FOXNews.com: Best airlines to cash in on frequently flier miles

FOXNews.com FOX News Network - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Best airlines to cash in on frequently flier miles May 9th 2013, 17:30 Published May 09, 2013 FoxNews.com In a market where budget airlines are jacking up the fees on just about everything from baggage to booze, its good to know that some carriers frequent flier rewards still exist.  But maybe more surprising: It's the value airlines that have the best rewards when it comes into cashing in your frequent flier miles. According to the annual Switchfly Reward Seat Availability Survey Southwest, Airtran (a subsidiary of Southwest) and JetBlue were ranked in the top five airlines best bets for customers successfully booking a ticket by frequent flier miles or points. "Ongoing consolidation and capacity cuts continue to squeeze reward seat availability, and yet frequent flier programs find ways to grow their membership and drive redemption," Daniel Farrar, CEO of Switchfly, said in a release. The fourth annual survey found value airlines have seats available to be booked with frequent flier miles 96 percent of the time--compared to 61.5 percent on larger airlines. At a tie for the bottom are Delta and US Airways at 36.4 percent.  The survey says that value airline have programs with fewer members and a lower inventory of accrued miles, so that's why you typically can get a better chance finding seats. The data, compiled by IdeaWorks, was compiled from surveys of 22 of the largest frequent flier programs operated by airlines around the world.  Here is a listing of how U.S.-based carriers ranked: 1. Southwest 100% 3. Airtran 95% 5. JetBlue 88.6% 8. United 80.0% 13. Alaska 56.4% 17. American 48.6% 20. (tie) Delta/U.S. Airways 36.4% Click here for more on the survey. Related Stories Spirit Airlines switches to non-toll free customer help numbers United to resume 787 flying on May 20 Delta Air Line pop-up restaurant hits Manhattan The ultimate guide to finding the low airfares

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions