Most people will agree that the only more valuable approachto reviewing cheap traveloptions, such as cheap airplanetickets, discount hotel rooms, cheapdeals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, isdeciding how best to travel for free by redeeming frequent flier rewards.
A recently released ranking by the US News & WorldReport evaluated the nations top 10 frequent flier programs, judging them onfeatures including network coverage, earning and redemption values, and awardflight availability. Each feature wasrated between 1 and 5, with 5 being the most desirable number.
Alaska Airlines mileage plan came in first place, with aranking of 4.39, and caters to frequent fliers based in or who often travel primarilyto and from various destinations in Alaska and the West Coast.
The programs pros include:
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Memberscan earn and redeem miles with Alaska Airlines or any of 16 partner airlines
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Manyretail and hotel partnerships allow members to earn miles on purchases andhotel stays
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Flexibleredemption options are available for flights
Programs negatives include:
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Blackoutdates that prevent reward travel
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Limitedavailability of reward seats
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AlaskaAirlines services fewer destinations than other major airlines.
American Airlines AAdvantage program came in second placewith a 4.04 rating. This programsbenefits travelers based in eastern, central, and southern cities, includingChicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.
The pros of this program are:
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Memberscan earn miles with over 1,000 partner companies
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Milescan be redeemed for rewards on both air travel and hotel stays
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Milescan be earned and redeemed on all AAdvantage affiliate one world airlines
The cons of this program are:
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Milescan only be earned for one program per trip
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Milesare forfeited if a members account is inactive for 18 months
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Canonly earn miles for one seat per flight
The three lowest rated frequent flier programs were:
#8 United MileagePlus with a score of 3.45. This program is view best for travelers basedin major American cities such as Chicago, Denver, Lost Angeles and Washington,D.C.
This programs positives include:
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Unitedand its partner airlines fly to over 1,100 destinations worldwide.
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Memberscan earn and redeem miles on over 35 participating airlines.
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Rewardscan be redeemed for flights, hotels, train fares and more.
The programs negatives include:
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Unitedsprogram rules are complex.
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Thenumber of seats available for award travel is limited
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Milesexpire after 18 months of account inactivity.
The 9th rated frequent flier program was DeltasSkyMiles. This program is convenient forfrequent fliers based in central and southern U.S. cities including Atlanta,Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.
This programs pros include:
Program cons include:
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Limitedavailability of seats for award travel
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Deltadoes not make reward charts available, making it difficult to determine howmany points are needed to redeem points for free travel.
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Membersmust fly and spend frequently to achieve elite status.
The lowest rated frequent flier program was Spirt AirlinesFREE SPIRIT program that came in with a score of 1.16. Its frequent flier program appeals to peoplewho travel domestically from central, eastern and southern American citiesincluding Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and New York City.
The positives of its program were:
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Mileagecredit is posted within 30 days after flying
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Membersare offered exclusive promotions and deals
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Thereare many ways to earn mileage credit and achieve elite status
Negatives to this program were:
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Threemonths of account inactivity result in miles expiring
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Membersare not allowed to transfer miles to another members account
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Milesearned via Spirit Airlines World MasterCard usually take four weeks to post andsometimes can take up to six weeks.
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