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.
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