Hi everyone. i am new at flyertalk.
I wiil agree LH always has open seats and upgrades on most routes i fly. Never had problem with them. Ua is too picky with the booking codes. Nw is good to. I had success booking with them also.

Besides transfering in from Starwood, what's the best way to accumulate AS miles(assuming one can't easily fly AS)?

Is the 20K award also good for travel to any point in Alaska from the Lower 48? or is it restricted to the 48 states?

Why does everybody always bash CO? I've had great results redeeming miles with them, much better than US.

As far as using those 80,000 CO miles, both my roommate AND a friend are using 70,000 to fly Business Class from IAH to Rio later this month. Those redemptions only took place in the past couple of weeks, too. (I'm going with them, but I'm a pass rider!)

I really love KLM (Flying Dutchman) miles, as long as I am Platinum with them:
* Platinum get KLM award tickets, as long as there is any seat (paid seat) available, Platinum overrules any black-out-dates and any specific limited award-seats availability
* miles for upgrades are good on any fare
* KLM offers one-way-awards for 50% miles.
* my KLM Platinum status has just been extended another year (feb-2005), without me having paid one single ticket in 2003/4 (I only took award flights in 2003 and 2004)!

Since you mention IAH, I assume you are in the Houston area. That might explain why you don't have problems getting awards on CO. If you live outside of their Hub cities, I have found it virtually impossible to get an award. This is evidently very common or there wouldn't be so may post and questions about moving CO miles though Amtrak.

I've had good pile of miles in AA, UA, NW, DL, and WN. I've been able to make great use out of UA nad WN, but the AA and NW have just sat there. For domestic travel, UA and WN allow last minute bookings. The others charge fees if not booked far enough in advance. While I have planned AA trips far in advance, the purchase cost was always quite low, and they seldom had my desired flights available for sale.
I've never had a problem with UA availability, even on thin routes, though the availability seems to come and go. However, stopovers would be nice.

Northwest does allow mixing and matching of award redemption for round trips which can result in some strange mileage requirements. But I haven't had a chance to use them yet.

This is very useful topic. Any new comments since all the changes in the various programs?

I have a slightly different take on the value for a mile thing. For flying, I try to consolidate all of my mileage earning on either AA or DL. I have had good success getting reward tickets I want at the standard levels for both programs, with a little flexibility. I also use iDine to get extra AA miles, shop through their respecitve shopping portals and do just about anything else I can do to accrue these two programs miles.

I do not have the world's greates credit, thanks to the world's most psycho ex-wife, so I use an AS debit card through BofA for mileage earning there. They also offer a US card, but I figure that even living on the east coast, I would rather accrue AS miles than US miles.

For hotel or rental car partners, I ALWAYS use WN. They always offer promotions of some sort and offer a quicker path to secure a free ticket. I understand that they have a limited network of cities, but when renting a car from Hertz, if I can get quadruple credit (2 out of the 16 -- 1/8th -- needed for a free ticket) from Wn or about 400-500 miles from AA (call it 1/50th of what you need for a domestic coach ticket). Same thing double dipping at HHonors hotels. You can get 500 AA miles (1/50th) or 1/2 WN credit (1/32nd) at most HH hotels. The difference is even more staggering at Hampton Inns (100 AA miles vs 1/2 WN credit). I have earned a few free tickets on WN for very little actual flying.

Stevekoe

I vote for Alaska also. The 20,000 redemption level is great, especially since they fly to the East Coast now. They partner with more airlines than any other FF program. In addition, they have mileage sales that can't be beat. For example, they are currently having a "Winter Award Sale" where tickets between any city in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, or Washington and the California cities of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, or Long Beach are only 13,000 miles.

A new one to consider, NZ Airpoints.

Since 16 Nov 04, NZ has a "any seat can be an award seat" system. If you find a fare and have enough Airpoints Dollars to cover it (1 AD = 1$) then you can get the seat. For long haul there are also special rates (with limited availability).

For more details visit the NZ forum, or www.airnewzealand.com.

PS the former restriction to certain countries has now been removed.

Speaking as someone with a hefty seven-figure total mileage balance (which doesn't compare to some on these boards, I think Randy has a nice eight-figure balance), my own preferences are as follows, in order:

Starwood: hotel rooms are almost always available, plus points transfer into most FF programs at 1:1 -- plus 5k bonus for transferring 20k. Starwood Amex becomes the best points-earning card to the extent that spending earns 1.25 miles per dollar on all spending when transferring points in 20k blocks to airlines with 1:1 ratio, which is better than the AA Mastercard for instance. Not to mention the card is cheaper.

American: I've never had any problems with availability. Partner awards are great. All miles earned count towards lifetime elite (we'll see if that lasts).

United: Availability on UA metal ain't what it used to be, but Star Alliance provides for amazing redemption options. Required mileage is low by most standards (e.g. 90k miles for a business class ticket to Australia from the U.S.). No fees for last minute bookings.

Alaska: Provides great availability. Only 10k miles to confirm an upgrade from any fare. Good partnerships (AA, BA, CX, QF, KL, CO, NW, DL for example). 20k domestic awards on AS metal.

Delta: Have had good experiences with availability. Good partnerships. But this is bottom on my list because I simply don't trust the program, award costs have risen, and I can always transfer points in from Membership Rewards so why go out of my way to earn when I have a monstrous MR balance?

(Oh, by the way, I'm not including Club Rewards or Membership Rewards on this list, perhaps I should and need to rethink my ordering. I'd probably rank Diners 2nd, Membership Rewards behind AA.)

I stay away from
USAirways: I burned my miles there. I know Randy has expressed some confidence over time. But what have I really lost by placing it safe and claiming awards? I've gotten use out of the miles, which is all I'd have gotten later anyway. And since they participate in Membership Rewards I can always deposit more if I need to. Current balance: 236

Continental: Continental availability is terrible. The only saving grace is that they have partners who offer better availability, like Delta and Alaska. Mileage prices are on the high side for valuable awards. Also a Membership Rewards participant, so why would I want to earn exclusively in the CO program? Exclusive earning, for me, goes to programs whose points are inherently valuable and where I have a more difficult time accumulating. Current balance: 719

Northwest: Love the elite program for domestic-only flyers, hate the redemption program. Massive price increases for awards. Saturday stays required for domestic standard awards. And I've found availability on NW metal to be pretty poor, at least as a non-elite there. If I ever want to claim an award on NW metal I'll transfer points to CO from Amex, or I'll use DL or AS miles. I use these miles when I can, keeping balance low. Current balance: 2719.

America West: They just lack the route network and partnerships to offer valuable awards. And while they offer some attractive fares, especially for last minute travel and for their premium cabin, I don't really want to fly HP anyway if I can avoid it. Current balance: 60.

I don't meaningfully participate in the Southwest, Airtran, or JetBlue programs either. Short expiration of credits and inability to redeem for the kind of awards that I value.

I have some BA miles but don't go out of my way to accumulate. I'm glad that I don't hold a big balance with Qantas, what with their gutting of their award chart.

I have plenty of points with Amtrak, Hilton, Priority Club, and a few others. I consider those somewhere in the middle of the pack. Amtrak transfers 1:1 into Continental and Midwest (big whoop, and they dropped bigtime in my book by pulling the rug out from under United transfers). Priority Club redemption is excellent in my limited experience. Hilton redemption is less excellent.

Deleted a dumb post.