The world's best frequent flyer is Flying Blue, also on the podium are Aeroplan and United's MileagePlus
Prerequisite premise. Point.me is an American tool, designed for serial accumulators of points and miles in the stars and stripes, [...]
Obligatory premise. Point.me is a U.S. tool, designed for star-studded serial accumulators of points and miles, holders of credit cards issued in North America, and which is not aligned with European, let alone Italian, conversion metrics. This clarification is important, because I would like to avoid being inundated with questions regarding the data that emerged from using Point.me, so my advice is to avoid using the service unless you are very familiar with point collection and reward travel.
Is there such a thing as the "best loyalty program ever?"
In this article:
Choosing the best loyalty program for frequent travelers can be a real puzzle, and the winner of this ranking may not necessarily fit everyone's needs. Point.me conducted a detailed analysis, taking multiple factors into account, analyzing more than 60 active programs worldwide. #spoileralert There is no Volare among the 60 programs compared, and the reason I think is the young age of ITA Airways' program
What are the parameters that led to this ranking?
- Ease of mileage accumulation: how many ways each program offers to earn miles in addition to flying (e.g., restaurants, shopping, vacation packages, transfer partners, and bonuses on transfers).
- Value of miles: How much the accumulated miles are actually "worth" considering the cost of award tickets.
- Booking award flights: simplicity and ease of booking an award flight with miles.
- Availability of award flights: Frequency with which award flights are actually available.
- Flexibility: How flexible are routing rules (possibility of stopovers or itinerary changes), change and cancellation fees, mileage retention policies, and quality of customer service during booking.
For the record Point.me is a service, for a fee, that helps users find award tickets and find out the cost in points, but I remind you it is American "currency," with carriers where you can transfer points not found among American Express partners in Italy and cards and other means of payment that just do not exist on this side of the Atlantic.
The top 10 frequent flyer programs in the world
- Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- United MileagePlus
- British Airways Executive Club (ex aequo)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (ex aequo)
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Avianca LifeMiles
Air France KLM Flying Blue is the highest scoring loyalty program, with an overall score of 93.06. Achieved the best results in almost all categories and is on par with the world average in terms of commissions and modification policies.
Air Canada Aeroplan is the second highest scoring loyalty program, with an overall score of 77.43. It has excellent availability on partner airline flights and generous routing rules that make it easier for travelers who are not in hub cities to use their miles.
United MileagePlus is the third highest scoring loyalty program, with an overall score of 72.22. MileagePlus miles are easy to earn through a variety of partners and co-branded credit cards, and they have implemented a dynamic pricing system that can be beneficial to casual travelers.
I have never hidden my opinion about Flying Blue, I have always Written that to date it is the best loyalty program for us Italians and it is quite impressive to see it ranked first, but it is absolutely deserved. Like Well-deserved is the placement of Aeroplan, I know I have talked about it very little, but it is a program I use often and where I focus my "buy to book" strategy. On the other hand, I am not familiar with United's MileagePlus, so I cannot comment.
Other companies in the rankings
British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are tied for fourth place, with an overall score of 69.10. British Airways has made extensive changes to its Executive Club program over the past year, notably expanding its "Reward Flight Saver" concept to long-haul flights, allowing travelers to redeem points at attractive fares with significantly reduced fees compared to previous versions of the program. Virgin Atlantic has some of the best economy class redemption rates among the programs evaluated. Both are also the only companies that promise, and deliver, a number of safe seats for award redemptions on each flight.
American Airlines AAdvantage is the sixth largest loyalty program, with an overall score of 68.06. AAdvantage offers an extensive network of airline partners and good availability of award flights.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is in seventh place, with an overall score of 67.57. Mileage Plan offers excellent award flight availability on Alaska Airlines and a good selection of airline partners.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club is eighth in the rankings with the highest overall score of 67.14. Privilege Club offers excellent award flight availability on Qatar Airways and a good selection of airline partners.
JetBlue TrueBlue occupies the punultimate box in the top10, with an overall score of 66.67. TrueBlue offers excellent award flight availability on JetBlue and a good selection of airline partners.
Avianca LifeMiles closes the top 10 frequent flyer rankings, with an overall score of 66.11. LifeMiles offers excellent award flight availability on Avianca and a good selection of airline partners.
Little Europe and much America
Flying Blue's achievement is even more important when looking at, in addition to the gap in terms of numbers from all other programs, including. The fact that 6 of the top 10 players in this ranking are on the American continent, to which Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club should also be added since the British carrier is (almost) half-owned by Delta.
The big absentee is Delta itself with its Skypesos, so the currency of the Skymiles program is mocked by detractors. The carrier Skyteam is probably also paying for the choice to ban Those who have status from the lounges in favor of those who have a particular credit card instead and all the deteriorations recently applied to the program.
Excellent result of BA, at the foot of the podium, thanks largely to the interchangeability of Avios points that can be moved easily between Iberia, Qatar, and as of this year, Finnair.
If you are curious to see the full rankings, such as the tables of the different categories you can read the full statement.
