I am a Member of both Skymiles and AAdvantage, and I have been using AA this year for my domestic work travel.

I have been trying to decide which World Alliance to stick with. Every year I like to make a trip to India, but the majority of my travel is done domestically.

Anyone have any advice on which program would work best for me. So far my analysis has been

Skymiles:
+only 75K Miles to reach top tier
+can get mileage on most partner fares
+Larger choice for travel to india (BOM).
+Greater list of domestic partners
+Starting LGA-ORD
-80K miles to get an international ticket to bom
-must be top tier to gain international lounge access



AAdvantage:
+Program works great for domestic travel
+challange available to hit PLT..
+I like the Upgrade process of stickers
+Lounge access at PLT level
-Only certain Class of econ get miles
-No miles on BA JFK-LHR

So my conclusion AAdvantage for my domestic travel is great, but their international isnt really all that for me.

Can anyone add anything to help in my deicsion.

If it makes a difference, I have 23K miles both accounts.

I'm mainly a Sky Team member, continental One Pass Platinum
and the best part is you get complimentary upgrades on all
domestic flights (based on availability) on CO and NW.

but you have to go to EWR for most of its international flights.
I earn most of my miles on KL metal. so far so good.

I'm looking into *A for myself. lets see.

Skyteam is really not all that great for international upgrades. I know that NW and CO require high fare classes for mileage upgrades. Additionally, business class availability for award tickets can be somewhat suspect, plus there is not first class option on intl. Of course, AA has their "co-pay" for international upgrades...

On domestic, though, NW, CO, and DL all have unlimited upgrade opportunites with no stickers required (probably that order of relative ease to upgrade), which I think is a major improvement over AA.

I just wanted to add that a lot depends on what tier you could reach. AA's top tier is great, unlimited upgrades and eVIPs (basically SWU). If you are looking at lower tier I would seriously consider going Skyteam (especially NW), since you will end up in domestic first much more often than on AA. (unless you are buying a lot of stickers, that is)

NW/CO offer reciprocal Elite Upgrades which is nice, DL does not. As a Continental Platinum I HAVe found myself buying more First Class fares lately since upgrades are a bit harder to come by these days...

-Vincent

Also not currently in bankruptcy.

NWA and DL are in bankruptcy - Continental is not.

-Vincent

One World; their premium cabins arn't as diluted as those of Skyteam's.

Yes i forgot to mention that.

You also pointed out that in my orignal post that I failed to mention, that the mileage requirements (i was refering to) would be for international on a partner. Sorry for the confusion..

continental is out of the question, they dont fly enough out of LGA/JFK. The cost of getting to EWR is too much for me, especially since i live 5 mins from LGA. A goal of this decision would be to get on a airline, which i can use my perks directly for the majority of my work based travel, as well as maximize my perks while travelling international.

I really like the flexibility of using CO DL and NW for my domestic flights. Between the three, they have the right combinations of schedule and fares which is great. Lots of free automatic upgrades especially on NW metal, occasionally on CO, and of course none on DL (yet). Granted the quality may not be as good as AA but then, really I can about the seat and leg room and well the price is certainly right.

Getting to India, you have lots of options, CO directly, NW and KLM via AMS, and well overall very happy with Skyteam.

Thanks for the info, can you explain a little more about the upgrade situation on NW/DL. You said there are none on DL, but they list on their website that you get unlimited free upgrades.

Also does anyone have any experience dealing with a world alliance when you are a member of 2 partners. IE I am on Delta, If i join Northwest will i have issues getting my worldperks number put onto a delta flight?

I have all 3, DL/CO/NW, but I've made CO my primary. I also live on the
East side of the river. Much further east compared to you, but I've found
CO to be better. NW is great as well.

I do most of my travel on KL, and post my miles on CO. This works just fine.
i've also used DL several times, but I have to make sure they get my
One Pass account number right. They do not have facility to put your
OnePass or your NW WP account when you book online. But once they have
your number on the system, it will post eventually.

If you are flying often to India, I'd suggest you join NW WP. On the
discounted NW flights, you only earn 50% as EQM if you are a
CO One Pass Member. Same is true for Delta.

I like KL better, and I think in your case NW WP would be better.

Yeah I have all three CO/NW/DL accounts, with NW as my primary. Mostly I have the others for their online services as well as earning miles with the credit cards and other non-flying stuff.

NW and CO elite get unlimited domestic (no Hawaii) upgrades when flying on either NW or CO. They happen automatically as long as your elite number is in the reservation. Upgrades happen much more frequently on NW though because CO has more elite and less FC seats in general.

However NW and CO elite do not get any upgrades on DL and vice versa. This is rumored to change in the future but who knows when.

With crediting your miles you just have to be vigilant to make sure the FF number on the boarding pass is the one that you want to have credited.
Occasionally I've had some problems having to tell multiple agents the correct account but what is on the BP is what goes.

Rumor Yes, we're working hard to prevent this from happening.

-Vincent

Others of us are working hard to enable this to happen.