Loyalty Register glossary
Frequent flyer program
An airline's loyalty program. Members earn miles or points for flights and partner spending and redeem them for award seats, upgrades and other rewards.
A frequent flyer program is an airline’s loyalty program. Members earn a currency, usually called miles or points, when they fly or spend with the airline’s partners, and they redeem it for award flights, cabin upgrades and other rewards. Most programs also run elite status tiers that give frequent travelers benefits such as priority boarding, extra baggage or lounge access.
Updated · By Loyalty Register Editorial TeamRelated terms
How do members earn miles?
Earning used to depend mainly on the distance flown. Many large airlines now credit miles by ticket price instead, which is called revenue based earning. Delta SkyMiles, for example, gives general members 5 miles per dollar on Classic and Refundable fares and up to 11 miles per dollar for its top status level, counting the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges but not government taxes and fees. Members can also earn on partner airlines, co-brand credit cards, hotels, car rentals and shopping portals. For many programs, that non-flight earning is a large share of all miles issued.
How do award redemptions work?
The airline decides how many miles an award seat costs and how many seats it releases for awards. Some programs publish an award chart with fixed prices by route and cabin. Others price awards dynamically, so the cost in miles moves with the cash fare. In both cases, availability matters as much as price: a low published price is only useful if seats are actually released at that price. Members can usually redeem on partner airlines too, under rules set by the program.
Why does a frequent flyer program matter to the airline’s finances?
Every mile issued is a promise of a future flight or upgrade, so the airline defers part of the revenue and carries the unredeemed balance as a liability until members redeem or the miles expire. Programs also earn cash by selling miles to partners, especially co-brand card issuers, who buy them to reward their own customers. For large airlines, those partner sales can be a major source of revenue in their own right.
What should you watch when designing or comparing one?
Look at the full chain rather than the headline earn rate:
- How many miles a typical member earns per dollar, from flying and from partners.
- What an award actually costs, and how often seats are released at that price.
- Whether miles expire, and on what schedule.
- Which activity counts toward status, and whether partner flights count.
A program that raises earn rates but tightens award availability has not become more generous. Read earning and redemption together, and track how both change over time.