Rapid Travel Chai

In my inbox landed press releases from Alaska Airlines and Delta:

• Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program once again named No. 1 loyalty program by U.S. News & World Report
• Delta SkyMiles named a Best Travel Rewards program by U.S. News for 2017-2018

Let’s see, what airline is more likely to be making a bogus claim?

Ding, ding, ding, D for Delta.

Delta SkyMiles is the top U.S. global airline^* loyalty program in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017-2018 Best Travel Rewards Programs ranking.

The tip-off is the asterisk where Delta creates its own award category: *U.S. global carrier is defined as U.S. carriers offering intercontinental flights: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

Alaska was again #1. Though I doubt it is worth digging into the quality of this award, Delta moved from #9 last year to #2.

Alaska flies from the US to Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico, by the way.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has extensive international partnerships and even awards elite-qualifying miles on supposed Delta partner Korean Air, which Delta does not. Alaska does not need government protectionism is the form a joint venture to provide the basic expectations of their members with regard to partners.