I honestly wouldn't bother committing to any single airline until you were traveling enough to qualify for some kind of reward tier somewhere - I go all-in on D

I honestly wouldn't bother committing to any single airline until you were traveling enough to qualify for some kind of reward tier somewhere - I go all-in on Delta/Skyteam when I can because the miles I earn get reward status that includes free checked bags and seat upgrades and other perks like that, being able to eventually redeem some miles for flights is an almost inconsequential perk for me. I get waaaaay more value out of buying regular economy tickets and flying (most of the time) in at least economy plus, if not first class on small regional routes on the free upgrades than I could out of tickets purchased on miles. (I'm typically around a couple dozen flights a year, so frequent enough to have basic status, but nowhere near frequent enough to get top-tier business traveler level status...)