A travel research platform called point.me recently published an extensive data-led study that ranks the world’s top airline loyalty programs.
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Evaluating 59 programs worldwide, the point.me study compared airline loyalty setups based on things like earning, redemption, and more. In other words, the idea is to rank airline loyalty programs based on real value and experience.
As in, is the airline loyalty program easy to join and take part in? Does it actually offer valuable deals and meaningful savings for members? Most importantly, which airlines came out ahead?
Let’s dive in.
Inside the point.me study
The rankings published by point.me compared an insane data set of around 22 million general travel searches and 500 million travel searches on the platform. Point.me, in case you haven’t used it before, is a travel resource that helps you plan trips optimally using credit card and airline rewards programs.
In short, the platform makes it easy for travelers to utilize every single point to their full advantage. But what types of data were used to finalize those rankings?
Above, I mentioned that the best loyalty program rankings were finalized based on factors like earning and redeeming points. That translates to topics like the ease of earning points as a non-frequent flyer, ease of redemption, redemption rates, customer service, change and cancellation policies, and award availability.
Best airline loyalty programs in 2025
This year, these are the top ten airlines based on their loyalty programs:
- Flying Blue (Air France – KLM) *2024’s first-place ranking
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- United MileagePlus *2024’s third-place ranking
- The British Airways Club
- Air Canada Aeroplan *2024’s second-place ranking
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Emirates Skywards
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
If you want to dig in, you can read through the full study on point.me.
Best airline rewards programs around the world
Here’s how the best airline loyalty programs in the world shake out based on the global region that they serve.
- North America: American Airlines AAdvantage
- Europe: Flying Blue (Air France – KLM)
- Latin America: Avianca lifemiles
- Middle East & Africa: Emirates Skywards
- Asia/Oceania: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
