A lot of my content is geared towards the 5 major US airline frequent flyer programs (American, Continental, Delta, United, US Airways). Collectively, they have millions of members and constitute a majority of domestic flights.
However, many frequent flyers have been switching to low cost carriers (like Southwest and AirTran) and boutique carriers (like Virgin America and JetBlue). Note: I refuse to call JetBlue and Virgin America low cost carriers, because their fares are routinely more expensive than legacy airlines and they generally provide better service (like a boutique hotel).
Understanding their frequent flyer programs become challenging, because they all have different currencies, whether its miles, points, or credits earned for each flight. In general, they are not distance based like the legacy carriers, but more flight and revenue based.
This week, I will highlight two different programs each day and add them to my scorecard section of my site (which will be rich with content by the end of the month), which will continually be updated as airlines enhance/devalue their programs. At the end of the week, I’ll rank them based on 1) flexibility 2) ability to earn/redeem 3) Value of awards
The Schedule-
Monday- Southwest Rapid Rewards, Sun Country UFly Rewards
Tuesday- JetBlue TrueBlue, Spirit FreeSpirit
Wednesday- Virgin America Elevate, Midwest Miles
Thursday- AirTran A+ Rewards, Frontier EarlyReturns
Friday- WestJet Dollars, Porter VIPorter for all of my Canadian points junkies 
I understand this list does not cover every non-legacy airline, so if you’d like me to cover another program, feel free to comment below.
I look forward to showing love to some of the red-headed step children of frequent flyer programs!
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.
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