Airlines / Frequent Flyer Programs: The good, the so-so, and the ugly

An earlier blog post detailed heroic feats of airline reward redemption: leaping across multiple rewards programs, bounding over unaccompanied minor restrictions, and otherwise gaining cross-country access for peanuts!

And then everything was shattered when I had to change my tickets.  This let me see how well each of the rewards programs faired in handling booking changes.  This leads me to my list of good, so-so, and ugly:

Let’s start with the ugly: Delta.  I think its kinda neat that I booked $70 flights from LAX to SLC.  Then when I wanted to change the flights they were willing to do so for $200 per ticket.  I’d rather pay a bit more for Southwest and get better customer service.

Now the so-so: american airlines earns my so-so category.  They didnt really provide any way to change my existing flight, much like delta. However they have otherwise great service, and some of the best reward travel coverage available; I can always find an AA flight, even through avios.

Which brings me to my winners, the good guys: Southwest and Avios!  I must first say southwest is my all around favorite: TWO free checked bags, NO fees when changing flights.  Awesome.

And Avios deserves a good apology from this author.  I was able to use only 13500 points to book a one-way flight for three of my family members from LAX to SLC.  That same thing would have taken over 30k points on something like southwest or aa.  It turns out that if you aren’t bounding from coast to coast avios is a powerful tool to have in your points chest.  Its fantastic for those short-haul trips.

There ye have it.

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