Travel: Who Has the Best Frequent Flyer Program?

Whether you’re traveling to scope out a new business opportunity or to take that well-earned vacation, you’ve probably noticed that the cost of airline tickets is taking an ever bigger bite out of your travel budget.

And it’s not just the cost of a ticket. Airlines are allowing customers to curate à la carte travel experiences that add layers of confusion to the mix. Most major carriers now have seat or class upgrades that you can purchase for extra miles or cash. If you need to check a bag, that will cost you extra, too, depending on the carrier or length of the flight. 

Air travel has become so convoluted in the past few years that the federal Department of Transportation enacted an Automatic Refund Rule making it easier for customers to get a quick cash refund when airlines cancel flights or make significant changes to their schedules. Although this rule won’t protect you from weather-related travel delays, it will allow you to recoup money you paid for services you never received — such as online wifi — or for misplaced baggage that doesn’t get delivered to you in a timely fashion. 

Introducing a level of accountability when airlines inconvenience their customers is a good thing, but this rule won’t help you find a cheaper ticket or save on your vacation plans. 

For that, you need to turn to frequent flyer programs, which are one of the best ways to save money on retail travel. This article takes a look at the most popular programs out there and ranks them based on your travel needs. 

Frequent Flyer Programs 101

Although they really need no introduction, frequent flyer programs are a way for airlines to ensure brand loyalty by giving their customers an incentive every time they book a flight. Many of these miles accrue in perpetuity, waiting to be applied to a future trip or converted into points you can use to purchase other travel-related items.

What You Get (in Addition to Miles)

• Access to a larger network of airlines. For the most part, when you join a frequent flyer program, you are buying into a network of airlines. Two of Delta’s SkyTeam Alliance partners are Air France and KLM; United’s Star Alliance includes Turkish Air and Lufthansa. This gives you more options when you redeem miles to purchase a ticket.
• Bigger rewards for frequent flyers. I used to fly in and out of Munich several times a year, so I maintained premiere status in my United MileagePlus program, flying Star Alliance member Lufthansa. Today, it looks like premiere status entitles you to free upgrades, which is a nice perk. Different programs will have different member perks at different levels.
• TSA and Global Entry. Many frequent flyer programs, such as the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, allow you to use miles to purchase TSA PreCheck status and will expedite the process for you. Programs also sometimes offer member discounts on the price of these services. 
• Free access to the airline’s lounge. United MileagePlus gives regular members two free passes to a United Lounge each year. However, you will need a higher order member status to gain access to one of KLM’s lounges. 
• A variety of ways to use your miles. Miles and “points” are usually interchangeable; that is, you can trade miles for points and vice versa. The conversion rate depends on what you want to buy and what frequent flyer program you belong to. You can also use miles to purchase a seat upgrade, a special meal, or in-flight wifi access.

How to Make the Most of Your Program

Unless you are a YouTube influencer or international business traveler, you won’t rack up that many miles just through travel. Thus, most people link their program to a credit card that allows them to earn points and/or miles every time they make a purchase.

Introductory offers are the best way to earn miles fast. Right now, for instance, Delta SkyMiles has great offers on all three of their AMEX cards. The Delta SkyMiles Gold AMEX will waive its $150 annual fee for the first year and give you 80,000 miles if you make $2,000 worth of charges in the first six months. You’ll earn 2x miles for Delta-related purchases and 1x mile for every other dollar you spend.

There are folks out there who do nothing but try to figure out how you can get the biggest bang out of your points + miles game. The aptly named website, The Points Guy, reviews the best points and miles cards, gives you a rundown of the major airline and hotel loyalty programs, and shows its readers how to achieve the greatest award for the least amount of miles and points or combination thereof. 

A comparison site like The Points Guy can help you to fine-tune your discount travel strategies. You can also jump to the details of each program in the list below by clicking on the hyperlink to see if that frequent flyer program can work for you. 

The 4 Best Frequent Flyer Programs

1. Flying Blue: Best Program Overall

KLM’s and Air France’s frequent flyer program, Flying Blue, is your best bet for cheap international tickets for two reasons — it is really easy to redeem miles through this program, and its Promo Rewards program provides monthly discount travel offers to members.

Because KLM and Air France are part of the SkyTeam Alliance, you’ll have plenty of options when booking your tickets. 

The reason it is so easy to earn trips on Flying Blue is why the program comes highly recommended: It offers a 1:1 exchange with all of the other major rewards programs. That is, the miles you’ve accumulated on virtually any travel card you have will transfer into Flying Blue. Although Flying Blue does offer a World Elite MasterCard, this generous transfer program makes it unnecessary to have a dedicated Flying Blue card unless you are really trying to rack up introductory offer miles.

     2. United MileagePlus: Best for the Occasional Traveler 

I am an occasional traveler, and I’ve had the same United MileagePlus Explorer card for over a decade. It’s not the flashiest rewards card but delivers solid travel card advantages for a low annual fee ($95). I’ve taken three round trips to Europe using miles earned on this card, and though I miss the days of premium membership, it’s nice that Explorer offers two passes to its domestic lounge each year for regular-level members. 

Since the miles never expire, you can afford to wait until a good deal emerges, which is a mixed blessing — United MileagePlus increased their award rates in 2023, making good deals harder to come by. You can also use your MileagePlus miles to redeem flights on any of the Star Alliance partner airlines, and if you use a MileagePlus Chase card, you have access to the Chase Travel Portal, which allows you to book flights, hotels, and travel experiences.

3. American Airlines: Best for Achieving Elite Status 

American Airlines AAdvantage is part of the OneWorld Alliance, which includes airlines like Alaska, Iberia, British Airways, and Finnair. 

It’s one of the few frequent flyer awards programs that still publishes a chart showing how many miles you’ll need to redeem travel on partner airlines, imparting a welcome note of transparency. You can redeem a flight for as little as 7500 miles. 

Another thing that’s nice about AAdvantage is you can earn elite status without flying. Loyalty points earned with purchases on your American AAdvantage credit card count toward your membership status, giving you a slight advantage when using one of the Citi Advantage World Elite Mastercard options available. 

A disadvantage of American AAdvantage miles is they expire after 24 months.

4. Delta: Best Long Haul Cabin Options

I had such a bad flight to Rome a few years ago that I vowed never to fly that airline – which shall remain nameless – again for a long-haul flight. I’d also waited too long to redeem miles through my regular loyalty program, and the only airline coming up with reasonable nonstop flights was Delta. 

Although the food definitely has room for improvement, I have to say that I was pleased with Delta’s Comfort + class. For a few extra dollars, I had enough legroom to endure the 9-hour flight, a tiny plastic toothbrush, and all the snacks I wanted. With business and first-class options out of my budget, it was nice to have an intermediary economy-class level I could afford.

Delta’s SkyMiles program is similar to United MileagePlus’s. Both have miles that never expire, and both programs allow you to use a combination of miles plus cash when booking travel rewards. 

Delta SkyMiles offers three levels of AMEX cards — Gold, Platinum, or Reserve. As I mentioned earlier in the article, these cards have great introductory miles offers right now. 

In the Final Analysis

I spent a lot of time looking at lists and comparing frequent flyer programs before I wrote this article, and I have to admit — my selection process was a bit arbitrary.

There’s a reason for that. 

The best frequent flyer program for any given individual depends on whether they are a casual traveler, someone who repeatedly travels to the same destination, someone who travels for business, or someone whose New Year’s resolution is more luxury travel. 

Occasional travelers should look for programs with miles that don’t expire and transferable travel options. Well-heeled travelers, on the other hand, should build brand loyalty in order to reap the rewards of elite membership.