This Airline Has the Best Rewards Program in the World, According to a New Study — Plus, See the Top 10

One airline from the U.S. came in the top three.

The process of earning and spending airline reward miles can often be a daunting one. You have to pick a credit card, try to game out how to build up miles, and then find the best deals to take you to your dream vacation.

Point.me, an airline point concierge service that assists with reward bookings, has compiled an extensive global ranking of the world’s best airline rewards programs. The detailed report ranks 62 of the world's airlines and relied on 55 of the site's experts as well as years of data from point.me. The company ranked on several factors such as redemption rates, ease of booking, customer service quality, and change fees. 

The top-ranking program in the world is Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue rewards program, according to point.me. The reasons cited included the ease of booking, the low cost of redemptions, and the ability to book on partner airlines within the SkyTeam alliance. 

The Flying Blue program regularly posts promotions and discounts on reward tickets, for example the airline is currently offering a 15,000 mile reward ticket between New York (EWR) and several European destinations.

“Getting real value from airline loyalty points is often significantly harder for passengers than it needs to be,” said Adam Morvitz, CEO of point.me in a statement released to T+L. “These rankings draw on our team’s collective travel expertise and deep data-led insight from our reward search engine.”

After Air France/KLM (93.06), Air Canada’s Aeroplan (77.43), United’s MileagePlus (72.22), British Airways Executive Club (69.10) and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (69.10) rounded out the top five.

American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Qatar Airways, JetBlue, and Avianca were highly ranked in the top ten. The report also breaks the scores out based on region.

For comparison, the lowest-rated US-based carrier reward programs included Spirit Airlines’ Free Spirit (22.22), Frontier Airlines’ Frontier Miles (18.06), and Sun Country Airlines’ Sun Country Rewards (17.01). These programs were rated as being restrictive in redemption, or expensive to use. Despite its loyal following, Delta's SkyMiles program also scored poorly with a 49.31.

This report about airline rewards comes as the Department of Transportation is investigating US-based airlines for potential unfair practices in their loyalty programs.

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