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The Starwood brand encompasses the following 9 brands: Sheraton, Four Points, the W, Aloft, The Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, Westin Hotels, Element, and St. Regis.
Since PlasticIQ is endeavoring to determine the value of the numerous airline frequent flyer programs in existence, it’s critical that we establish standards to enable a fair, apples-to-apples comparison amongst the various programs.
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Flying Club is the name of Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program. And Richard Branson is the name of their founder and CEO. And he is my idol. Hmm, where was I…Oh yes, one of the challenges of valuing miles from this program is that mileage requirements for free flights vary by specific departure location, requiring a more city-to-city analysis. If you just want to learn more about the program, read our post, Summary of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Program.
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Mileage Plus is the frequent flyer program from United. Awards are classified as either Saver or Standard. As you might surmise, Saver Awards require less miles to obtain, but come with blackout dates and capacity control restrictions, whereas Standard Awards do not. Note that United is a member of the Star Alliance (a partnership of more than 20 airlines aimed at extending their collective global footprint).
US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance (not to be confused with the Rebel Alliance), a network of 21 member airlines that have partnered to offer service to virtually any location on the planet where folks actually fly to. In assessing the value of their frequent flyer program, known as Dividend Miles, we consider both the US Air and Star Alliance redemption schedules.
Note: this post addresses the older version of the SWA Rapid Rewards program which is no longer offered. Unless you are an airline historian, you should really be reading our new post, “How Much Are Southwest Airlines Points Actually Worth?“.
To earn a Standard Award good for one free roundtrip ticket on Southwest Airlines requires 16 credits. You earn 1 credit for each one-way leg of a trip. So, 8 round-trip flights would earn you a free Standard Award from the Rapid Rewards Program.
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Members of AirTran Airways A+ Rewards program earn credits for flight segments. And of course you can earn more credits if you use the AirTran Airways A+ Visa Card. PlasticIQ has attempted to estimate the monetary value of a single AirTran Airways A+ credit.
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In order for PlasticIQ to accurately rank the dozens of credit cards with frequent flyer programs, it is necessary to calculate the dollar value per mile for each of these programs. We have written numerous articles about each, but below is a table which summarizes our estimated values for each program along with a link to a more detailed posting.
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The Continental OnePass frequent flyer program offers both SaverPass and EasyPass fares for many global destinations. SaverPass fares require far fewer miles to obtain flights, but suffer from limited availability. Conversely, EasyPass fares, while requiring significantly more miles, have no availability restrictions.
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