The Best Frequent Flier Airlines

Thursday, 26 May 2011 | by Pat's Picks

If you’re sitting on a pile of frequent flier miles, I hope they’re on Southwest. The Wall Street Journal says 99.3 percent of the time you can find an awards seat on the airline’s flights, making it the best domestic option. US Airways and Delta bring up the rear in the rankings. Both offered redeemable seats on a given flight less than 28 percent of the time. JetBlue and United also did well, placing in the high and low 70 percentiles, respectively. Overall, it’s easier to get frequent flier miles on low-cost carriers compared to the big ones with large international networks because smaller carriers don’t have the credit card tie-ins that big carriers do; last year American said 62 percent of the frequent flier miles it issued went to credit card holders, not people who’d actually flown.

Two other findings of note from the IdeaWorks study: 1) San Francisco is the hardest city to get in and out of using miles 2) This summer it will be especially hard to use your miles because demand is high and will likely stay there.

Here’s the full ranking of stingiest airlines, including international carriers.