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TRAVEL
Flights of Fancy
by Lynn Woods

Low-fare airline carriers may still lag the major airlines when it comes to the generosity of frequent-flier programs, but some are at least coming up with new twists. For example:

AirTran's A-Plus Rewards (airtran.com) program lets members earn credits toward a one-way ticket, which can be obtained after four roundtrip flights, though they must be taken within one year. The Atlanta-based carrier, which offers business class and serves 45 cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, offers an affinity card, lets members accrue miles through American Express's Membership Rewards program, and partners with Hertz.

Independence Air, (www.flyi.com) which started service out of Washington-Dulles to a handful of East Coast cities in June, offers free tickets based on the amount of money spent, rather than mileage or number of flights. Members of its iClub who spend $1,500 in a year get one free roundtrip ticket.

JetBlue's TrueBlue Flight Gratitude (www.jetblue.com) program uses a point system based on length of flight. Members earn four points (double that if the ticket is booked through the airline's Web site) on roundtrip short flights, such as New York-Buffalo; eight points on medium-haul ones, including New York-Florida; and 12 points on long flights, such as New York-Long Beach. You need 100 points for a free roundtrip ticket, and you have just a year to earn them.

With Southwest Airlines' Rapid Rewards program (www.southwest.com) members earn a free roundtrip ticket after eight roundtrip flights taken within a year of each other. The program lets you boost miles with affinity cards, inclusion in American Express and Diners Club programs, and partnerships with hotel chains and car-rental firms.

One thing you have to like about Southwest, Independence Air and JetBlue is that their programs let you book any available seat -- not just a limited number of seats reserved for frequent-flier programs, as is the case with most major airlines' programs.