katfan

This year I have had enough segments to make the silver level on one of the domestic Skyteam partners, but since they are spread among the three carriers I won't get anything for those travels.

Anticipating that my travels may be similar, or worse, next year I am seeking advice on which basket to place my eggs. I used to hate NW, but this year they have been vastly improved at the DTW hub. DL no longer has segment qualifications, which is how I would qualify.

Comments and suggestions are invited.

Volvic

I'm not too sure I understood your question. You wrote Silver. You would like to have a little more than base status somewhere. Good . And after that ?

I mean, for sure no lounge access anyway.
Business check in queues are at least in my case longer than a normal economy queue.
A little mile bonus perhaps but perhaps you should consider to collect enough miles on your account to redeem a realistic free flight you like (perhaps not a RTW in F ) and left it empty and later on to move on the next account and do that again. Doing so you really use all your earned miles. A free flight is the basic bonus of any FFP. To have additional real good benefits you have to go for the Elite PLUS. Nothing less, sad but true. I had the possibility to choose KLM FD and I did it based on number of segments. After I achieved my target I used my base AF card to collect more miles due to local promotions... hoping in a merge of the two FFPs next year.

My big benefit is now I can know I'm not able to get my preferred seat not only when I do the check in but also when I ask for support in the lounges.
A real plus ! The real appreciated point was an op ugd to Europe Select (please, let me define it as Full service economy) a few months ago.