Hi All,

I was hoping to get some advice on what Skyteam program to join.

My situation is as follows:

I am a U.S.-based academic. I will be spending much of this coming academic year in Florence, and then a good portion of upto the next three years in Toulouse.

I travel to the U.S. at least 2-3 times a year, to London a few times a year, to Moscow at least twice a year, and go to Turkey and Pakistan each about once a year.

My main program has been AAdvantage for some time (basically a habit from when I was working in finance and going to London quite frequently). I’ve been trying to keep most of my flying there because they are so generous with crediting flying on cheapo fares.

I also have a Turkish card for Star Alliance (migrated from UA) for when I fly Star.

Given that I’ll be in France and Italy quite a lot, I figured it would be best to keep some sort of presence on Skyteam. To my huge frustration, I lost something like 60K miles I’d accumulated on SU through expiration in May (totally lost track of them as I was in the midst of a very hectic period).

Should I stick with SU or go to a new Skyteam program?

Most of my travel is covered in some form by grants from work, but these are invariably coach tickets (and usually deep discount).

For what its worth, the things I value most are the ability to get an exit seat and sit in a lounge in that order. My business and pleasure travel dovetails so I rarely am in a situation where I absolutely need to use miles for vacation, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Delta miles don't expire. Fly 50K annually to get Gold status with an international lounge benefit. The preferred seating benefit, apart from Delta and Delta Connection flights, depends on carrier and route geography.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...-benefits.html