The Best Frequent Flyer Programs for 2017

27.07.2023 - 18:22 / smartertravel.com / Delta Skymiles

If your airline loyalty has been on autopilot for the past few years, this would be a good time to reassess your choice of frequent flyer programs. A lot has changed, and not for the better.

In particular, the three largest U.S. programs are now all revenue-based, awarding miles on the basis of members’ spend rather than according to the number of miles traveled. Prices for award flights have also been adjusted, mostly higher. The net effect of the changes has been a significant devaluation of the largest programs for average travelers, who fly infrequently, on discounted advance-purchase fares.

Frequent business travelers, on the other hand, find themselves more richly rewarded. Indeed, that’s the point of the changes: to disproportionately reward the airlines’ most profitable customers, at the expense of the occasional travelers who make up the bulk of those flying on any given day.

To determine the best U.S. frequent flyer program for 2017, we evaluated the programs of nine U.S. carriers: Alaska Mileage Plan, American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles, Frontier EarlyReturns, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Rapid Rewards, Spirit Free Spirit, United MileagePlus, and Virgin America Elevate.

The following factors were considered when determining the best frequent flyer program for U.S. travelers: ease of earning, which is determined by an airline’s own flight network and its roster of mileage-earning partner companies; ease of award redemption, a reflection of an airline’s award-booking policies, award prices, and the number of partner companies offering rewards; and the program’s overall value, which is a combination of the earning and rewards sides of a program.

When the dust settled, the following three programs emerged as standouts.

American Airlines AAdvantage

American’s AAdvantage program was the first modern airline loyalty program and remains the largest, with a reported membership of more than 100 million.

While membership size doesn’t necessarily correlate with quality, the size of a program’s earning and rewards network is a key determinant of usability and value. Bigger is better.

American itself operates more than 3,500 flights a day within the U.S. and to around 100 overseas destinations. The airline is a founding member of the oneworld global alliance, which links American with 13 other airlines in a network of deep marketing and operational ties that includes reciprocal frequent-flyer participation. Through the combined networks of American, oneworld, and other AAdvantage airline partners, program members can earn miles and take award flights to almost 950 destinations worldwide.

Flight miles