Up in the Air

These airline loyalty rewards programs are pointless excercises in futility. We go halfway around the world in the hopes of having a baby and apparently that distance (roughly 20,000 miles) is ALMOST enough to make you a low-tier elite frequent flyer. And it occurs to Amber and I that this could be a good thing, especially when you consider the prospect of eventually traveling home with an infant and all the conveniences of elite status like upgrades, early boarding, and less time spent on hold waiting to speak with airline reservation agents about last-minute ticket changes.

The question now is, on what airline?

Alaska Airlines doesn't fly to India. So this leaves us with their partners, American, Air France, British Air, Delta, Northwest and KLM. (BTW, have you ever noticed that Cathay Pacific and Korean Air never show up in routings on KAYAK? That the only routes it shows are trans-ATLANTIC and almost never trans-PACIFIC?) Only American, Air France, and British Air fly to Hyderabad. Delta, Northwest and KLM will only take you to Delhi or Mumbai. Unfortunately, the first three airlines are way expensive! British Air prices are unbelievable and they have HUGE fuel surcharges. If you want to redeem a ticket with Alaska miles on British Air, you still have to pay their fuel surcharges in addition to 100,000 miles, enough miles for 4 Lower 48 trips!! There are no seats available to India for Alaska miles less than 8 months out.

As you might imagine, Alaska Airlines has a virtual monopoly on air travel here in Alaska. We almost always fly them to get to the Lower 48 states and its hard to imagine using another airline's program. But I bought this ticket from Northwest Airlines and am thinking of switching loyalty to Delta's mileage program. Anybody have experience with them? What airline would you go with? Or would you just always choose the least expensive ticket?

What would George Clooney do?

(Written January 6)