»»Best Airlines for Frequent-Flier Award Seats Availability
Southwest is the best airline in the U.S. for the availability of standard frequent-flier award tickets, a study by consulting firm IdeaWorks revealed.
The study showed that Southwest Airlines could fulfill 99.3% of requests for award seats requiring standard mileage levels.
The worst results among the U.S. airlines were from US Airways — matching IdeaWorks’ requests 10.7% of the time — and Delta’s success — 12.9%.
Alaska Airlines has a good record with success rate around 75 %.
Outside the U.S., Air Canada, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines were among the most generous.
- About the study
IdeaWorks made 6,160 queries at 22 airline websites—280 seat requests at each airline. The firm tested long routes and shorter trips under 2,500 miles in big markets. At most airlines, it had greater success with shorter routes. The requests were made in February and March for travel in June through October. (source)
