Independence Air, which starts service next month, has unveiled its frequent flyer program, iClub.

Earn one point per dollar spent on Independence Air tickets. 1500 points is a free trip of 1500 miles or less or 50% off a trip longer than 1500 miles.

The real innovation, taking a page from Southwest and going a step further, is

There are no blackout dates restricting your use of awards and we don’t limit the number of award seats on our flights. If there’s a seat available for sale, it’s available for award travel.

iClub members also save $25 on their first online ticket purchase.

I like the simplicity of the program and especially that there aren’t any capacity controls. Customers looking to redeem awards won’t go away unhappy. But the awards themselves aren’t all that appealing — short-haul domestic coach flights (the airline offers only one class of service).

Perhaps there will be more features to come. I think they need an elite level. There has long been a club in their terminal which United elites had access to. They should continue to operate the club and provide access to their own elites as well as complimentary onboard drinks. They should turn that into true elite status at their home airport of Dulles, pushing for priority security screening and even offer award redemption for complimentary valet parking.

(Hat tip to the MilesLink newsletter.)