Award Redemption Availability: Comparing the Big Three

A recent IdeaWorks Study came out that ranks the major airlines according to their award seat availability.  Of the major US Airlines, United ranked the highest at 68.6%, American was 57.9% and Delta finished at a terrible 12.9% just above the smaller US Airways at 10.7%.  This study has lead many to believe that Delta’s SkyMiles have been devalued into SkyPesos, but that is not necessarily the case.  This study is seriously flawed, and I’ll show you why.

First of all, what are they qualifying as an award seat?  Did you know that award seats are available on every single non-sold out flight?  You just need to pay the unrestricted mileage fee of 50,000 miles on United or American, or 60,000 miles on Delta or US Air and you can get an award seat on any plane, anywhere in the US as long as the flight isn’t sold out.  If you’re booking a last minute holiday fare that would’ve cost you $1,500, these tickets can deliver great value.

The report doesn’t say so, but I assume they are only counting the 25,000 mile Saver Awards.  If that is the case, then Delta and US Air would naturally fall to the bottom because they have a mult-tiered point structure as opposed to a two tier system like all of the other US airlines.  On American and United, if the 25,000 mile seat isn’t available then you’ll have to pay 50,000 miles to get an award ticket.  On Delta and US Air you may be able to get that ticket for 35,000, or 40,000, or 45,000 points.  They offer less of the deep discount 25,000 mile tickets, but much more options overall.  The IdeaWorks report doesn’t take that into account.

To get a clear view of how these programs work, let’s look at some specific examples.  I have looked up how many miles it would take me to travel the same route, on the same days when flying economy in the United States on Delta, American, and United.  The first flight I chose is LAX – JFK nonstop leaving Friday November 4^th, 2011 and coming back Friday November 11, 2011.  I chose these dates because they were 10 months out and should have maximum award availability.  Here’s what I found:

American Airlines:

• Award Type: American award tickets can be booked as one-way or round-trip tickets at two different mileage thresholds.  Economy saver tickets require 25,000 miles round trip.  Otherwise, you must use 50,000 miles round-trip for an unrestricted award.
• Availability:  There were 11 nonstop flights from LAX to JFK and saver tickets were available on 8 of the 11 flights.  On the return trip from JFK to LAX saver tickets were available on 7 of the 11 return flights.
• Conclusion:  15 of 22 flights = 68% Saver Award Availability.

United Airlines:

• Award Type:  United award tickets are the same as American.  You can book one-way awards and they have two tiers of 25,000 miles for a round-trip saver ticket and 50,000 miles for an unrestricted ticket.
• Availability:  Out of 6 nonstop flights both ways, United had saver tickets available on 5 of the outbound flights and all 6 of the return flights.
• Conclusion:  11 of 12 flights = 92% Saver Award Availability.

Delta Airlines:

• Award Type:  Delta has a multi-tiered system where the best saver awards are also 25,000 miles.  If saver tickets aren’t available then awards can be booked at different values up to a maximum unrestricted ticket value of 60,000 miles.  However, with Delta you cannot book one way tickets, which means you need saver fares to be available for both the outbound and the return trip in order to get the discount.
• Availability: Delta had saver availability on 2 of the 7 outbound flights, and 3 of the 7 return tickets.
• Conclusion: Since you can’t do one way tickets, only 2 out of 7 = 29% Saver Award Availability.

The data would seem to indicate that Delta has indeed devalued its currency and that American and United have superior availability.  Not so fast, though!  Before we rush to judgment, let’s remember that these flights are booked 10 months in advance with a lot of daily non-stop’s which make saver awards are more prevalent.  Let’s check a closer flight date with more restricted routing to compare. We’ll check three days out from today going from New York to Miami for the weekend of Friday January 7^th till Sunday January 9^th.

• American: You can get to Miami on a one-way saver ticket, but there are no saver tickets on the return, so you’ll pay a total of 37,500 miles.
• United: There are no saver seats available either way so the ticket costs 50,000 miles.
• Delta: There are no saver tickets, but one flight combination is available for 32,500 miles, and 4 other flight combinations are available for 42,500 miles.

Now you can see the strengths and weaknesses of each program.  American and United tend to have more saver seats available, but when they book up you’ll have to throw in an extra 25,000 miles per round-trip.  Delta has the flexibility to cost less than 50,000 miles on more crowded flights, but they can also sting you up to 60,000 miles on the really full routes.  So what do you make of all this?

Here are my recommendations.  If you only want to use 25,000 miles for a ticket, I would direct my mileage earning efforts with United and American.  They will give you more opportunities within that threshold.  If you tend to make later decisions and don’t mind coughing up some extra miles to cover a more expensive ticket, then Delta’s SkyMiles program is still compelling.  Just make sure to save up your emergency fund quickly in whichever program you choose.