Most frequent flyers know from experience that not all airlines’programs are created equal. Although these programs may seem similar at first glance, some actually fly high above the others when it comes to award redemption.
If you are wondering which program will offer the most opportunities to redeem your miles, take some advice from some of our highly experienced, well-traveled readers. AccuraNews – Accura Media Group and FlyerTalk, the world’s largest online travel community, asked thousands of frequent flyers to rate their level of satisfaction with the award redemption process of the programs they participate in. The programs have been ranked in order of how they were rated in terms of member satisfaction (the “satisfied” and “very satisfied” categories). The program with the highest combined rating is first. Respondents took the survey only for those airline programs for which they said they were a member.
This year, the survey added the “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied”and “very dissatisfied”categories in order to give readers more nuanced options to choose from.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan received the top ranking for the third consecutive year, based on the percentage of frequent flyers that reported being satisfied or very satisfied with its award redemption process, while Southwest Rapid Rewards and American Airlines AAdvantage received the second and third highest percentages, respectively, in these two categories.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, British Airways Executive Club, and JetBlue TrueBlue also achieved high marks for satisfaction
Members of the Delta SkyMiles program were by far the least satisfied with the award redemption aspect of their program. The airline ranked dead last based on the percentage of respondents who reported that they were satisfied with their ability to redeem awards.
Frequent flyers were also unhappy with the award redemption process in the Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles and Air Canada Aeroplan programs, which received the second and third lowest, respectively, percentage of respondents who said they were at least satisfied with their ability to redeem miles. US Airways Dividend Miles also received a relatively low ranking based on this criteria.
If you don’t see your favorite frequent flyer program in the rankings, it’s most likely because it did not get much attention in the survey – programs that received fewer than 5% of total responses weren’t included, as the findings were not statistically significant.