New rankings from The Points Guy, a website dedicated to airline, hotel and credit card points, suggest that Alaska Airlines may have the best loyalty program for ultra-frequent travelers.
Frequent flyers that earn elite status (or traveling at least 25,000 miles each year) with an airline are often awarded valuable perks to incentivize loyalty and further business. At the top tiers of those programs, the awards can be rich and can include valuable international upgrades, healthy mileage bonuses, free lounge access and free food and drinks across the entire travel experience.
The Points Guy’s study, released this morning, weighed each of those perks when measuring the program’s value, overall considering: in-flight perks (25%); fee waivers (20%); bonuses (20%); airport perks (10%); flexible perks (10%); non-flying perks (5%); partner perks (5%) and reservation perks (5%).
Weighing those factors, the site gave Alaska Airlines and its MileagePlan loyalty program top honors. The other top carriers and loyalty programs were:
1.Alaska Airlines (MileagePlan)
2.United Airlines (Mileage Plus)
3.Delta Air Lines (Skymiles)
4.American Airlines (AAdvantage)
5.JetBlue Airways (TrueBlue)
6.Southwest Airlines (Rapid Rewards)
Like in other studies ranking airline loyalty programs, Alaska Airlines and its MileagePlan program fared well largely because of its distance-based loyalty program. Most other loyalty programs award elite status to travelers as a function of distance flown and annual revenue directed to the airline. By contrast, MileagePlan awards elite status solely on distance flown, making it easier for frugal travelers to earn elite status and receive the same perks as wealthy travelers. Unsurprisingly, the move has also made Alaska’s loyalty program quite popular.
One surprise in the rankings was American’s position beneath its competing legacy carriers of Delta and United. Traditionally, American’s AAdvantage program has been well regarded as both flexible and rewarding for frequent travelers. Over the past year, however, many have complained about a lack of award availability and deteriorating perks for elite travelers on that airline. “They have destroyed the AAdvantage program and the great benefits of [top tier status] are a sad memory,” lamented one commenter on a recent post covering the changes.
As legacy programs like American’s continue to falter, Alaska may end up vacuuming up disenfranchised travelers solely based on the strength of its loyalty program. Whether the legacy carriers respond to Alaska’s moves may indicate how interested they are in attracting business from frugal travelers.
