Hi everyone! I hope this is the right place for this question. If not, please let me know and I will try my best to do it right next time!

Over the years, I earned miles in lots of programs, mosty DL and CO, where I'm Gold, and some also in US and UA (just enough for a flight or two).

I just opened an account at a bank and they are giving me 25k miles that I can put into UA, AA, DL, CO.

Now I have to call them and tell them where to put the miles -- but I don't know which program to choose. I find that DL has made it pretty hard to get a flight if you're trying to do it less than 21 days prior to departure (what happened to the good ol' days when you could just call and book and go?), and I don't want to put them where they'll be hard to use. I live in Phoenix, so US might be a good choice, but I don't have many miles there.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...thanks!

Do you have a few miles in one program, added to which 25,000 would help you reach a threshold?

If not, put it where you'll get most use, one of your accounts with a larger balance. It really depends on your flying patterns, your home city, etc.

For me, I don't cash in awards for 25,000/domestic flights. I can buy those for $300-$600. Instead, I pool my miles and cash in at least international C, if not F.

I am flying to Germany this weekend for a week, on an award with LH in F. Today, I priced out the exact flights on which I am booked; if I were to buy the ticket, today's price is $18,563.00

So, your own usage probably dictates into which account you should deposit the points.

I agree it's a good idea to put it into one of the programs where I have the most miles. It's just that I'm trying to sort of "vote with my wallet" by favoring the program that has the least restrictions/best ability to get flights for the low rates.

I do see your point -- I wouldn't want to use miles for a flight I could buy for 300 bucks, but I like to use them for flights that are tough to get for that price -- no weekend stay, or nothing under $500 available, for example.

AA...best availability in general.

Any reason why you have DL and CO accounts and US and UA accounts? Just seems like you could redeem better in 1 account in each alliance.

What I do is I think of where I want to go and I look at who can get me there with my miles, then I transfer my Starpoints to that program.

I have the least issues redeeming with United for the trips that I've booked with miles, but that's just me.

Over the years, I earned miles in lots of programs, mosty DL and CO, where I'm Gold, and some also in US and UA (just enough for a flight or two).


If your CO Gold, it would seem to have the most flexibility for award redemption.