Whether you fly numerous times throughout the year or you fly only once a year, you should consider enrolling in one of the airlines frequent flyer programs. This will allow you to earn rewards on expenses that you are already incurring.
When deciding which airlines program to enroll in you should take the following into consideration:
- Does the airline have flights departing from your preferred airport?
- Does the airline have flights to your most commonly traveled destinations?
- Compare prices between several flights to make sure they are competitive.
- Compare statistics on flight delays, mishandled baggage, oversales, and consumer complaints.
- How are points earned?
- How are points redeemed?
- Are there other benefits in addition to earning miles?
- What type of partnerships does the airline have that will allow you to save money and earn miles on other purchases?
- How efficient is the online purchase of tickets?
Airline Frequent Flyer Comparison Chart - There are many different airlines, however for comparison purposes, this article is limited to five major airlines.
American Airlines - AAdvantage
Earn Miles For each trip you earn miles equivalent to the actual miles flown. You may earn more miles depending on the type of ticket.
Redeem Miles Miles can be redeemed for tickets, upgrades, and various non-travel awards.
Other Benefits There are three tiers to the AAdvantage program: Executive Platinum (must travel 100,000 miles per year), Platinum (must travel 50,000 miles per year), and Gold (must travel 25,000 miles per year).
Continental OnePass
Earn Miles For each trip you earn miles equivalent to the actual miles flown or 500 miles, whichever is greater. Earnings will vary depending on member status and type of flight. You can also earn miles through many of their various partnerships with hotels, car rental agencies, and more.
Redeem Miles Miles can be redeemed for upgrades, flights, and various non-travel rewards. Continental is known for its generous upgrades.
Other Benefits Offers the ability to use miles (instead of money) to bid for items on eBay. Previous items auctioned have included tickets to a performance at Carnegie Hall and a Broadway performance.
Delta SkyMiles
Earn Miles For each trip you earn miles equivalent to the actual miles flown or 500 miles, whichever is greater. You will earn more depending on your member status. You can also earn miles through many of their various partnerships with hotels, car rental agencies, and more.
Redeem Miles Miles can be redeemed for upgrades, amenities, and flights. The amount of miles needed varies depending on the type of flight.
Other Benefits and Items of Interest There are three tiers to the SkyMiles program: Platinum (must travel 100,000 miles per year), Gold (must travel 50,000 miles per year), and Silver (must travel 25,000 miles per year). Delta offers an airport lounge with free entry to Platinum members and a discounted membership fee to Gold and Silver members. The airport lounge includes a fully stocked bar, magazines, newspapers, satellite TV, and more.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Earn Miles For each round-trip you earn credits rather than miles. You receive one credit for each one-way trip or two credits for each round-trip.
Redeem Miles 16 credits are needed to receive an Award (which is a round-trip ticket).
Other Benefits and Items of Interest Southwest does not have first class so there is never an option to upgrade. They also do not offer pre-assigned seats so you have to scramble on board to get your desired seat.
United - Mileage Plus
Earn Miles For each trip you earn miles equivalent to the actual miles flown or 500 miles, whichever is greater. You may earn more miles depending on the type of ticket and your membership status.
Redeem Miles Miles can be redeemed for upgrades, flights, and various non-travel rewards.
Other Benefits United Mileage offers three tiers of membership: Premiere, Premiere Executive, 1k. United offers access to their airport lounge with the cost being dependent on your membership level. You will receive a complimentary non-alcoholic beverage and snack and the benefit of a quiet atmosphere.
Redemption Comparison
In this example, we will compare the miles needed to earn a ticket to fly round-trip within the 48 contiguous US states.
Airline | Type of Flight | Miles Needed |
American AAdvantage | Mile SAAver Economy Mile SAAver First Class Mile SAAver Premium | 25,000 45,000 60,000 |
Continental OnePass | Economy First Class/Business First | 25,000 45,000 |
Delta SkyMiles | Skysaver Economy Skysaver First Class | 25,000 45,000 |
Southwest Rapid Rewards | Round-trip Ticket | 16 credits |
United Mileage Plus | Economy Business or First on Two-Class Airplane First on Three-Class Airplane | 25,000 40,000 60,000 |
Efficiency of Online Ticket Purchase
American Lists the various departing and return flights on one page but does not include the prices. You have to select your flights in order to see the price and then you must rerun the search to see prices for other flights.
Continental Offers the ability to see the various flights and prices immediately and the departing and return flights are together. They conveniently list the lowest fare first and make it easy to rerun the search based on a different airport or different date. Due to its efficiency, Continental is by far my favorite airline site when it comes to searching for tickets.
Delta Offers the ability to see the various flights and prices immediately and the departing and return flights are together. The only downside is that you have to search through the itineraries to find the lowest price. Otherwise, Delta's efficiency places it as my second favorite site.
Southwest Lists the departing and return flights on one page and allows you to easily select your flight based on price and schedule. Southwest has a simple and unique interface that works very well.
United Offers the ability to see the various flights and prices immediately and the departing and return flights are together.
Other Statistics
In order to determine statistics on issues such as flight delays, mishandled baggage, oversales, and consumer complaints you can go to the Aviation Consumer Protection website. At the time of this writing, the statistics were:
| Airline | Arrival On-Time (%) | Mishandled Baggage (Rank - Lower is Better) | Oversales (Rank - Lower is Better) |
| American | 79.3% | 11 | 9 |
| Continental | 78.1% | 3 | 17 |
| Delta | 77.3% | 10 | 14 |
| Southwest | 84.4% | 6 | 11 |
| United | 75.6% | 7 | 6 |
And the winner is ..
For me, the winners are Continental and Delta. I based my decision on the criteria listed at the beginning of this article. Continental is actually my first choice but I recently joined Deltas program because they were offering a special fare to a city that I needed to travel to in the near future. However, in order to accumulate miles faster, it is better to join only one mileage program.
Have a question about spending wisely as it relates to frequent flyer programs? If so, post your question in the Home Finance forum today.
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