WalletHub, the website focused on credit reports and credit improvement advice, has a side endeavor that should catch the eye of any meeting professional who enjoys the benefits of racking up airline miles: a frequent flyer program ranking.
The 2017 edition looks at the 11 largest U.S. carriers and compares their frequent-flyer programs on 23 metrics, including reward value per $100 spent, whether miles expire, blackout dates, number of daily flights, number of destinations served, and partner-airline redemption policies. Frequent-flyer programs benefit travelers differently depending on whether a traveler is a light, average, or frequent flyer. The latter category spends an average of $5,743 annually on airfare.
Top Frequent Flyer Program*
Airline Score
Delta Airlines 59.05
Alaska Airlines 55.09
JetBlue Airways 51.35
Hawaiian Airlines 51.24
Virgin America 51.04
American Airlines 49.30
United Airlines 48.15
Southwest Airlines 41.04
Sun Country Airlines 40.08
Frontier Airlines 28.30
Spirit Airlines 27.85
Value Per $100
Freqent flyer programs ranked by reward value per $100 spent*
Hawaiian Airlines $21.38
Alaska Airlines $19.96
Virgin America $17.02
JetBlue Airways $12.49
Southwest Airlines $9.36
Frontier Airlines $8.99
Delta Air Lines $8.96
American Airlines $8.12
United Airlines $7.91
Spirit Airlines $4.02
*Scores and rankings are for the frequent flyers in the frequent-flyer programs. Results vary slightly for program participants who don’t fly as much.
