I fly out of Hartford. I don’t have an airline cc at this point as there’s not really a dominant airline at BDL and the places I’ve traveled to recently (Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, & Atlanta) are mostly hubs for different airlines (except Austin) and so I’d have to connect if I wanted to stick with one airline.
Anyway, the past few years I’ve had a Chase Sapphire Preferred and I’ve racked up quite a lot of points that I’ve been able to transfer into various other airline programs - Virgin Atlantic, United, Air France/KLM, & Jetblue. They also have southwest for domestic flights. They also have occasional transfer bonuses.
American isn’t affiliated with any credit card except their own. Aer Lingus is affiliated with both Chase and AMEX. United is only affiliated with Chase. Downside to the CSP is that you don’t get any free checked bags. It really all depends on your travel habits.