Here is the ranking list of Airlines
1 AA
2 NW
3 Alaska
4 DL
5 US
6 CO
7 UA
8 America West

I dont understand why UA is so low?

America West made it that high

Or were they ranking only 8 airlines?

Exactly... UA should be up, along with NW & AA.

post deleted 'cause I didnt read far enuf

UA ranked below DL and CO really undermines the credibility of this ranking.

CR is all about "value," which often coincides with low price/cost/outlay. You get nowhere with DL or CO with low fares.

And with CO, award redemption is a squeakfart of a joke.

And if you read the fine print, it says they are not to be quoted on the internet...

So -- this thread is probably in violation of their copyright notice too

AA ranks highest because it delivers what is promised. You want to book an award, you can usually get it.

CO should be happy it didn't land at the bottom. Nonepass awards = low rating.

UA's ranking is a bit of a mystery. I've rarely had problems booking award tix on UA. Perhaps it gets dinged for being in bankruptcy - there is definitely a higher risk factor to maintaining a high mileage balance with UA.

Hard to evaluate CR's methodology without seeing the story. It is often less than scientific.

Addendum: I just noticed that WN is missing! The recent changes in Rapid Rewards have definitely devalued the program, but to leave the only major profitable carrier off the list is bizarre. Same for JetBlue.

You are right. I missed # 9 and 10 which are under the heading of low cost carriers and they are WN and now I am not sure perhaps jet blue.

I'm new to this FF thing so I am a little confused about why NW would be 2nd. They seem to have little to nothing available as far as standard award travel goes. Maybe these rankings are based on the upgrades. Could someone who has read the article please enlighten me.

Just the fact that it was Consumer Reports does that.

Sorry, going off-topic here: I go to CR when I have to purchase a big-ticket item (car, refrigerator, etc.) that I know nothing about. Yet, whenever I look at the ratings for something I know a lot about (TVs, hi-fi, cameras) I always end up scratching my head. I know they use purely objective criteria to judge products, and therein lies the rub. Objective or measurable criteria only goes so far when judging modern products due to massive reliance on User Interface and other intangibles.

Carrying this thought back to on OT discussion: how do you appropriately judge a FF program?!? Each program will have a different value to different individuals, depending on what they value when flying. To "rank" FF programs in the guise of any "objective" system is ludicrous.

CR ratings are great for stuff such as detergents where the variables are few and easily measured. I have a real problem when CR rates items such as salsa (a couple months back) or FF programs.

It may be easy to get awards on AA but that alone will not get me back in an AA plane. I left AA because they left me (a business class pax and a top tier elite) stranded at DFW during one stormy night after a long transpacific flight. DL came to my rescue; took my AA ticket; and put me on the next plane back to Houston. AA could have done the same but did not either it was too much trouble or they did not want to loose the revenue. The last time I few AA, I did not even bother to give them my FF number. I rather spend extra hours scoring a CO award ticket than spending extra hours stranded at DFW.

That was a nasty experience. Bottom line is that no one airline is perfect. Soemwhere sometime somehow every airline will goof up with the best of best customers. You go to DL forum and I bet you will find so many horror stories.

Actually, they do mention below the top 8 both Southwest and JetBlue, but as the others were under the heading "traditional," Rapid Rewards and TrueBlue were under the title of "nontraditional." JetBlue was rated higher than Southwest.

I don't know why UA is ranked so low. CO should not be above UA. NonePass is the absolute worst.