More and more airlines now have basic fares in their offerings to be more competitive against low-cost carriers. And the question arises as to how to integrate them into the logic of Frequent Flyer programs.

A recent example of an airline that is probably not going the right way here is American Airlines: In addition to an already reduced mileage credit, AAdvantage members will no longer be able to use status benefits on American Airlines flights when they use the Economy Basic Fare starting May 18.

So why not choose straight away Frontier Airlines or Spirit Airlines?