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What is the best frequent flyer program out there?

Which airline has the best frequent flyer program? I will be flying from Portland, OR (PDX) to Irvine, CA (SNA) frequently. My options are Delta, Alaska, and American Airlines.

  • It's about a 1,000 mile flight each way. I will be flying once a month and stay in Irvine for a week. A round trip ticket costs around $200. Please recommend an airline that has the best frequent flyer program for me. I need to buy tickets soon! As I mentioned, these airlines have non-stop flights from PDX to Irive (orange county): Delta, Alaska airlines and American airlines. Thanks

  • Answer:

    This is actually one area where checking Wikipedia is very useful. Let's see where those 3 airlines fly to direct from PDX: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_International_Airport) Alaska Airlines: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Kahului, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Washington-National American Airlines: Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth Delta: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Tokyo-Narita Already seems very friendly to Alaska Airlines & Delta, no? Remember, though, Alaska Airlines has codeshares with both Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines, so the real list looks like: Alaska Airlines: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Kahului, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Washington-National, Boise, Eugene, Fresno, Medford, Oakland, Pasco, Redmond/Bend, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Seattle/Tacoma, Spokane, Vancouver, Burbank, Long Beach, Ontario, Tuscon American Airlines: Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth Delta: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Tokyo-Narita, Los Angeles I'm a die-hard American Airlines fan, but to be honest, if your travel is going to be based out of Portland (PDX), Alaska Airlines is a no-brainer. Note that Mileage Plan (http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan.aspx) has partnerships with a lot of strong airlines: AeroMexico, Air France, Air Pacific, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta Aiar Lines, Emirates, Era Alaska, KLM, Korean Air, LAN, Mokulele Airlines, PenAir and Qantas. If you're in the Northwest, Alaska Air is likely going to be the smartest. Delta and American simply don't have enough coverage for you to get much use out of them without having to make a lot of connections.

John Fernandez at Quora Visit the source

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Other answers

A lot of this depends on your specifics.  For example, if you fly business class, Delta offers more credits to non elite people than either of the other two.  Alaska only has one option for a credit card that earns miles, but it gives you more miles per dollar.  But both Delta and American offer more options.  They differ in fees, expiration and hotel partners.  The details of how you use your plan changes which one is best.   This is a good way to compare all three plans side-by-side: http://frequent-flyer.findthebest.com/compare/2-4-5/AAdvantage-vs-Mileage-Plan-vs-SkyMiles

Miguel Valdespino

In addition to the excellent answers you've already received, I'd consider what other travel you'll be doing, and if you'll be using hotel programs. American is the larger program (one of the leaders in the field) and right now, they treat their elite members better than almost anyone. However, Alaska has a better in-flight product (service, food, etc.). American will give you a lot to do with the miles you earn, arguably more than Alaska. Whatever you do, don't choose Delta. ;-)

Eric Mueller

If you join American's AAdvantage program, you can fly on Alaska, earn American points, and then use your award miles to travel anywhere in the OneWorld network of destinations, which is basically anywhere in the world.

Tony Wasserman

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