Best & worst frequent flyer programs

Raphael Thomadsen, associate professor of marketing at the Olin Business School, along with 15 other hospitality and consumer experts, have analyzed the nation’s best frequent flier programs for the credit card comparison website CardHub.com.

They studied CardHub.com’s data on frequent flier programs at the nation’s 10 largest domestic airlines using 23 metrics, including miles restrictions, membership perks and global partnerships. When the numbers were crunched, JetBlue came out on top for frequent fliers, while Delta’s program was most popular with less seasoned travelers.

Thomadsen

Thomadsen

“These programs affect behavior a lot. They are well crafted to both exponentially reward loyalty and to exploit the difference in incentives of workers — who fly and get the benefits — and employers, who pay more for the tickets, but get no additional benefits,” Thomadsen said.

Thomadsen says there’s no doubt airline rewards programs influence customers, and the people who reap the benefits most often seem to be those who travel for work.

“On average, passengers who do a significant amount of their flying through work benefit tremendously: these people get free flights and perks that they don’t pay for. Further, the airlines have an incentive to really invest in quality for these passengers in a way that would not be profitable if they had to provide the benefits to all fliers. The losers in this calculation may be larger corporations (and their shareholders) who spend more on air travel,” Thomadsen said.

To see the entire analysis, visit CardHub.com.

By Erika Ebsworth-Goold, WashU The Source

Image: Lynn Friedman, Vintage Leather Suitcase with Travel Stickers, Creative Commons, Flickr

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