Hi,

Which airline has objectively the best Frequent Flyer program, and why?

For me. Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo club. Their lounges are fantastic and I’m frequently getting upgraded.

Flying short haul only, CX Silver or Gold isn’t easy to obtain, as they offer so few club points for lower fare buckets.

For miles redemption from Hong Kong, Avios from HKG requires less points for shorter flights, with easier booking of non CX flights.

My Citibank Visa credit card points get used there thanks to frequent bonus offers.

Objectively? All depends on your flying patterns and what you want from an FFP, so it's completely subjective what is the best.

For me BA Executive Club works well as whilst I do fly fairly regularly it's not every week but I do so 99% in premium cabins. In that respect I easily earn OW Emerald each year, sometimes more than doubling than requirement for Gold. The Lifetime Gold benefit is a big carrot for me.

fbgdavidson wrote:

Objectively? All depends on your flying patterns and what you want from an FFP, so it's completely subjective what is the best.

Well, I suppose one could figure out how much one would end up spending on average on flights on every airline in order to earn enough miles for a reward, and the dollar value of that reward. The one that gets you the most valuable reward for the least amount spent on airfares would be "objectively best". But as you point out, that data wouldn't be particularly useful to you if that airline isn't one that you have any reason to fly very often or gets you a reward that you're not particularly interested in. So there's probably not that much value in knowing which FF program is "objectively" best.

Many publications rank FF/mileage programs in the US....

per US News & World Report, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
https://travel.usnews.com/rankings/trav ... e-rewards/

per SmarterTravel, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
https://www.smartertravel.com/2017/04/1 ... rams-2017/

per Forbes, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
https://www.forbes.com/sites/garystolle ... 5df579be13

per The Points Guy, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
https://thepointsguy.com/2017/02/airlin ... aluations/

per Fortune Magazine, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
http://fortune.com/2017/09/19/alaska-ai ... r-program/

per Business Insider, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-airl ... ght-2017-8

per MSN.com, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/a ... ar-AAsdtfK

BA's FF program works best for me. Have been BA Silver (OW Sapphire) the past 3 years. It honestly feels sometimes too easy to reach Silver status with BA bearing in mind the benefits, such as lounge access, extra bag allowance, priority check in/boarding/security. It also gives free MCE with AA and lounge access on domestic flights. The lounge access on domestic flights is what keeps me away from switching over to AA's FF program. Ever since they built the T4-TBIT connector at LAX I always use the OneWorld lounge when flying domestically. Obtaining BA Silver is even worth only for that lounge and free MCE!

It’s a subjective thing. Because while Alaskan Airlines is particularly well known for its frequent flyer program, it’s largely worthless to me since I live in Australia.

I collect Qantas points because they’re super easy to earn in Australia on credit cards - so a $5 million business spend can easily net me at least 5 million points. I just keep changing cards. It’s also relatively easy to spend them on partner airlines.

The kicker is I never fly Qantas if I can avoid it, my status is on Virgin Australia which is where I fly with most, but their reward program is rubbish.

dredgy wrote:

It’s a subjective thing. Because while Alaskan Airlines is particularly well known for its frequent flyer program, it’s largely worthless to me since I live in Australia.

Even for me in California their mileage plan isn't that useful to me. I don't need to travel to the Pacific Northwest very often, and to get to the places I do travel to on AS would require an out of the way connection in SEA or PDX. You can no longer earn miles in their program when you fly Delta (which would have made them more useful to me) and while they do still partner with AA I don't really fly on AA very much either.

It all depends on what your goal for a FFP is. In Canada for example, if discounted travel is your goal - WestJet Rewards is better than Air Canada Altitude, but if you want more perks and status for your loyalty, then Air Canada is better than WestJet.

Yflyer wrote:

dredgy wrote:

It’s a subjective thing. Because while Alaskan Airlines is particularly well known for its frequent flyer program, it’s largely worthless to me since I live in Australia.

Even for me in California their mileage plan isn't that useful to me. I don't need to travel to the Pacific Northwest very often, and to get to the places I do travel to on AS would require an out of the way connection in SEA or PDX. You can no longer earn miles in their program when you fly Delta (which would have made them more useful to me) and while they do still partner with AA I don't really fly on AA very much either.

Disagree. Being LAX-based, AS has something like 22 or 23 destinations from LAX, most of which aren't located in the PNW. With the addition of VX, they serve a host of good transcon routes including BOS/ORD/FLL/MCO/JFK/EWR/IAD and a few Hawaiian destinations. Add in all of the AA services from LAX and you get quite an offering from which to earn AS miles.

masgniw wrote:

Disagree. Being LAX-based, AS has something like 22 or 23 destinations from LAX, most of which aren't located in the PNW. With the addition of VX, they serve a host of good transcon routes including BOS/ORD/FLL/MCO/JFK/EWR/IAD and a few Hawaiian destinations. Add in all of the AA services from LAX and you get quite an offering from which to earn AS miles.

I should have been more specific. From LAX I'm sure you can get to lots of places on AS. Of course from LAX you can get to lots of places on pretty much any airline you choose. But my home airport is SMF, and their destinations from here are much more limited and aren't the destinations I usually fly to. I know that's true for every airline when you compare SMF to LAX, but Delta and United generally offer more convenient connections to the places I fly to than Alaska does.

Yflyer wrote:

masgniw wrote:

Disagree. Being LAX-based, AS has something like 22 or 23 destinations from LAX, most of which aren't located in the PNW. With the addition of VX, they serve a host of good transcon routes including BOS/ORD/FLL/MCO/JFK/EWR/IAD and a few Hawaiian destinations. Add in all of the AA services from LAX and you get quite an offering from which to earn AS miles.

I should have been more specific. From LAX I'm sure you can get to lots of places on AS. Of course from LAX you can get to lots of places on pretty much any airline you choose. But my home airport is SMF, and their destinations from here are much more limited and aren't the destinations I usually fly to. I know that's true for every airline when you compare SMF to LAX, but Delta and United generally offer more convenient connections to the places I fly to than Alaska does.

Fair. We are a little spoiled for choice down here. Truth be told, it makes it a little harder to gain points on any one loyalty program because options are so vast.

masgniw wrote:

Fair. We are a little spoiled for choice down here. Truth be told, it makes it a little harder to gain points on any one loyalty program because options are so vast.

Isn't that kind of the idea of a loyalty program (from the airline's point of view) - to keep you flying with them and not with the options? Its pretty much the point to pick a loyalty program and stick with it and build towards a higher status and/or points to redeem for travel.

ACDC8 wrote:

masgniw wrote:

Fair. We are a little spoiled for choice down here. Truth be told, it makes it a little harder to gain points on any one loyalty program because options are so vast.

Isn't that kind of the idea of a loyalty program (from the airline's point of view) - to keep you flying with them and not with the options? Its pretty much the point to pick a loyalty program and stick with it and build towards a higher status and/or points to redeem for travel.

Since LAX has such a variety of options -- even to a single destination -- the cheapest flight on any given day could be one of 4 or 5 carriers. The net cost savings from choosing the cheapest carrier instead of staying blindly loyal to an FF program often is a more lucrative approach. I can buy upgrades/lounge passes/literally anything else with the money I save rather than being hemmed into rewards from a single airline (at the cost of potentially paying far more for your tickets).

It's sort of like insurance -- it might be cheaper for me to not have insurance at all and use the savings of not paying a premium to pay for services when I need, rather than to pay more up front for the premium and get discounted services down the road. Of course, it has a lot of build in conditions, like where you're flying to or how sick you are, for example.

Hey guys,
I agree that it is totally subjective and location/purpose specific....
For me, it's about even as to whether QF or VA have the 'best' FF scheme. I tend to collect points more for VA by shopping and petrol, but QF by travelling and accomodation (VA has THE worst 'accomodation booking' section on their website so I never use it).
The best FF program I have used however was Ansett's Global Rewards FFP. I managed to reach half a million FF points fairly easily.... And then lost ALL of them when Ansett went under. I spent hours on the phone unsuccessfully trying to book anything to go anywhere with an Ansett partner airline (Singapore Airlines to London was my #1 priority at the time) when it became obvious to me that AN was in serious trouble, not long before September 11, 2001. It was heartbreaking dealing with the AN call centre staff at the time, as lots and lots of people were scrambling to do the same thing as me and I felt so sorry for the AN staff who were very aware of what was going on.
I learned my lesson well after that so nowadays I cash in points fairly often on smaller reward trips rather than accumulating large amounts of points - just in case! It was ridiculously easy to accumulate AN points and there were always special offers that seemed to match my lifestyle perfectly. Offers from QF and VA these days just don't seem to match the generosity and ease of the AN points from the turn of the century.
Cheers
Bunumuring