Comparison of airline mile rewards programs - Find Me a Card

Comparison of airline mile rewards programs

(Last updated: September 2021)

If you're looking for an airline rewards credit card (e.g., a credit card offering miles and possibly also benefits such as free flights, priority boarding, airport lounge access, etc.), you'll obviously want to take into account not just the "miles earn rate" (e.g., 3 miles per dollar spent), but also things like the airline's number of possible destinations, the quality of award flights and other benefits, the plane ticket booking process, and more.

That's why we compiled the following comparison chart of the 8 most popular airline rewards programs. After deciding on the dimensions to consider and the relative weights to assign to each dimension, we scoured the internet for all the information we could get our hands on about these programs, and then graded each one on a 5-point scale for each dimension (1 = terrible, 5 = excellent).

The bottom-line: United has the best airline rewards program, with Frontier and American Airlines coming in at #2 and #3, respectively.

 

Weight

United Airlines

("MileagePlus")

Frontier Airlines

("myFrontier")

American Airlines

("AAdvantage program")

Delta Air Lines

("SkyMiles")

Alaska Airlines

("Mileage Plan")

JetBlue Airways

("TrueBlue")

Spirit Airlines

("Free Spirit")

Southwest Airlines

("Rapid Rewards")

Earning: Value

25%

2

5

2

2

3

2

2

2

Status and other perks: Ease of achieving elite status, other membership perks

20%

3

3

3

4

3

2

2

1

Number of destinations: US

15%

5

2

5

4

2

1

1

2

Number of destinations: International

10%

5

1

5

3

1

2

2

1

Booking: Blackout dates, advance booking, and short-notice fees

10%

4

5

4

4

4

4

5

3

Award flights: Layovers and fees

10%

4

1

3

3

5

4

4

3

Fine print: Limits and expiration of miles

10%

3

5

2

3

4

5

3

5

Overall rating

100%

3.45

3.35

3.25

3.2

3.05

2.55

2.45

2.2

Rank

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8