With so many frequent flier programs to choose from, is there a method to the madness? One Miami-based research firm says yes. Personal-finance website WalletHub released its 2025’s Best Frequent Flyer Programs report on March 26, pitting the 10 largest domestic airlines against each other. It judged the carriers on 21 metrics including the value of a point/mile, blackout dates for reward flights and number of destinations. For South Florida travelers, the top three airline rewards programs are: American Airlines-Mileage Plan, JetBlue Airways-TrueBlue and Spirit Airlines-Free Spirit, Chip Lupo, an analyst with WalletHub, said in an interview with the Miami Herald. The report is national but Lupo broke down the data to make it useful for the region.
American, Miami International Airport’s largest customer, flies to over 400 destinations, offers miles that don’t expire and gets you a “good bang for your buck,” said Lupo. That’s especially the case for those who don’t fly a lot, he said. Meanwhile, JetBlue’s program is better for average fliers. Spirit has miles that don’t expire but lack partners. Free Spirit is more beneficial for those who travel with high frequency, said the WalletHub analyst. The Broward-based airline should also offer “some pretty good deals” coming out of bankruptcy in March, he thinks.
Best national frequent flier plans
The report WalletHub published is national and annual. Overall, Alaska Airlines won the title for the second straight year, narrowly beating United Airlines.
The top 5:
▪ Alaska Airlines – Mileage Plan Total points: 70.69
▪ United Airlines – Mileage Plus 70.21
▪ Delta Air Lines – SkyMiles 65.71
▪ Hawaiian Airlines – HawaiianMiles 64.69
▪ American Airlines – AAdvantage 60.70
Alaska’s strong performance helped American as it’s a member of Oneworld Alliance, said Lupo.
The overall rankings were based on three different annual airfare budgets. The lowest was Light at $459, the middle was Average at $3,393 and the highest was Frequent at $6,326. In doing that, “the best overall frequent flyer programs are well-rounded and positioned to satisfy the needs of loyal airline customers of all types,” the report said.
What’s best for you?
WalletHub’s report also comes with a custom calculator that allows travelers to personalize the results based on their own budget. That means the rankings may differ depending on how much you spend annually on airfare. While Alaska won overall, United finished first among the traveler who spends the most and who spends the least. Alaska placed second in those categories. Hawaiian ranked third in the Average category, otherwise the Top 5 were unchanged by the travelers’ budget.
In other findings, the average rewards program saves frequent fliers about 8% on airfare, the report said. Hawaiian Airlines offered the most rewards value, at $12.55 per $100 spent. Frontier Airlines was second with $11.75 per $100 spent. But don’t expect 2025 to be better than past years. Just 3 of the largest 10 airlines will offer more rewards value in 2025 than they did in 2024. Those are JetBlue Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Spirit Airlines On average, the top 10 airlines are offering 5% less value than they did last year.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/article302853044.html#storylink=cpy
