Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue is the world’s best airline loyalty program, according to a new ranking by Point.me, a provider of search award availability across airlines.
Finishing second and third are Air Canada Aeroplan and United MileagePlus.
The ranking, which Point.me says is geared toward finding the loyalty programs that offer the best value for consumers (whether they travel frequently or not), evaluated the programs of 62 airlines. Rankings were based on a combination of nine quantitative and qualitative factors; the most heavily weighted were ease of earning miles (25%), redemption rates (20%), availability on partner airlines (15%) and ease of booking (12.5%).
Air France-KLM won by a wide margin on Point.me’s 100-point scale, receiving top marks in nearly every category. The study’s authors highlighted the program’s outstanding redemption rates and extensive partnerships that make point accrual easy and flexible.
Air Canada received kudos for the high-level availability it offers on partner airlines and for the fact that it accepts point transfers from most major credit card programs, such as American Express, Chase and Capital One.
United MileagePlus, said Point.me, is especially worthwhile for less-frequent travelers, in part because United’s dynamic pricing for redemptions tops out at lower rates than other major airlines, and because of deep availability of redemption seats.
Among U.S. airlines, American AAdvantage (6), Alaska Mileage Plan (7) and JetBlue TrueBlue (9) finished in the top 10.
The company also ranked loyalty programs on a regional basis. In North America, Air Canada, United, American, Alaska and JetBlue comprised the top five. The second five were Southwest, Hawaiian, Delta, Allegiant and Spirit.
Point.me co-founder Tiffany Funk said Delta received a lower ranking than its U.S. competitors because of its high redemption costs. Delta has made a strategic decision to build loyalty by focusing on operational reliability and its lounge network, she said.
Funk said that the best approach to maximizing redemptions is to opt for credit cards such as Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards that offer transferable points to various airlines. That way consumers can comparison shop.