How To Choose A Frequent Flyer Program

For me (and others with large families), I don't think that elite status is worth chasing. I will continue to go with the cheapest (free-est) flights. I think the trend is going to be towards cash-back cards like the Barclays Arrival or CapitalOne Venture and using those for travel expenses

I'm not sure what is going to happen with the new leadership, but I've always found Frontier's elite status to be a really great value, especially considering how little you have to fly to earn it (25,000 miles for the top level).

Free drinks, express security, free standby, early boarding, stretch seating, free checked bags, change fee waived, etc. Sure, you can't redeem for international first class, but for a free domestic ticket, it's a great option at 10k each way.

Of course, being based in Denver helps too.

could not agree more about Delta... "their frequent flyer program is a joke aside from domestic upgrades" - totally spot on.

i was just changing an award today and i was told one cannot fly an award on LAX-BNA-LGA because BNA is not a valid transfer city despite the pretty direct routing. has anyone ever heard of such idiocy from other airline than Delta?

I'm one of those people who's less concerned with redeemable miles, and more concerned about the experience. Delta makes life a little bit easier for me.

I travel a lot for work, and I would much rather arrive at my destination in a good mood. I value being treated well FAR FAR FAR more than having valuable miles on an airline that constantly lets me down. If, at the end of the day I dread the experience that my airline provides me, doesn't that make all of this useless? The point is to enjoy yourself.

Skyteam is strong in Europe and parts of Asia, so it makes a lot of sense for me. I'll be working hard to re-qualify for PM this year because I'd like to roll over more than a 1500 MQM's (which is what happened this year).

*I'd just like to note that I'm not a person of exceptional means or anything close to it. I work hard like most of us do, and I make a good living. I see the value in traveling for free--it's just that I'm okay with paying for something I want.

I was 1K with united until March 1012 and gave up on them. I know I would have gotten better service on Greyhound..
So I switched over to US (they were still *A) and been Chairman with them, and now that US is AA, I'll continue to fly them. If I didn't have to fly for work, I wouldn't have status at all, but being Chairman has some nice perks.. They Certificates for Hawaii FC and Europe in Envoy.

I still fly DL and will credit all fights to AS..

I agree with Garrett. Delta goes where I need to go for work, it's rarely a hassle, the crews are usually happy. Yes, it's a pain to use the miles, but they earn my loyalty by not annoying me every time I get on a plane.

Signed, A former United 1K-er.

If I'm not mistaken, Delta Silver only gives you one checked bag free (not two as you list in the chart)

I am based in the Bay Area and just became Premier Platinum with United. However, I'm moving to Atlanta for a job next month and I just emptied my Mileage Plus account for my honeymoon (including a leg on MUC-YYZ LH F, thanks @Lucky). I status-matched with Delta earlier this year but didn't re-qualify for next year, so I'm just a general member. Given the terrible value of SkyPesos and my desire to travel internationally on award tickets, my plan is to status match to Alaska MVP Gold and fly Delta. That way I'll get double miles that are actually useful, as well as some of the perks on Delta.

My fiancee recently got a CSP and we'll probably transfer her 40k bonus into my United account. Do I need to wait until we're actually married to make the transfer?

@ EMR -- As long as you're "spouses" you should be fine.

100% leisure traveler. I will stick with DL for domestic, perhaps try JetBlue for my flights to LAX bc of their new Mint product, and earn/burn UR via transfer to UA for my foreign travel. No more chasing status on DL for me.

Thanks for this although I still am left with a feeling of: I have a few options all of them bad. After nearly a million miles flown on Continental/United I now loath them and refer to them as the easy jet of legacy carriers. Yet Star Alliance is my favorite alliance so what do you do? Lately I have been booking the best fare on the most comfortable plane and saying the hell with allegiance. This year my hubby is flying to Brisbane, Sao Paolo, Israel, Europe and Bangkok....the first two are best served by One World/AA but AA doesn't have a direct flight to Israel and still flies shitty biz class to Europe, unless you want to fly to London all the time (not!). For us it's all about Upgrade so Delta is out. If you have taught be anything Ben it's the power of the right credit cards and that we are now living is a world where miles are easy to get and harder to use besides the airlines just want revenue passengers ergo all the devaluation of mileage charts.

Oh, and there's another benefit to elite status w/ Delta. Skyteam Elite/Elite Plus can get you pretty far. KLM treats you like a king even at Silver. Once you get to Gold and Platinum (never been Diamond, so can't say), they really start helping you out. For Elite Plus, it's complementary lounge access regardless of class flown (I think with a guest or two as well), priority security and customs lines, even separate seating areas in certain airports. I actually value Skyteam Elite Plus status almost as much as I do Platinum Medallion.

Thanks for putting this together, it really puts in perspective the benefits of different airlines. I have been very loyal to UA for many years out of ORD (other than 2 years flying DL out of DTW). I fly weekly only domestic and am finally sick of UA. They cut their benefits, I'm sick of tiny ERJs and RJs and limited WiFi when you do get a big plane. Also, I find myself consistently encountering unhelpful, angry employees. The only think keeping me close to UA is that I am about 2 years from Million Milers. However, if things don't get better through Q1, I should still have enough time to hit 100K on AA and will make the switch.

I only have two choices from the small airport I fly from. US airways or Delta. My decision was originally based on the fact that the majority of flights by US airways are on prop planes while Delta has crj200 and Airbus A319 thus a better experience to the hub. Now it would take something to get me to change as Delta has for the most part gotten me where I need to go. If they had a good reward program it would be a no brainer.

I can pick any of the airports in the Los Angeles area and previously flew from SFO. I should hit 2M with UA this year but doubt I will reach the 1K again due to $ spent since taxes and fees aren't added to your amounts. I will finish with UA and deal with angry agents and attendants, to make the lifetime Platinum. After that I figure I will try and status match with AA and begin building with them. Love the bonuses as a 1K with United but losing the systemwide upgrades will hurt. I fly domestic at lowest possible rates for work. Use miles to get family on a nice annual vacation but not only has the devaluation made that tougher, the availability is being held back on saver awards. But let's face it, you have to have some status as a business flyer on low rate tickets to get decent seats and reduce baggage fees.

Lucky,
Could you possibly do how to choose a frequent program, but for hotels? I think a post about it would be very helpful for which hotel portfolio would be best for different people! Thanks!

@ Omar -- Thanks for the idea, I'll work on a post about that as well!

Hey Lucky. Since we're on the topic of frequent flyer programs, can we enjoy A3 Gold privileges (extra checked bags/lounge access) on an award ticket booking made through another Star Alliance program (ie. extra bags when redeeming mileageplus miles)?

Thanks!

[…] Mile at a Time‘s recent post “How to Choose a Frequent Flyer Program” is also a good place to start if you need help figuring that out.  Especially if you […]

I think the ability for AS MVP and Delta Silver to reserve exit row seats for free at booking is a significant differentiator from both the credit card holders and from other airline elite programs. After all the exit row is the original poor man's first class!

Oh Ben we need something like this for Australia! Le sigh.

Keep up the good woork

I think a lot of it depends on what you want, so I'm glad Lucky didn't conclude with anyone being "the best" or anything like that. Just what he'd pick for himself.

For me, I'm a bottom tier if I'm loyal to an airline. At that level, it's about the experience. I want to be upgraded as often as possible, I don't want to wait in lines, I want to talk to a person if there's a problem, and I generally want to get somewhere on time. US Airways has done well for me because they serve most of my frequent destinations nonstop.

That said, I rarely use US miles for anything other than upgrades on competitive routes. I don't accrue enough to do much else. My "real" bank of miles comes through Amex MR and lately Chase UR - so when I redeem, it's often not with an airline with whom I've ever flown a revenue ticket.

Living in the Northeast, US treats its bottom tier the best. If I were out west, I'd probably choose AS and stretch for 40k to hit MVP Gold (I flew 35k last year on US).

Nice writeup, Ben.

If you live in a Delta hub (NYC, ATL, MSP, etc) or otherwise like flying Delta domestically, why not generally fly Delta but always credit miles to Alaska? I am thinking about switching to Alaska's program as an NYC based Delta flier that has never flown Alaska metal.

@ Anthony -- It can definitely make sense in some cases, though the thing to keep in mind is that ultimately you'll be treated better by an airline if you're an elite with them vs. an elite with one of their partners. So for example even if you fly 100K miles on Delta and credit it all to Alaska, you'd only have the upgrade priority of a Silver Medallion members, which is where in the queue Alaska elites fall.