Navigating Airline Loyalty Programs

A few of my frequent flier accounts.

One of the travel questions I’m asked most frequently is how to take advantage of airline loyalty programs. Most loyalty programs are pretty confusing, with pages of terms, conditions, and restrictions. While they all serve the same general purpose, to reward you for traveling with them, the actual mechanism of these programs, when it comes to turning your paid flights into free ones, can differ pretty significantly. To make matters worse every airline has their own program, and code share agreements and airline alliances mean that many of these programs overlap.

The goal of this post is not to be an exhaustive source on all airline loyalty programs worldwide, but rather, to be a guide on how to set yourself up to start using these programs most effectively. While frequent fliers will definitely benefit the most from these programs, you don’t need to be one to benefit.

Table of Contents:

• The Goods
• Code Sharing and Airline Alliances
• How to Choose
• TL;DR

The Goods

If you aren’t really aware of airline loyalty programs you might be wondering why you should even bother with them, what exactly do you get out of it? The obvious reward is free flights. All of these programs offer methods for redeeming points or miles for free travel on their airline or their partners. However, the exact method for redemption can vary greatly and is best left for another post. The amount you need to claim a free flight also varies. However, on many major US airlines the minimum for redemption is around 25,000 miles for domestic flights, and as much as 100,000 miles for international flights. Another option for using miles on flights is free upgrades. While these seem attractive, unless you are paying full fare economy, odds are your flight is not eligible for these types of upgrades.

If you are flying a significant amount on one airline or airline alliance (see below) then you might get enough miles or points to qualify for elite status. Elite status benefits, like all other aspects of these programs, vary by airline, but usually include things like priority boarding, check-in, and extra baggage allowances. Depending on what level of elite status you get to, other perks may include free upgrades, bonus miles, waved fees, and lounge access.

The American Airlines Admirals Club at San Francisco. Source: American Airlines Press Media Library

If you don’t fly enough to get elite status, and you don’t have enough miles for a free ticket you can usually still use your miles for other things. Free magazine subscriptions, hotel stays, car rentals, and shopping are some of the ways airlines may let you redeem your miles. Others may even allow you to transfer them to other (non-airline) loyalty programs. If not, sites like Points.com will help you exchange them. Keep in mind that the exchange rates on these sites are pretty bad.

If you fly very rarely you should know that miles, in most cases, do expire (notably NOT Delta Sky Miles). You’ll need to have some activity (earning or redeeming) on your account to keep your miles. I’ve usually received a voucher for a free magazine to get activity on my account before my miles expire.

Code Sharing and Airline Alliances

There is no one airline that travels everywhere. While many airline networks may be expansive, they are all limited to some degree. In order to compensate for this, airlines have developed code share agreements and airline alliances which extend their network for customers, and decrease competition (antitrust concerns have come up several times, but exemptions are usually given). Generally speaking, code share agreements allow one airline to place their flight number on a flight operated by another airline. Customers book the flight as though they are flying on airline 1, but it is actually operated by airline 2. From a loyalty program standpoint it is as if they are flying on airline 1. While this can be confusing, it allows customers to book their entire routing at once, rather than make separate reservations on each airline.

Airline alliances take this even further, offering a much deeper integration. Alliances try to operate in the same terminal for easy transfers, and offer reciprocal benefits (lounges, baggage allowances, priority check-in and boarding, etc) to loyalty program members among other things. There are three airline alliances SkyTeam,  oneworld, and Star Alliance. If you join a loyalty program with any member in an alliance, then you can earn and redeem miles with any other alliance member airline. You need, at most, 3 loyalty programs to cover your travel on 50+ airlines.

If you have two memberships in the same column in the chart above, then you are unnecessarily splitting your miles, and making it harder to cash in. You should check out the benefits of the programs you have in the same column, keep the one you fly the most or gets you the best benefits, and ditch the others (use the points or transfer them using a third-party site).

If an airline you fly isn’t listed here, then it has decided not to join an alliance. Many in this category are not small airlines (Southwest, JetBlue, Emirates, Ryanair, etc). In most cases, in order to get miles from flying these airlines you’ll need to join their own loyalty program. Sometimes these programs have their own agreements with other airlines that cross alliances. So, if you use any of these airlines a lot, it might be worth looking into what partnerships they have, and seeing if one of these programs would cover most of you travel. For example, Emirates Skywards members can earn and redeem on Japan Airlines, jetBlue, Korean Air, and more. There are also some cases where aligned airlines have code share or other agreements with non-aligned airlines. For instance, Delta Airlines owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, so Delta Sky Miles members can earn and redeem miles on Virgin Atlantic, and vice versa.

How to Choose

If you fly to specific destinations regularly you’ve probably already noticed one or two airlines that you fly more often than most. When I flew regularly to Ithaca, NY there was only one airline, US Airways, that had reasonable fares to Ithaca from my home airport. So, I signed up with them, and used their account for all my travel on their alliance (which at the time was Star Alliance, now oneworld). Start with the airlines (or choose one if they belong to the same  alliance) you fly the most, join these programs, and sign up for new ones only when you cannot collect points using the programs you already have.

If you don’t fly regularly and don’t have any loyalty programs now, then sign up for one on the next airline you fly. Then follow the rule above, sign up for new ones only when you cannot collect points using the programs you already have.

TL;DR

You can use airline loyalty programs to get free flights, upgrades, stuff, etc.
You need at most 1 membership on each of the 3 alliances + membership on a non-aligned airline if you can’t get points with a program you already have.
Sign up with airlines you actually fly, before you fly with them.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive guide, check out The Points Guy.