Quote Originally Posted by Mike_M View Post
Guys I really appreciate the input. I mostly fly east coast, New York being the most often destination. So far the best advice I've received is to get the Chase Sapphire card, which transfers points on a 1-to-1 basis to either Southwest or United. After being on United for nearly a year straight, I loathe their tin can jets and far connections (Houston, Denver, Chicago). I'm mostly trying to decide between United and American, as American generally has way better flights out of OKC. Does anyone know of a card program that allows a 1-to-1 points transfer to any airline?
I'll add my vote for American. I was a non-elite for years and spread my travel around, never quite reaching status with anyone. Then about 5 years ago I got stranded overnight at ORD because I had no status and vowed to focus on one airline so they will take care of you when it counts. I decided on American, made top tier Executive Platinum the next year and have been ever since and highly recommend AA. I've been upgrade to 1st on about 95% of all mainline legs the last 4 years, always taken care of during weather problems and great EXP help line. Based on my work colleagues that fly United and/or Delta, I'd say American is the best airline for top tier status and possibly low and mid tier as well. I'd say the best advantage for OKC fliers is DFW is a short 55min flight (25-30min in the air) which makes a HUGE difference if you connect a lot vs. UA (ORD, IAH, DEN) or Delta (SLC, ATL). Plus, and this is BIG for me, nearly every flight to DFW is a mainline jet, not a smaller regional jet as is nearly always the case on UA or Delta.

Southwest is a great option for domestic flying, but I chose AA because I earn my miles domestically for work and then redeem for international trips in Bus/1st that I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. Taking wife to Paris over Labor day in 1st on miles.

As for credit cards that can transfer to a lot of airlines, I'd go for SPG Starwood Amex. It allows you to transfer 1:1 to a bunch of airlines, plus they give you a 5k bonus when you transfer 20k so 20k gets you 25k. That means you are effectively earning 1.25 miles/$ with a lot of flexibility.