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How TPG Readers Ranked the Best US Airline Loyalty Programs
Nick Ewen
Senior editorial director
Nick Ewen is TPG's senior editorial director and helps readers leverage credit cards (he has 23 of them) and loyalty programs to travel more for less. He's been at TPG for over 11 years.
Dec. 09, 2018
•
2 min read
How TPG Readers Ranked the Best US Airline Loyalty Programs
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Tuesday Dec. 4 was an incredible moment for The Points Guy, as we hosted the inaugural TPG Awards on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Musuem. The night featured a live performance by Grammy-nominated Bebe Rexha plus special tributes to Captain "Sully" Sullenberger and Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee — in addition to honoring the best airlines, hotel programs and credit cards.
We released the full list of TPG Awards winners the morning after the show, but we wanted to give our readers a closer look at how the final voting fell for each category. Remember, the winners in all categories (aside from the best airline cabins) were chosen entirely by readers using a secured Google poll.
Here's a look at the nominees for best US airline loyalty program placed in order from most votes to fewest. Without any further ado...
- Delta SkyMiles
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
- American AAdvantage
- Alaska Mileage Plan
- JetBlue TrueBlue
This was one of the closest votes in all of the awards, with the top two vote-getters separated by less than 1%. In the end, despite not publishing award charts and a slew of devaluations over the last few years, Delta SkyMiles took home the top spot. It's likely that the frequent award sales in 2018 helped with this (like 10,000 miles for round-trip domestic flights and 50,000 miles for round-trip flights to Australia), though just two days after the awards, the program did start rolling out Basic Economy on award tickets. This decidedly customer-unfriendly move may doom the carrier's chances at defending its title next year if it's expanded across the carrier's entire network, opening the door for an airline like Southwest (selected as TPG's best airline for families earlier this year) to dethrone Delta in 2019.
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- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
Apply for Capital One Venture X Business
at Capital One's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees
Best for businesses with high spending
TPG Editor‘s Rating
Go to reviewCard Rating is based on the opinion of TPG‘s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.
Rewards Rate
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro Offer
Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
$395Recommended Credit
Credit ranges are a variation of FICO® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.740-850Excellent
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month