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Favorite airline with good mileage plus program and partners

Well, now that United's having some troubles, I'm thinking of cashing in my miles and starting up with another airline. Any recommendations? Delta? American? Alaska? I loved that United was partners with Thai, Singapore, and SAS airlines. Any great domestic carriers with great partners for mileage? Thanks!

The answer depends a lot on your travel patterns -- how much you travel, where you travel, what airport you originate from most frequently and what benefits are most important to you. Personally, I think the Northwest program is very good and particularly difficult to beat for people who fly at least 25,000 miles annually with good access to Northwest or Continental's systems. NWA has an extensive partner network, but the carrier is tied in most closely with KLM, Continental and Alaska. (An alliance with Delta is also taking shape, but conditional approval was so recent that I haven't really gone through the details.) You can look over the program at www.nwa.com to learn more about partners and benefits. Also check www.flyertalk.com for commentary, etc. Like any carrier, Northwest gets mixed reviews.

Samantha, You might want to post this on the fodors airline forum. Another forum you might want to visit is www.flyertalk.com - a large community of "road warriors" with a great interest in, and know how about the various airline FF programs. "Lurk" in their various forums to get a view on which program might suit you best. To post a message you have to register (free). As a Delta frequent flyer (w/Medallion Status), I'm not happy with the recent changes DL made to their program and would caution you to look (hard)before you join them. A decent alternative for you might be Northwest as their routes to Asia, codeshare w/KLM and decent FF program might make sense for you. hth,

I've been a member of American's program since the mid 1980's and am now approaching a million miles total. But I am NOT a frequent flyer. I think the most flights I've ever done in a year is maybe 6, usually more like 2. But I use my Citibank AAdvantage credit card for everything. Once a year I switch my long distance carrier to MCI and get about 7500 miles for doing so, leave it for about 6 months, then change back so the next year I can earn those points again. I signed up for the Dining program, which I don't even have to monitor, but if I dine at many selected restaurants and charge on my AAdvantage card (which I would anyway) I get a bonus of 10 miles per dollar I spend -- earned almost 20,000 miles that way when I stayed in New York for a month!! If I send a $45 bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day, I use their floral partner and get 500 miles. I could go on and on about earning miles. Also cashing them in is great. One of their advantages is you can upgrade to next class after purchasing the lowest price coach fare -- not just on full fare tickets. I usually book my free or upgraded flights 11 months ahead -- so it takes some planning, but that way I can always get the flights I want. I've also learned how to get the most bang for my buck on cashing them in. For example this next summer for 90,000 miles I'm flying first class from Ft. Lauderdale to New York, where I'll stay a while, then Business Class daytime from New York to London, where I stay a couple weeks, then British Air business class from London to Berlin. Then make a return from Paris to Miami on Business class -- and that's all on one ticket for free, well over an $8,000 ticket. Their partners change from time to time, but I've been able to use miles for free flights on Singapore Airlines to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo (a four city package Business Class ticket for free) including a stop over going in Los Angeles, and a stopover returning in San Francisco!! I've also used their miles for free Business Class on Quantas to Australia and New Zealand.

Jim, you brought up some good questions. I fly out of Seattle, and fly several domestic flights to LA, the Midwest and occasionally the East Coast per yeard. I also try to make one Europe and one Asia flight per year. I'm pretty aware of other ways to earn miles. They just don't work for me. I don't use a credit card, I don't even have long distance service as I only use my discount 3.5 cents a minute phone card. I do get the 500 for flowers and car rentals. I just want to be able to hop on a great flight to Italy, or Thailand or Indonesia when I do accrue enough miles. Thanks for the flyertalk. com suggestion. Good idea! Looks like 2 votes for Northwest, with Alaska as the main carrier. Thank you everyone.

I'm at 1m miles w/American too, have flown several times 1st international w/them. I have had very good experiences regarding getting the day/flight I wanted - called 6 mos in advance. The one big negative is that the west coast - Italy routes stink. They are not partners w/ Alitalia and the flight time would be like 23hrs to get to Rome. Flights full first class to Engand are wonderfull w/ the sleeper seats though.

Any other thoughts, experiences?