The 2013 Freddie Awards: Winners and Reflections

Some look forward to the Oscars. Others the Emmies. But I look forward to the Freddies. Named for the late Sir Freddie Laker, the pioneer of low-cost air travel across the Atlantic in the 1970s, the 25th annual Freddie Awards ceremony was held last night in the upscale Washington suburb of McClean, VA. I was in attendance and came away smiling as usual–it is always great to catch up with old friends and see airlines and hotels recognized for what they do well. As I’ll discuss below, I voted for many of the winners but a few frankly stunned me–clearly, people evaluate loyalty programs differently than I do!

Here’s a list of the 2013 winners from last night–

Program of the Year

• Americas Airline: American Airlines AAdvantage
• Americas Hotel: Marriott Rewards
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Airline: Virgin Australia Velocity
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Hotel: IHG Priority Club Rewards
• Europe/Africa Airline: Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Europe/Africa Hotel: Le Club Accorhotels

Best Promotion

• Americas Airline: American Airlines AAdvantage
• Americas Hotel: Marriott Rewards
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Airline: Jet Airways JetPrivilege
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Hotel: Taj Hotels & Resorts InnerCircle
• Europe/Africa Airline: Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Europe/Africa Hotel: Le Club Accorhotels

Best Redemption Ability

• Americas Airline: AviancaTACA LifeMiles
• Americas Hotel: Marriott Rewards
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Airline: Virgin Australia Velocity
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Hotel: Hyatt Gold Passport
• Europe/Africa Airline: Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Europe/Africa Hotel: Starwood Preferred Guest

Best Customer Service

• Americas Airline: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• Americas Hotel: Marriott Rewards
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Airline: Emirates Skywards
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Hotel: Hyatt Gold Passport
• Europe/Africa Airline: SAS EuroBonus
• Europe/Africa Hotel: IHG Priority Club Rewards

Best Elite Program

• Americas Airline: American Airlines AAdvantage
• Americas Hotel: Hyatt Gold Passport
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Airline: Virgin Australia Velocity
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania Hotel: Hyatt Gold Passport
• Europe/Africa Airline: Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Europe/Africa Hotel: Starwood Preferred Guest

Best Loyalty Credit Card

• Americas: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Card
• Middle East/Asia/Oceania: JetPrivilege HDFC Bank Credit Card
• Europe/Africa: Flying Blue American Express Card

*     *     *

I won’t bore you to death with my evaluations of each winner, but I’ll cover a few. American Airlines did very well, winning the program of the year, best promotion (double EQMs), and best elite program categories for the Americas region. I think all three awards were warranted and hope that as the American-US merger moves along, we will still see American and AAdvantage on the list at future Freddies.

It is still not clear what the future of AA will look like–four tiers? Meal service on 3.5 hour flights? Restrictions on systemwide upgrades? Award routing rule changes? Operating in bankruptcy and doing their utmost not to tick of frequent and loyal flyers, life has been good for elites on American and I hope it stays that way. In my mind, there is no question AA deserved their three Freddies.

I was surprsied that Avianca/TACA LifeMiles won in the best redemption category. Make no mistake, there are very attractive features to its award program–no fuel surcharges, access to Singapore Airlines business class space that other Star carriers (since bmi’s demise) do not have, and miles that are just plain cheap to buy, making aspirational travel possible even for the budget traveler. But try actually booking an award with stops. Mixed cabin awards? Nope. Layovers over eight hours? Nope. Need some help with their call center? Good luck. 

My choice was United Airlines MileagePlus. United won nothing, for they have and continue to alienate travelers with lackluster service, poor cuisine, and onboard connectivity that is far behind the competition. But United does have what I believe is the best loyalty program on the market right now. I fear all the legacies will be going to a revenue-based system in the coming years and MileagePlus will one day add fuel surcharges to redemptions, but right now United’s award charts, Star Alliance partners, generous routing rules, lack of fuel surcharges, and ability to quickly and easily book more award travel online makes it a program much better than even AAdvantage in terms of award redemption.

First class is easier to procure on AA than UA (for AA’s partners British Airways and Cathay Pacific do make generous amounts of space available) and AA allows free routing changes as long as origin and destination remain the same, but AA does not allow routing via Europe to go to Asia or stopovers on round-trip travel other than at American gateway hubs. AA offers standard awards at 2x the price of a saver award and also does not restrict capacity, which is better than United’s policy of restricting capacity for non-United elites or credit card holders and charging sometimes 2.5x as much as a saver award, but try traveling in Europe with UA miles versus AA miles. Then try Africa. Then try Asia. United kicks butt.

Who was missing? Delta Air Lines, the airline I call the anti-Goldilocks airline. Delta has a horrible frequent flyer program for people like me who travel a lot, but tend to travel on cheap fares. Instead, Delta caters toward 1.) high-end travelers who are willing to spend a lot more to get perks like international upgrades that come easy on other legacies and 2.) non-loyal travelers, who Delta treats very well with great service, good IFE, and internet across its fleet. Fly Delta as a “kettle traveler” and you will be impressed–free peanuts, pretzels, and cookies, nice IFE, smiling service: it will make you happy even if you’re sitting in the back not earning elite points. But Delta seems to have given up on that “just right” Goldilocks traveler who is willing to spend a bit more each time to travel on Delta, but wants to be rewarded with certain perks like not having to spend 325,000 miles for a trip to Europe. 

Air France/KLM Flying Blue did well and I give them credit for making generous amounts of award space available to their own members and for clever promotions that include half-off awards between select cities. We will see if their devaluation announcement yesterday will affect their scores next year.

I am a big Hyatt fan with some allegiance to Hilton and it always surprises me that Marriott takes so many awards home each year. Maybe it shouldn’t–I’ve had many perfectly good stays at Marriott hotels over the years (though few memorable) and the chain, and their various brands, have a strong presence all over the world. But people seem to like their program and in terms of actual redemption, Gary makes the argument that Marriott is better than most.

Ok, I’ll stop here. Congrats to all the winners! (and a big thanks to Gary, Tommy, and Randy for another great event)