I've been in New York for the past two years and am starting a new job as a consultant in Boston. I've been shuttling between New York and Boston for the last few months, to get the house, take some stuff over each time, get things ready. I finished my job in New York and had a month lapse before the Boston job started, so I was busy moving in. Now, I'm out of New York, and my new job has started (miss the time off!. My new job officialy gets me in the ranks of the Road Warrior, as I will be traveling a lot domestically and internationally (About 150,000 miles per year, it looks like). I've spoken with the corporate travel agent, and luckily the company has no preferred airlines. But, the agent can get my elite status in a few airlines if I need it to start up, but I need to retain the status or else the airline might not be so free in giving elite status to my company in the future.

There is no dominant airline in Boston, so the choice is hard. As my schedule looks, I can devote all my status to one airline, get top status on one and mid on one, or get mid on three. (100,000 miles is top and 50,000 miles is mid).

What airline(s) do you think I should go with? If there isn't much difference between top and mid tiers, would it be better to go for mid on three? Again, there is no particular region I travel most. All over the US, Europe, and Asia.

Before, I traveled rather infrequently. By the way, the company pays for Business Class on flights to Europe from the East Coast, First Class to Asia or to Europe from West Coast, and either First Class or Business Class (on tri-class planes) on all longhaul domestic flights (transcon), and coach on shorthaul. A bit complex!

I need the help of all you experienced Road Warriors.

Thanks,

Flyer

I am biased, but I think for a reason. I would go with AA, I also think that there is no need to go to EP with AA as Plat is enough. I have been a Platinum for the past three years and never seen the advantage to focus on AA. This could be the three mid combination. That said there are only two other airlines that I would even consider out of Boston United and USAir. United has the advantage of having Star Alliance members fly into Boston (AC, LH, SAS) while AA only has CP. For most flights you would have to connect thur ORD or DFW, for domestic and either MIA or JFK for South America. AA also has a three London flights and one Paris flight a day and a number of transcon flights on 767. AA also has Business Express for regional flights. My vote would be for AA

flyer, it's a tricky question because there are so many options. It truly does depend on your flying patterns and preferences. As a Boston-based traveller I do concentrate on AA, but I collect miles on BA... partly because I was a BA elite before I moved here but a continuing reason is that I far prefer BA's transatlantic service to any other... (and as an added bonus, I pay no membership fee for access to the Admiral's Club)

Given your wide-ranging travels and Boston's multiplicity of airlines, you are bound to end up using several airlines anyway, so you may just want to choose a program from each alliance, then focus on attaining/retaining elite with the ones that you find suit your needs. My collection of ff cards includes a oneworld card (BA), a Star Alliance card (Air Canada), Qualiflyer (where my Delta and USAir miles go) and Alaska (for all of the others...) The preponderance of foreign ff schemes reflects my past life as well as my award preferences - I generally claim only international award tickets.

I've found that with AA/UA and DL/CO one can travel from Boston to most other places, but that no one airline takes you everywhere, so the mid-elite option on three airlines may be the best choice for you. Make certain that you avoid redundancies: there is no point in having both AA and USAir memberships, as you can collect AA miles when flying on USAir. Check for similar redundancies with other airlines. After your first year or so travelling you will know which airlines you detest and which you adore, and you can then focus on obtaining super-titanium-hyper-platinum membership on your favourite one(s)

Welcome to Boston.

baobab



[This message has been edited by baobab (edited 11-10-1999).]

My family lives in the Boston area so I travel up there a lot. I agree with the comments about American. They recently took over BEX so they have a large commuter presence there. Their already good European service will be bolstered by the addition of SR and SN code-shares soon. They also have good transcontinental connections. I believe they want to inaugurate nonstop service to NRT from Boston.

US is good, but only if your travel is mainly in the Eastern USA. Their European service, whilst increasing, is still limited.

Not quite sure why some are trumpeting UA. Their service from Boston is still quite limited. I have flown DL nearly exlusively for a number of years and think they are worth a thought. I think they say that they are the largest carrier in Boston. They are very convenient to destinations in the SE and surrounding areas because of their hourly flights to ATL. Connections to the mid-west are good through their hub in CVG which I really like because it is more hassle-free than other hubs in that region like DTW and ORD from what I've heard. The Delta Shuttle is excellent to LGA. Also, they're expanding there - they're reconstructing Terminal A and I think have declared BOS to be the base of their NE regional commuter airline. They have also said that they may start European flights from there in a few years - MAN, CDG and FCO spring to mind.

CO / NW is quite small in BOS.

Therefore, I think you should go for the 3 middle-tier approach. I would get Platinum on AA, Gold on DL and then pick between Prem Ex on UA and Preferred Plus on US. I would go for UA, but it depends how much regional travel you'll be doing in the NE where US is strong.

Thanks! I spoke to the travel agent today. She recommended American, as well. I think it probably is better to get three mid-level programs. What I'm thinking:

1. AA Platinum status
2. UAL Premier Executive status. United has convenient flights to Asia via Chicago, which may be useful. AA is rather weak in Asia.

I have to think for a third. US Airways can get me to places throughout the east coast, and they have frequent, convenient flights to Philly and Pittsburgh. Also, they have the Shuttle service, even though I now use Amtrak for most of my New York/Boston runs, because I find it more relaxing. Delta could be another possibilty. Also, since Northwest and Continental offer full reciprocal status, they combined have frequent service out of Boston. With CO's frequent service to EWR, there are easy connections to other cities.

I'll have to think about this some more. I feel pretty confident with AA and UA, but now I have to decide about US -vs- Delta -vs-CO/NW. A big part of the problem is that I'm not put on regional assignments. I don't have just about all my trips to one area and maybe only a few to other areas. My company can shoot me off to any corner of the world in a moment's notice!

Thanks,
Flyer

My choices would be American Airlines, with Continental as a back-up. Continental's transatlantic hub in EWR is just a short connection away and their program is reciprocal with Northwest, for your travel to Asia. I would shoot for Exec Platinum on AA and Gold on CO. AA's commuter strength in BOS and nearby transatlantic hub in JFK make it an easy choice.

Another HUGE factor in favor of AA is the partnership with USAirways. While you won't enjoy reciprocal elite benefits, you will be able to avoid having orphan US Dividend Rewards miles.

[This message has been edited by TransWorldOne (edited 11-12-1999).]