Steve Robinson

Most Desirable US Frequent Flier Program

Given the frustration felt by so many frequent fliers when they try to redeem their miles for free tickets because of the general lack of available seats, some travelers will argue that cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages are of greater value because of their availability.

Most legacy airlines offer free domestic coach airline tickets for 25,000 miles.  A critical factor in determining a mileage program’s relative value is the availability of its reward seats.

A company called IdeaWorks made over 6,700 bookings on websites of 24 of the world’s largest frequent flier programs between March and early April of 2011.  Travel dates ranged from June through October 2011 with 20 popular routes checked for reward seat availability.

IdeaWorks success rates in booking award flights ranged from a high of over 99 percent to a low of just under 26 percent:

1.   Southwest – 99 percent

2.   Air Canada – 82 percent

3.   JetBlue – 79 percent

4.   Continental – 71 percent

5.   United – 71 percent

6.   Alaska – 64 percent

7.   American – 63 percent

8.   AirTran – 47 percent

9.   Delta – 27 percent (improved from 13 percent in ’10)

10. US Airways – 26 percent

Unfortunately there is no definitive data comparing airlines’ actual performance in redeeming frequent flier miles.  No one knows how attempted reward bookings actual success rates vary among different routes, different classes of service, and/or different times of the year. 

Nevertheless, in the absence of such information, IdeaWorks survey provides some idea of the value of airline frequent flier programs.  Airlines typically will forgo blackout periods and reward seat availability when frequent flier members are willing to “spend” 50,000 miles on domestic routes that only “cost” 25,000 when seats are available.

Article Tags: Frequent Flier

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