TPG’s family travel expert, “Mommy Points”, names Southwest number one airline for families and dubs allegiant last.
NEW YORK – The Points Guy (TPG) announced its brand-new family travel platform at the helm of family travel expert, Summer Hull, also known as "Mommy Points." The new content comes as a result of TPG's first-ever acquisition and entrance into the family space, expanding its reach on all things points, miles and travel. To debut the new content vertical, TPG is unveiling a brand-new industry report, The Best Airlines for Families, putting Southwest at the top and Allegiant at the bottom.
"We're thrilled to expand the TPG brand with our first acquisition," says CEO and Founder Brian Kelly. "Mommy Points is an industry leader in family travel, and her expertise on savvy saving for families using points and miles will only further enhance TPG's content for our base and new readers alike. In launching with this report, we're excited to kick-start a thoughtful series of smart family-focused content to make traveling as parents more accessible."
For this report, TPG focused on the ten largest U.S. airlines – Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, Hawaiian, Alaska, United, American, Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant – as measured by their total number of domestic passengers and looked at ten different equally weighted criteria that are relevant to traveling families. After grouping into three broad categories including Booking for Families, Traveling with Families and Points and Miles for Families, each airline received a proportional ranking in those ten categories based on available data, written policies, and reported passenger experiences.
The report is researched and written in the same vein as TPG's industry reports, including the Best Airlines, Best Hotel Reward Programs, Best Airports and more. With Hull at the helm of all family travel content, TPG will be rolling out further family travel reports, including Best Airports for Families, Best Hotel Programs for Families and more.
"As the first of our new series of family-focused report, "Best Airlines for Family Travel" is tailored to address highlight how airlines are getting it right and industry pitfalls," says Summer Hull. "I'm ecstatic to be joining TPG to shed more light on how, where, when and why families can travel spending less and experiencing more using points, miles and everything thrifty in between."
Summer Hull is a self-proclaimed travel-addict who has built a career on guiding her audience to the best travel deals and rewards. Her interest in travel kicked into high gear when she became a parent and wanted a way to keep her young daughter connected to out-of-state family – without breaking the bank. She began a personal mission to find the best travel deals while balancing other work and life demands which led to her launch of the travel deals blog Mommy Points, which The Points Guy has now integrated their site's content offerings. Now, Summer is bringing her best tips on accruing miles and points for families to an even larger audience at The Points Guy.
Following an eventful year in airline travel, TPG examined the ten larges US airlines, looking at ten different equally weighted criteria that are relevant for traveling families. Key takeaways include:
- Southwest: The airline – with its coveted Southwest Companion Pass, relatively no extra fees and family boarding makes Southwest TPG's top choice for family travel. Its extensive – and expanding – domestic route and award program are a bonus for traveling families.
- JetBlue: Ranking right on the heels of Southwest, JetBlue comes in close second. Offering a better onboard experience for families than Southwest when looking at seat comfort, snacks and entertainment, JetBlue is consistently a top pick for families. Its on-time arrival ranking bumped it down just shy of the top spot.
- Alaska Airlines: after taking the #1 spot in TPG's Best Airlines in the US rankings this year, Alaska comes in the middle for family-friendly options, as its limited route network and lack of strong complimentary in-flight entertainment product causes it to rank lowest in the Top 5 for families.
- United: Young families take note – with the best early boarding policy of all US airlines, United allows families with children two and under to board even ahead of first class.
- Allegiant: Ranking dead-last in nearly every ranked category when it comes to meeting the needs of flying families, its low prices can be tempting for families. Ultimately the extra fees and lack of offerings makes it challenging for families who don't come prepared to meet their own needs while in-flight.
While flying as a family can seem challenging, Summer is sharing some of her top family travel tips to make traveling with kids simple and painless. A sampling of her top must-haves as it relates to choosing the right airline for families, includes:
- Seat Assignments are Key: Perhaps the most important airline travel need for families of all sizes is getting seats together without paying extra for the privilege. The top airlines for this category are JetBlue, Hawaiian and Alaska, which all include complimentary seat assignemtns on all tickets. Southwest's open seating policy is also a way to ensure prime seating, as children ages six and under can board after Group A.
- Early Boarding for Families: While there's some logic to boarding young children on the aircraft at the absolute last second to minimize their time sitting still on the plane, the reality is that if you need to install a car seat or ensure space for your carry-on bags, being onboard early is crucial. United and JetBlue take the top spot for early boarding for families, as they get young families onboard early in the process.
- On-Time Arrival: Spending the least amount of time on a plane is key for families. As such, Hawaiin Airlines received the highest on-time score, with JetBlue coming in last.
- Airline Loyalty Program for Families: when it comes to spending less and experiencing more, the airline loyalty program is key. JetBlue offers the most family-friendly policies due to its "free family pooling of miles" option for all members.
Angelos is the news editor for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). His role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy.
He currently studies Communication, Media & Culture in Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens.
