - $150. Plats are exempt.

DL - $100. Plats are exempt.

US - $150 ($250 for transatl/transpac)

AA - $150, though date and time can be changed for free. Don't know about exemptions.

UA - $150, though date and time look to be changeable for free. Changes in connections, though, explicitly trigger the fee. Don't know about exemptions.

(Thanks to an FTer in another thread who I copied some of this from.)

I'm switching to CO from NW/DL because of their new 3-tier award structure that is essentially a devaluation. My wife has been gold on CO for years and we have never had a problem getting int'l biz award seats at the saver rates. That said, their taxes/surcharges/fees were much higher than I'd ever experienced at NW. However those rosy days at NW are long gone (or going..) and I think CO is a very viable option. I'm sure I'll be complaining about them in a few months though. Whattdya gonna do, huh? It sure feels like the golden age for frequent flyers is past.

peace,
~Ben~

As for AS, as an MVPG, one can make changes for free to award or paid travel

For UA, 1Ks are exempted from award change fees.

At DL-NW, the award fee exemption benefit for Platinums seem to be slated for elimination in a few months time -- and DL has quite literally more and larger award fees than every US carrier with a frequent flyer program with DL Platinums already hit by most of them too.

Being Platinum and DL-NW is becoming worth less and less. Welcome to things under this greedy bunch of DL managers.