I am doing some research on what would be a perfect frequent flyer program for a low cost carrier. Any ideas on what would make a decent program for you?

I thought the idea of low cost was to get you from A to B without any frills ?? so why would they offer miles.

Well, Southwest and JetBlue have a kind of a FF program, but I wouldn't say it's too good

Perfect when judged against what criteria? Most of the answers you will get here will represent the wish-lists of frequent flyers. Some will judge from the perspective of helping the airline. It's not clear from your post which you are seeking.

Let's look at it from the airline's perspective. The goal is to reduce competition by locking in the customer i.e. to incent the customer to choose one's airline even if another airline offers more convenient service or a lower price.

What can a low cost airline offer? Obviously not upgrades. Obviously, free tickets. Other things would include elite status allowing conveniences such as rule waivers, special check-in queues, special reservations number, extra baggage allowance, recognition, etc.

Wish listing is fine. That is what I am trying to pull together. Many travellers avoid the LCC's because they are not "rewarded" for flying them. So what I am trying to figure out is what is a reasonable wish list of how you would like to be rewarded.

Flying Buffalo Club

http://www.greatplainsairlines.com/frequent.asp

I'm not a big fan of Southwest, but for the LCC, it would seem they do have a very good program. It's very simple so as not to confuse travelers...no worrying about miles, fare classes, capacity controls, etc. Basically, one flight = 1 credit; get 16 credits and receive a free trip. Southwest's program delivers free trips and nothing but free trips. This may not be the most appealing thing to most FlyerTalkers, but for Southwest's market of price-conscious, relatively infrequent flyers, it is ideal.

The one drawback I can see is the one year expiration of credits. While not a problem for frequent flyers, infrequent flyers may have a difficult time accumulating 16 credits in one year. Thus, they never have a reachable goal and would tend to be less loyal. Granted, they don't take many flights anyway, but I would think an LCC would still want to encourage loyalty. Of course, these customers are perhaps focused only on price and thus wouldn't fly the LCC even if credits did not expire.

The most important aspect to me would be the ability to upgrade so I can sit in the F cabin...

Southwest's program is perfect for those who pay for their own tickets with their own money. For example, you can buy 4 round trips on-line for $75 each and earn an unrestricted free ticket (round trip or 2 one-ways) worth nearly the $300 you spent. No other program approaches this level of generosity.

The only serious downside is that Southwest awards won't take you to Hawaii or Europe. But their fares and generous FF program will save you enough money to pay for that trip yourself!

I think this is potentially a very serious problem. 16 credits per year is indeed quite a lot to ask for an infrequent traveler. Thus, an infrequent traveler may be able to get a reward with a regular airline after three (or more) years of flying, but possibly never with a LCC. At least regular airline miles almost never expire.

I think "incremental" rewards (such as one-way flights of companion flights) would alleviate this problem quite a bit. (IIRC, AirTran program allows (or used to allow, before the recent changes) one-way awards and one-way upgrades.)

Many of the occasional LCC customers are loyal because of perceived price alone. I say perceived because I can think of several people who blindly book at southwest.com without comparing prices "because they're cheaper and those majors are more expensive."

Obviously, the LCC's do a good job marketing.

If you fly enough on WN you can take a guest for free on every paid and free trip you take. Hard to beat that!

This is the exact reason I no longer fly SouthWest.

Whenever in the bay area I would fly OAK-RNO, OAK-LAS, and OAK-ONT on WN. Short flights.

Last year I needed only two points to get a free ticket but was stuck in Oz until after the qualification date expired. I lost enough points to give up flying WN altogether.

From now on I'll stick with the majors because at least my miles won't expire.

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Latitudes.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel�s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850�1894)

Just like all of the other airlines, WN does have several deals with partners. So there is probably something you can do to earn another credit or two to avoid losing a free ticket. For the last two years I have earned a companion pass for my wife. Using a combination of credits from a WN Visa card, car rentals, hotels, MCI phone usuage, etc., we have earned over 100 credits each year. My 5-7 free tickets each year are doubled since my wife flies for free. True, no entertainment, meals, special lines, etc., but free tickets are nice. WN doesn't go to Hawaii, but we use RR tickets to the coast and pick up cheaper fares there, upgrade with miles and fly FC to the islands twice a year. Works for some and not others.

I dunno if Frontier is technically a LCC, but it's a one-cabin airline. The neat thing about their program is you can use miles for rental cars, a hotel or two, or ski lift tickets. A free ticket is 15K.