Let’s Rank Airline Programs

What makes a frequent flier program standout? No loyalty program is ideal for everyone, but choosing one that best matches your lifestyle can help you maximize your chances of earning and redeeming meaningful rewards.

U.S News has given their ranking of the different airline programs out there.  As a travel hacker based in Portland, Oregon, my ranking is a good amount different and I’ll explain why.

First off, let me start by saying that I have or have had an account with most airlines out there, so I have a good idea what I’m talking about.  I don’t know all the details of each program, but I know what works for me and it would probably work for you also.  There are a lot of things to consider when signing up for a specific reward program, but my opinion is to just sign up for whatever you plan to fly.  If you’re confused about which airlines card to get, go for the one with an airline that will benefit you the most for your upcoming trip, or just go with the one giving you the best bonus so that you can start flying with that airline.

For some reason, Spirit is on U.S. News’ list, but I’d avoid budget airlines like Spirit or Frontier as their programs are a joke from what I’ve experienced and their flights aren’t dependable.  Also, they like to nickel and dime you for everything – bring your own water!

Anyways, here are my top 5:

1. Southwest Airlines:  I fly Southwest more than most of the others.  Southwest is very easy to get points on and you can get this amazing things called the Companion Pass which pretty much doubles the value of all your points (more to come on this later).  I am not a fan of having to be checking in exactly 24 hours before your flight to get a good seat, but I don’t mind it either for pretty much free travel.  They also give you two free checked bags.  It’s lame how much the other airlines charge for this, and Southwest does it right by giving you not one, but two free bags to bring with you.  Thanks Southwest for the large number of free flights.
2. British Airways:  I don’t fly British Airways very often, in fact, as of writing this, I’ve only ever been on one flight that was British Airways.  The reason they’re high on my list however is the benefit of their partners, like Alaskan Airlines and that getting BA points is really easy to do.

   Pro Tip: Not a lot of people know that you can use British Airways points to fly Alaskan Airlines for really good deals.  British Airways points program does it by distance rather than the normal way of most airlines.  The benefit to this is that if you live in a location where airlines like Alaskan or American fly, then short legs are really cheap.  I live in Portland, so flying from PDX to Seattle, Vancouver, or San Francisco is just around 4,500 points each way.  It’s usually 7,500 to 12,500 each way when using Alaskan Airline points so this saves you a lot.  That means a RT ticket from PDX to Vancouver, BC is 9,000 points and $11.20.  Which is pretty much nothing on the scale of things.  So use British Airways points to fly short trips on Alaskan or American – best way to use those points.

3. Alaskan Airlines:  I fly Alaskan Airlines a lot these days, but I don’t usually rack up to many points with them because I’m usually flying them with British Airway points.  However, they’re a great airline with great perks if you fly a lot.  One thing to note is that since you’re using your BA points to fly Alaskan, you should use your Alaskan points to fly to Europe using British.  The reason for this is that fuel surcharges on BA are quite high, but if you use your Alaskan points to book a British Airways flight, you don’t pay the fuel surcharges because Alaskan says they don’t do fuel surcharges.  Pretty sweet!
4. United Airlines:  Another airline I really don’t fly that often these days, but I do like their reward program because points are easy to get and using them to fly their partners is fantastic.  I’ve used my points with United to fly first class to Barcelona on Lufthansa or a three stop flight into China.  Not that long ago I booked three tickets for me and my roommates to fly to Chile for 30,000 points each.  That one is flying United, but totally worth the points.
5. American Airlines:  American is on my list because of their partners just like British Airways.  I have a lot of points with American I need to use, so I don’t fly them a lot, but I do like collecting them to one day get a RT using OneWorld.  Not sure how many I’m going to need yet, but I figure I’ll just keep racking them up until I fly around the world in business class.  Should be worth the wait.

If you fly at all, you should sign up with their reward programs to collect those points.  Even if you don’t think you’ll be getting much for a flight, sign up, because after a few flights, you may have more than you’d think for that next free flight.

What programs do you like the best?  Why?  Leave it in the comments below!

Source: Best Airline Rewards Programs | U.S. News Travel