I have just accepted a job where I will be traveling around the country up to a couple times a week. The company has asked me to fill out a profile of who I'd like to fly with and my experience is limited to mostly USAirways (cheapest for me). Now that I don't have to pay and will be racking up FF miles and eventually will be flying first class (because of all the FF miles) I'd like your opinions on who you'd pick in my situation.

If it helps, My home base will be BDL (Hartford, CT) and I prefer to not fly small (Southwest, etc.) carriers for cross country flights.

Thanks.

The obvious and logical answer is to first check which airlines fly from Bradley and then which ones have the most destinations from theere that you are likely to fly to on business to earn the miles, as well as the destinations you'd be using the ff miles to fly to.
It's as simple as that!

Howard's right.
Road warriors view air travel as a colossal nuisance and waste of time.
Whatever saves time is well worth any amount of effort, even some extra $$.
You need to find the carrier which will allow you the fewest connections and hassles.
FF programs are too similar among the major carriers to choose based on this criterion.
Another consideration: if you'll be doing cross country flights, check which airline has the most 767's vs. 747's, most first class seats, etc. You can find this info on the airline websites.

I agree with the above posters.

Unless you are with a very small program or a VP level or above...most corporate travel offices are looking for the same low fares that you were seeking.

This probably won't help you coming from Hartford, but I really liked being a frequent flyer on Northwest. I was silver medallion for a couple of years, and they continued to improve the program so near the end I was automatically bumped up to first on almost every flight I took. This was in 2000-early 2001. I am now silver on Delta and have yet to get a single upgrade - they give you coupons for upgrades based on how many miles you log, and you have to call in and cash them in. Plus, Delta has so many freq. flyers that there are often no upgrades available to a lowly silver medallion member.

NWA definitely has its share of problems, but they are pretty good about spoiling their frequent flyers.

Well, my personal preference is American. Until you start flying first class, you may care about room in coach, and American definitely has significantly more room in coach than the other airlines. Also, I think their frequent flier program is better than most of the other ones in that it requires fewer miles than the other airlines for several of the major awards, and if you want to book an award they will hold a reservation for you even if you don't have enough miles yet, and you can get ticketed later once you have the miles. In addition, they don't have any blackout dates, at least not in 2002 & 2003. I've had good luck with redeeming miles and allowing open jaw travel when I'm flying with miles, which some airlines aren't as liberal about. Also, they have an extensive system of hotel, airline, & car rental partners (more than most other U.S. airlines) which makes it easy to earn miles and redeem them.

But I have no experience with their service in & out of Hartford, and that should be a major factor in your decision-making.

I forgot to mention that if you're more concerned with free tickets than medallion upgrades, Delta has been very easy to get FF tickets on out of Atlanta. I've used miles for an upgrade to Europe and a couple of weekend trips to the west coast with no problems. Not sure if this is just a fluke (this has all been in the past few months), but it has been really nice. It is next to impossible to get good FF tickets on NWA if you don't plan months and months in advance or go at strange times of the year.

Delta also has a great card on Amex where you can get double miles for lots of purchases and bonuses that go towards your base mileage. It's much more generous than the old Visa card we used to have with NWA.

I agree - live in a small town have only USAirways, so most miles are gained with them....

If you are looking for FF perks then fly Northwest. After you reach Silver you will be upgraded on most flights. If you hit Gold or Platinum it will be all the time. Northwest allows unlimited first class upgrades whereas most of the others you only get 2 if you are silver. Plus they have so many bonus miles that you will rack up miles in no time. Also they have purchased many newer planes...especially the Airbus which are great.

I agree with cg. I've redeemed reward tickets on Delta numerous times and they always seem to have availability where I want to go, sometimes traveling with as many as 6 people at the same time all on award tickets. Whereas my experiences with NWA have been the most frustrating when trying to get award seats. Southwest is also great but you've already ruled them out. Of course, if you're mostly interested in upgrades and not award tickets, this is a non-issue.

I'll vote for American any time. The roominess for the seats alone is a good reason to fly them any time possible. I get lots of miles with partners like MCI and Citibank Visa, and I have never had a problem redeeming miles, although I do it a long time in advance of going.

USAirways Chairmans Preferred (100+ segments, 50,000 miles a year) is absolutely top notch.

I think Continental OnePass is still the best program at lower levels.

Continental usually wins the "Freddies" as best freq flyer program. Does CO fly to your town?

Jacy

A wealth of information, perhaps more than you want, regarding this very topic is available at:

www.flyertalk.com

and

www.webflyer.com

There is a large online community of people devoted to collecting frequent flyer miles, maximzing upgrades and other bonuses, achieving 'status' (e.g. gold, elite, etc.) on your choosen airline, etc.

Your best bet is to pick a carrier that uses BDL as a hub and/or offers easy connections. American has a gold and platinum challege that can quickly help you gain elite status (which will score you upgrades without using miles - !!!, bonus miles for each trip, etc.). Each airline has a variety of perks, programs, mile earning partners (hotels, other airlines, car rental, etc.)

I hope this helps.

Very helpful! Thank you.

As far as I know, USAir, United, Continental and Delta all fly out of BDL. I am not sure about American but am impressed with their roomier seats and upgrades and such.

Being so new to the FF mile game I hadn't thought about getting the free tickets too. I find that VERY important. I love traveling, and love most anything free. I had heard from others about "just getting upgraded" and that's what made me want to ask who I should pick.

As for where I will be traveling, it can be anywhere. I work in sports so wherever there is a sports contest is where I could go... Pro and college sports... so it could be big cities or small airports. It just depends on the season.

I love traveling to Europe, so I would love to get on with an airline that either flies there a lot or has teamed up with carriers who do.

Scigirl- thanks for the websites. Will check them out.

Thank you all for your help,
Jacy

Continental will give confirmed upgrades to silver elite members for any ticket 3 days before a flight. You can also use OnePass miles on Northwest, KLM, Virgin, Alitalia, Air France and America West. There is a reason why their program is voted best every year. They're the best.

Continental in my opinion for many reasons. One could be that only Continental serves meals on national flights in couch class. Second if you are flying first/business class you are entitled to use Presidents Clubs without paying annual membership fee.

Russ, Air France won't be Continental's partner after March 31. I have tickets with them for my trip in April and will be loosing almost 8,00 miles. Oh, well.

Dear FST if you have been flying couch lately, you'll be delighted to know that most airplanes have a coach class where you actually get your own seat ant tray table to play with.

flyboy, you shouldn't be so critical...

"ant tray table" indeed.

Continental rules! It's amazing how bad they were 10 years ago and how good they are now!