Out of the three major domestic airlines, which one has the best points system? Well of course it depends. See our chart overview and then below for details. 

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Domestic Redemptions

Economy flights around the US can be pretty cheap, going as low as 5,000 points per one-way. Obviously the route matters a lot when comparing between airlines, so we'll standardized with the classic New York to LA route. At the lowest point, you can book a one-way economy flight between JFK and LAX for 10,500 miles - which is a pretty good deal considering the cash flights are usually around $200+.

At the higher end for business class and popular dates, the dynamic pricing can make it not worth the while especially when you can book lucrative international flights... more on that below. 

Partner Redemptions

AA miles are super valuable for their partner Oneworld redemptions. You can get Qatar Qsuites for 70,000 miles instead of 85,000 miles with Qatar. You can book Japan Airlines business class for only 60,000 points. And what helps with finding all these flights is AA's monthly calendar view - so you can see across a larger timeframe. This is probably where AA miles outshine its competitors as usually use AA to book partners, instead of the other way around for United and Delta - where you look to their partners to find better flights for them. 

Credit Cards

Ignoring the soon-to-be cut Barclays Aviator Red card, that means all AA cards will be provided by Citi - both personal and business. These cards typically have a 48-month churn limitation and are a good way to stack up on miles. Each card is considered its own product so you can cycle through those cards to get the larger sign-up bonuses. Bonuses themselves are pretty high and have promotions throughout the year.  Finally, Citi is usually generous with retention offers so you can likely call each year to "cancel" the card and end up with more AA miles. 

Domestic Redemptions

Delta sometimes has sales on points routes and for selective dates, it can be pretty cheap. For example, the similar JFK-LAX route as AA above is actually cheaper on some dates. Plus, if you have a Delta Gold, Platinum, or Reserve card, you get an additional 15% off, which makes it just as good as AA. On other routes between hubs and in the country, it can vary in valuation - with some flights getting solid value, while others would totally not be worth it. Outside of economy it can get a lot more dicey in terms of redemption value - especially for Delta One business class. 

Partner Redemptions

I have never heard of or seen a good partner redemption with Delta for any of the Sky Team partners. Any partner award availability on Delta is going to be over 300,000 points in business class and you could likely find the availability for much cheaper on Virgin or Air France. 

Credit Cards

The Delta business and personal credit cards are issued by American Express - which means the sign-up bonuses are also generally once in lifetime. So not only are the points weak in the redemption area, it can also be hard to generate a lot of points by churning through cards. Furthermore, the Delta cards are generally expensive and require finagling with a bunch of credits to ensure the annual fee remains worthwhile. 

if the benefits makes sense though and you utilize the 15% off points feature, then it could be helpful for the points redemption side. 

Domestic Redemptions

Like the other airlines, United domestic flights are dynamic and can vary widely. For their cross-country flight from Newark to Los Angeles, you can see that the lowest price is 15,000 points, slightly higher than the previous two. However, if you had special member pricing, it could go lower to match the competitors. Overall, unless you find specific "Saver Award" designation on your redemptions, it's likely going to be a mediocre award. For business class, they run pretty standard between 135,000 to 250,000 points one-way. While it technically isn't a bad cent per point valuation, it is still a massive amount of points compared to finding the same seat with partners. That said - sometimes United is the only option. 

Partner Redemptions

United can also be hit or miss on partners. At the very least, their calendar search also makes it easier to search for ANA, Lufthansa, and more partner business class awards. The problem is that if you can find the award flight on United, you can likely find it for cheaper on Air Canada or Singapore airlines. However, not all seats get released to all partners equally, so United still could be a solid option. 

Credit Cards

As mentioned already, a big selling point to the United cards is the special award space - even the no annual fee Gateway card has it. Out of all the airline cards, United has probably the best churnability with 4 different personal cards and 2 business cards that run on a 24-month churning limit. So as long as you stay under 5/24 you can keep getting United cards. Although, you'd likely want to get some inks since Chase points transfer directly to United. 

Final Notes

• Each airline mileage program obviously has their own pros and cons, so none of these points are a recommendation - just information to help you with your points journey. 

•  At the end of the day, transferrable points are likely going to be way more valuable so you can have way more opportunities to book great redemptions.