The Best and Worst Airlines for Spending Frequent Flier Points Observations

Southwest and Air Berlin have the best award seat availability and US Airways and Avianca the worst according to a study published in the Wall Street Journal.  This study is meaningless for point and mile collectors because the survey methodology is flawed.  The study “looked for two seats on each airline's 10 busiest long routes and 10 busiest short routes on 14 different round-trip dates between June and October.”  For example, Southwest’s busiest short route is Dallas to Houston, but they run 46 flights a day between the two cities, so an open seat is likely to be found, though not always at a preferred time.  The study assumes simple point to point awards, so connections are disregarded even though they are more difficult to book and more useful to passengers because it increases redemption options.  The study also does not factor in awards with partners, a valuable and often used feature of frequent flyer programs.

US Airways Does Better Than It Looks

The study also doesn’t factor in point value.  Southwest does great in this study because it will sell you any available seat for points.  The value received could be atrocious though because Southwest charges a fixed multiple of the cash fare.  Most other carriers charge a flat rate for domestic flights, regardless of distance, connections, or cash fare prices.  The flat rate model could be of great value to customers because it can multiply the value of their miles.  Airlines also have to limit flat rate award seat availability to maximize revenue, lowering their ranking in this study even if it increases value received by customers.

Partner Awards Add Flexibility And Value

The final flaw is assuming two coach seats on the same flight in the peak summer travel season.  Miles are most valuable (cash price of award / miles price of award) for international premium cabin awards.  This study also overlooks the intangible benefits of miles, like bringing the unattainable into reach.  Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal experience would only be available to most people with Star Alliance airline frequent flyer miles, so there is no value equation if the numerator is priceless.

Go Anywhere With Miles

Marriott Plus Points Social Rewards

Spam your friends for 2,000 Marriott or 500 United points each month.  Sign up for Marriott's new Plus Points program and earn points for posting about Marriott. Participants can earn up to 2,000 Marriott points per month.  Marriott points can be transferred 4:1 to United miles with the Rewards Plus program discount, the ratio improves the more points are transferred.  Marriott rewards points have a poor value, so I will be transferring my points to United, but waiting for the price breaks.

Earning Methods

100% Bonus US Airways Purchased Miles - Again

US Airways is offering 100% bonus on purchased miles this month.  They run this promotion every other month because it does really well.  They collect money up front in exchange for something later.  I trust their redemption costs are less than the miles price they quote, plus they benefit from the float on the cash.  People can buy a business class ticket to Europe or Asia (100,000 miles) for $1,750 plus taxes and fees.  That's a good price compared to advertised prices for US Airways and their oneworld partners.  I recommend against putting down money without a plan to use the miles quickly because US Airways runs this promotion all the time and award price changes can happen at any time without notice and reduce the value of the miles.

US Airways' Airbus Collection at CLT

Southwest AirTran Miles Program Merger Update

Rapid Rewards will be the single frequent flyer program for the merged AirTran and Southwest (the 737 will be the single aircraft and Southwest will be the single brand too).  The AirTran A+ program's final day will be November 1, 2014.  To ease the IT transition, AirTran is sending emails offering 750 Rapid Rewards points (about $10.71 in flight value) to confirm their guess at what your AirTran and Southwest numbers are.  Keep you eyes peeled for the email and free points.

Southwest And AirTran Moving Closer

Window Seats - From 9 to 4

Good luck grabbing a window seat for your flight. The Boeing 787 has only four windows for the flight deck, the older MD-80 has nine. Just an interesting comparison for Friday.

4 Flight Deck Windows on the 787

9 Flight Deck Windows on the MD-80

Last Flight of a Lufthansa 737-300

Lufthansa Cargo today posted a link to their flight radar map showing all the Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo flights in air.  I clicked on a few flights and then found LH9924 from Bangor to Tulsa.  This is the final flight for the aircraft D-ABXY because Lufthansa sends their old 737's there to be scrapped.  It's sad to see an aircraft's final flight after years of faithful service.  I flew a Lufthansa 737-300 last year from FRA to GVA and the aircraft felt up to the task.  Sorry to see this one go.

Last Flight For This Lufthansa 737-300

Frontier Moves to A La Carte Pricing

Frontier was sold last year to the company that turned around Spirit Airlines and then sold it for large pile of money.  Frontier’s parent company seems to be trying that model again by making Frontier into a new Spirit.  They will still not offer perks to people buying tickets purchased anywhere but flyfrontier.com, but now those tickets come with less.  The full fare Classic Plus is unchanged and now there is only one other option, Economy.  The Economy ticket price includes your flight and one personal item that will fit under the seat. Then, you pay for the add-on choices you want, such as:  1st Checked bag – from $20 (just $15 if you join Frontier’s Discount Den), Carry-on bag – from $25 (just $20 if you join Frontier’s Discount Den), 2nd Checked bag – from $30, Ability to choose your seat starting at $3 on every flight.

Frontier Moving Closer to Ultra Low Cost Status

Frontier's Discount Den (sounds like Spirit’s $9 Fare Club): Together with these changes, we are introducing Frontier's Discount Den, a club whose members can receive discount fees on bags and access to ongoing promotional savings opportunities. Frontier's Discount Den members save $5 off their carry-on at time of booking and $5 off their first checked bag at check-in. Membership is free through June 2015 for all EarlyReturns® members, so sign up today. Then, log in to your EarlyReturns account to start saving!