My sister's best friend is graduating from college next month and will be starting work at [bigtime NYC-based consulting firm]. I'm helping her plan and price out a leisure trip for this summer and she mentioned "oh, I should get frequent flyer accounts with all the different airlines since I'll be traveling a fair amount on business next year." (apparently she's never done this before )

So I explained to her the concept of alliances and how it's smartest to concentrate on one airline per alliance to earn and burn...

My question is: since she's going to be mostly traveling domestically, the obvious choices seem to be to go with AA (oneworld), UA or CO (*A) and DL (Skyteam). HOWEVER, is there something I'm missing? Due to redemption threshold or benefits or something, is it actually a better idea to primarily credit to other airlines in the various alliances?

Thanks...

Depending on how much she'll fly with *A, what classes of service she'll be in, how tall she is (for UA E vs. E+) and what her FF objectives are: it can be easier to earn and retain *A Gold status with BD (bmi) than with any US-based program. Downside is that if she'd fly enough with UA to get status there, she'd get upgrades - at least to E+, sometimes more. Once in a while the UA check-in agent is nice to me, especially in part of the world where they don't see a lot of BD Gold cards, but I can't count on it.

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Depending where she is based @... AS could be a great choice... If she's anywhere on the west coast or if she would be travelling to SEA area much. AS has a large network of partners domestically and internationally.
So a little more info would help. Thanks-

American AAdvantage is the clear choice for one world- and in my opinion the best FF program.

For star alliance, CO or UA. She should pick the one that she will be flying the most.

Sky team would be DL, but in all honesty I would try to concentrate on one of the above One World and Star Alliance programs for the bulk of my flying and try to get a high status level in that program.

Sky team does not offer the global coverage that *alliance and One World do.

If I were living in New York and a frequent business traveler, I `d make it a priority to get AA Ex Plat status.

Thank you for all of your input!

efrem - she's not tall at all, so E+ isn't a life or death necessity. I would assume that Y would be the norm, in this climate and since she's just starting out, but who knows. Thanks for mentioning BD - that's an interesting idea into which to look!

beckoa - she'll be based in NYC. I don't know where the majority of the travel will be; if it ends up being a lot of west coast, AS seems to be a pretty attractive program for sure!

MikefromTokyo - thanks! As I have never flown much AA at all in my life, why would you say it's the best FF program overall? I'm curious...

AA works best for me because of the relative ease of obtaining international upgrades-- this is very important for me because I fly on my own dime and therefore save a lot of money by upgrading on international flights.

I have friends who like CO OnePass and UA Mileage Plus a lot as well. The best program for your friend will depend on where she typically flies, what class her tickets will be booked in, and which airline she prefers.

If possible it is best to concentrate all flying on one airline and its partners to get status and rack up a lot of miles on one airline.

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There really are so many variables.

Some of the foreign airlines offer one-way awards (including awards on their U.S. Partners) for half the cost of a roundtrip award. Most U.S. carriers do not offer that option. Some foreign carriers charge fewer miles for certain awards on U.S. carriers than the U.S. carriers charge themselves! Some foreign carriers (Virgin Atlantic and bmi come to mind) award more miles for car rentals and hotel stays than their U.S. counterparts do. (And there is no FF excise tax payable when you have your car rental miles posted to a foreign airline.)

Lots to consider.

I would join one program in each alliance. My personal choices would be AA, DL and CO.

AS also would be a great choice too because AA and DL are partners. The miles would rack up really fast.

As for foreign airlines, everything would depend on where your friend likes to travel.

Something to keep in mind when reading the above:

BD maybe a great programme, but there is a 99% chance that it will be subsumed into Lh within the next year.

Regarding the Skyteam assertion from Mike above, I really do not understand it, as other than probably Australia where Oneworld does have the edge, I do not see how ST has less worldwide covergage than 1W.

My 2 cents in terms of ease of earning/maintaining and benefits would be TK for Star, OK or DL for ST, and probably AA for 1W. Then again it really depends on flight patterns and class of service. If she's going everyhere on premium fares and mostly long haul she may find BA and LH better for her......

Hugely depends on how much your sister's friend will fly.
If flying for more than 100K miles, then AA is the clear choice out of NYC.
Complimentary domestic upgrades and 8 systemwide EVIPs are the main reason why I would consider them the best FF program out there.
UA has really limited service out of NYC, so unless one goes to Asia frequently, I'd stay away from UA.
CO has EWR hub, so it may or may not work for your sister's friend.
Living in Long Island, I find it terrible to go to EWR over JFK and LGA.
I can't comment on DL as I haven't flown them for a quite a while.

In NYC DL flies to both JFK and LGA. It IS the world's largest airline! Partners? DL does not need a lot of partners as they fly almost everywhere themselves. DL gives unlimited free domestic upgrades depending on status. DL has good service, friendly FA's and seat back entertainment on a lot of flights.

AA is an good choice if you go over 100k per year. They do not have seat back entertainment. Unless you go over 100k in travel every year, upgrades will be limited if at all. Not as friendly as DL but still friendly.

UA no way!
US eek!
CO avoided them at all cost, even as a ST member.
AS excellent!

But you really need to figure out where you will travel and where you will want to go. Then it gets easier to choose or spread.

DL or AA!

Since her work travel will be mainly domestic, I would think it makes more sense to concentrate the alliance that gives her the best upgrades/comfort/benefits and also serves to the international destinations she would like to visit in the future.

Whichever alliance she ends up flying most, remind her to sign up for UA College Plus immediately so she can earn 10K graduation bonus miles from UA. Read this discussion thread over UA Forum for more details.

Rastern Traveller, believe it or not DL also flies to EWR as well.....

They certainly have quite an extensive network, but to say that they fly almost everywhere is just not true. If one only travels within the USA or from the USA somewhere else and back the options are fine. If one wants to travel within other regions DL has virtually zero coverage. The only exception to that is the NRT hub that they bought with NW, but even that has its limits as NRT is generally inconvenient for connecting within the region (e.g HKG-NRT-GUM v. HKG-GUM). And SkyTeam definitely is the weakest alliance in terms of coverage and it will get worse with the exit of CO and the 99.99% likely exit of CM.

WOW. I wish I'd known about that when I got my bachelor's...and master's...degree. One more chance next year (knock on wood), I guess!