Airline loyalty programs are a multibillion-dollar business, rewarding frequent fliers and credit card users with free travel, but they can be hard to navigate.
Now, a new global ranking from Point.me of the world’s best airline rewards programs shows which ones provide the most value.
On Wednesday, the travel rewards search platform released its second annual ranking of 59 global airline loyalty programs based on award earnings, redemption, and overall value, with the aim of helping travelers make smarter decisions with their rewards.
For the second year in a row, Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue ranked first globally; followed by American Airlines’ AAdvantage, which jumped from No. 6 to No. 2; and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (renamed Atmos Rewards in August), which rose from No. 7 to No. 3.
Flying Blue’s No. 1 ranking comes as the loyalty program expands in the U.S., with a focus on its partnerships via SkyTeam (which includes Delta Air Lines). Pros include an easy-to-use app and website and excellent customer service, while drawbacks include high fees for changes and cancellations.
“Getting real value from airline loyalty points is often significantly harder for passengers than it needs to be,” Adam Morvitz, CEO of Point.me, said in a statement. “These rankings draw on our team’s collective travel expertise and deep data-led insight from our reward search engine. This data-driven approach empowers travelers to make strategic decisions about where to invest their loyalty, ensuring they’re not just collecting points, but actually maximizing their travel wealth.”
To get its results, Point.me looked at data from 22 million searches and more than 500 million search results on its platform. It went about finding the best programs using eight criteria: how easy it was to earn points (even without being a frequent traveler), how easy it was to redeem them, the rate of those redemptions, the availability of awards, overall customer service, and policies around holding, changing, or canceling flights. The results provide a road map for consumers navigating the often tricky world of air miles.
Here are the top 10 airline rewards programs in each regional category.
Top 10 airline rewards programs globally
- Flying Blue
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- United MileagePlus
- The British Airways Club
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Emirates Skywards
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Top 10 airline rewards programs in North America
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- United MileagePlus
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Delta SkyMiles
- Frontier Miles
- Allegiant Allways Rewards
- Spirit Airlines Free Spirit
Top loyalty programs by region
Point.me also ranked the best rewards program by region. Here are those rankings:
- North America: American Airlines AAdvantage
- Europe: Flying Blue
- Latin America: Avianca Lifemiles
- Middle East and Africa: Emirates Skywards
- Asia/Oceania: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles/Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (tie)
Point.me has earned a spot on Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies list for the past two consecutive years, in 2024 and 2025.
View the full results and complete methodology of the World’s Best Airline Rewards Programs report here.