I totally agree with Matt-- it is hard to determine the objectivity of this magazine in naming the winners of the Freddies. Please don't get me wrong. I think InsideFlyer is a great travel magazine, however, since the publishers accept advertising from airlines, hotels, etc., the revenue earned on these advertisements might have some effect on what the magazine publishes. A good example is the continued praise of InsideFlyer on CO's FF program. They rarely mention (yes, they do mention it sometimes) that it is hard to redeem the awards and that the mileage requirements are a bit high. Another example is the absence of SQ comments in InsideFlyer issues. By all means, please correct me if I am wrong, but I have not seen InsideFlyer feature or comment on SQ.

I also agree with baobab's suggestion of assigning a numerical grade for each program. I think it better reflects the quality of a program. For example, if CO wins best elite level program with a score of 6.0, it gives both the airline and FF a more accurate gauge on where the program stands-- in this case, a 6.0 would be "mediocre."

In addition to baobab's suggestion, I would also like to see all the scores adjusted on a curve. This will be interesting esp. when grading US airlines against non-US carriers.