Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan Named the Best Frequent Flyer Program

• WalletHub released its annual report looking at the best frequent flyer programs.
• The No. 1 domestic carrier is the Alaska Mileage Plan from Alaska Airlines.

It’s a big decision as a traveler to pick which airline you want to stay loyal to for all your trips to come. After all, staying true to one airline could help you rack up serious points, which, in turn, could score you free flights and upgrades. But which one should you choose? Don’t worry. WalletHub has the answer.

The website released its report on 2025’s Best Frequent Flyer Programs, which ranked the 10 largest domestic airlines and their programs. It determined the rankings by using “publicly available information and company policies posted online.” Then, it created three distinct consumer profiles to “illustrate how programs compare across spending levels.” 

Next, it compared the airlines across 21 key metrics, including the value of a point/mile, blackout dates, and the number of both domestic and international destinations. After gathering all the intel, it named Alaska Airlines the top dog.

“Alaska Mileage Plan is the best frequent flyer program of 2025, topping the list for the second year in a row and narrowly beating out United MileagePlus for the overall title,” WalletHub shared in its findings. 

It’s followed up by United Airlines’ MileagePlus program in second, with Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles, Hawaiian Airlines’ HawaiianMiles, and American Airlines’ AAdvantage rounding out the top five. 

However, it’s key to note that airlines are starting to restrict just how many rewards travelers can get. As the study’s findings stated, “Only 3 of the 10 largest airlines are offering more rewards value in 2025 than in 2024. On average, the top 10 airlines are offering 5 percent less value than they did last year.” 

And that means it’s all the more important for travelers to consider who they want to fly with now and well into the future. 

“Many people are going to travel this year whether they can afford it or not, but saving money is always better, and enough savings cobbled together could mean the difference between a staycation and a real getaway this summer,” Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub, shared. “That’s where frequent flyer programs come into play, as membership can save you an average of 8 percent on airfare, and you can earn miles even when doing things like dining or shopping with partners.”

Lupo added that travelers may have to look a bit harder to find the Goldilocks program for them but noted that “the potential savings are worth it, especially if you get the best credit card affiliated with your airline of choice.” 

There is one more way you can find the right frequent flyer program for you, and that’s via WalletHub’s custom calculator that allows travelers to personalize their results.