With 42% of Americans planning to take a vacation in 2017, business travel spending expected to grow by about 4% year over year and credit card debt levels exploding, we can expect airfare savings to be increasingly important in the months ahead. In order to help travelers make the best decisions for their wallets, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2017’s Best Frequent Flyer Programs, which ranks the 11 largest domestic airlines based on 23 key metrics, ranging from the value of a point/mile to blackout dates for rewards flights.
WalletHub’s report also features a custom calculator that allows users to personalize the results based on their own budgets.
- Delta SkyMiles is the best frequent flyer program for the second straight year.
- Hawaiian Airlines offers the most rewards value per $1 spent ($0.21), with Alaska Airlines coming in a close second ($0.20).
- Three of the 10 largest airlines offered more rewards in 2017 than in 2016, sweetening the pot by an average of 40%.
- Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways are the only two major airlines whose miles do not expire because of inactivity.
- The Frontier Airlines Credit Card and the Platinum
