Two of the three best airline mileage programs belong to airlines based in North America, according to a new independent ranking released this week. But the top spot – by a wide margin – belongs to a European carrier.

The team behind point.me, the trailblazing airline award search tool, named Air France/KLM Flying Blue the best airline loyalty program in the world in a ranking of the world's mileage programs released Thursday. That's no big surprise to us, considering all of the amazing ways to use these miles – like incredibly reasonable rates to book business class and workarounds to book Delta flights for less – and how easy these miles are to earn, too. 

And Flying Blue ran away with the title. In point.me's scoring, which combined quantitative analysis along with input from more than 50 points and miles experts to give each airline program a score out of 100, Flying Blue finished with a 93.06% – more than 15% ahead of the second place finisher. 

Coming in second was Air Canada Aeroplan and in third, with a bit of a head scratcher, was United MileagePlus

 

Pointme top 3
Graphic courtesy of point.me

 

If you ask us, Air Canada's Aeroplan program is an easy #2 for its combination of low award rates and fees and the dozens of partner airlines you can book with them. And while there's no question United miles can be useful, we question whether it deserves the #3 slot. 

Here's how the ranking breaks down.

 

The 10 Best Airline Loyalty Programs in the World

Without further ado, here are the 10 best airline loyalty programs in the world according to point.me's ranking.

  • 1) Air France/KLM Flying Blue
  • 2) Air Canada Aeroplan
  • 3) United MileagePlus
  • 4) British Airways Executive Club
  • 4) Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
  • 6) American Airlines AAdvantage
  • 7) Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
  • 8) Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • 9) JetBlue TrueBlue
  • 10) Avianca LifeMiles

 

Point.Me top 10
Graphic courtesy of point.me

 

As you can see, international airline programs dominate the top 10 … and that's just fine for U.S.-based travelers. Credit card transfer partnerships with the big banks like Chase, Amex, and Capital One make it even easier to earn these miles.

Right behind Air France/KLM, Air Canada, and United comes British Airways Executive Club and its valuable Avios currency. It's a favorite of ours here at Thrifty Traveler – we often send our Thrifty Traveler Premium members ways to use Avios to book Qatar Airways Qsuites business class and Iberia business class, among others. And they're particularly useful because you can combine them between British Airways, Qatar, Finnair, Aer Lingus, and Iberia – all of which are part of the Avios system. 

Tied with British Airways for fourth is another of our favorite loyalty programs: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. While it's taken a some big hits with major devaluations lately, it remains a stellar way to book cheap flights to Europe in economy, fly ITA Airways business class to Rome (FCO), book ANA's incredible “The Room” business class suites, and even fly Hawaiian first class suites out to the islands. 

 

business class mileage programs
ANA business class

 

After United, three other U.S. loyalty programs cracked the top 10 list: American Airlines AAdvantage (#6), Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (#7), and JetBlue TrueBlue (#9). We'd argue either American or Alaska – two of the best programs for booking flights on Oneworld carriers – should be ranked higher than United, which is far from the best loyalty program in the Star Alliance.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club came in eighth on worldwide list, which would have been unthinkable just two years ago or so. But with its adoption of Avios alongside British Airways and others, it's become easier to earn and use these miles – not to mention, invaluable for booking Qsuites and even short-haul flights within the U.S. on American Airlines.

Perhaps the quirkiest airline program in the world is Avianca LifeMiles, which took the last of the top 10 spots on the list. LifeMiles was and is one of the cheapest ways to book many Star Alliance flights (including United, Lufthansa, Turkish, TAP Air Portugal, and more). Even though award rates just went up, LifeMiles remains one of the best ways to book many lie-flat seats to Europe and especially Asia. On the downside, those redemptions come with steep change and cancel fees, wonky IT, and a rocky customer service experience. 

 

united polaris business class

 

Noticeably absent from this top 10 is the biggest loyalty program in North America. And while points and miles experts won't be astonished, everyday travelers and Delta fans might not understand why the Atlanta-based carrier's SkyMiles program is nowhere to be found. 

Delta SkyMiles finished eighth in the North American loyalty program rankings this year – not eighth in the world, but just in North America, far behind other major U.S. carriers including even JetBlue and Southwest. It didn't even get a whiff of the top 10 programs in the world.

Tiffany Funk, point.me's co-founder, said that reflects the airline's perceived attitude toward loyalty, which the airline thinks is earned through reliability, a good onboard experience, and a big route network – not through earning and burning SkyMiles. 

Read more: Delta Exec Sheds Light on SkyMiles … And Why They (Sometimes) Stink

The experts have called SkyMiles worthless for years, so its low ranking is no surprise here. While we don't think Delta SkyMiles are worthless to book economy seats, the normal rates of 400,000 SkyMiles or more to book business class definitely turns off many travelers from focusing on SkyMiles.

Here's point.me's full ranking of North American loyalty programs.

 

North America's top 10 loyalty programs
Graphic courtesy of point.me

 

As we already knew from the global top 10 ranking, Aeroplan, MileagePlus, AAdvantage, Mileage Plan, and TrueBlue took the top five spots in the North American ranking. Southwest Rapid Rewards finished just a few percentage points back in the sixth spot, followed by Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles – a great way to book its fancy new business class suites to Hawaii … and not much else. 

Read Next:The Best Deals We've Found to Use Your Rapid Rewards

And then there's Delta SkyMiles in eighth place, ahead of only Allegiant myAllegiant and Spirit Airlines Free Spirit, whose only real value is their simplicity. 

 

How the Rankings Were Decided

Travel sites and bloggers regularly publish valuations of exactly how much they consider each airline's miles to be worth and compare the merits of one mileage program to another. But point.me's ranking is among the first of its kind, combining statistical analysis – backed up by the gobs of data from running an award search tool to help travelers redeem their own points – with input from a panel of 55 experts.

The company also pulled back the curtain on exactly how they scored each program, revealing its methodology in a call with reporters this week.

 

Point me ranking methodology
Graphic courtesy of point.me

 

The ease of earning miles and exactly how far those miles can get you were the two most important criteria in the ranking by far, combining to comprise 45% of the total score. Other considerations included the availability to book partner airlines (a massive asset for travelers trying to make the most of their points, especially booking business class) and ease of booking. Smaller considerations like change fees and customer service rounded out the scoring.

Importantly, this ranking only considered airline programs for which U.S. travelers could sign up and earn points. That means some niche programs abroad did not get consideration in the study. 

One more important clarification from the fine folks at point.me: Airline elite status was not considered as part of the ranking. Many travelers get additional perks thanks to their expensive and hard-to-earn airline status that the average traveler does not, so point.me stripped those considerations from its ranking.

All told, this is one of the most comprehensive and transparent efforts at evaluating the world's airline loyalty programs that we've ever seen, helping steer travelers toward the airline programs and credit card transfer partners that will give them the best bang for their buck.

But that doesn't mean we don't have any gripes with the eventual outcome. 

 

What They Did Wrong?

Just as with travel as a whole, points and miles are incredibly personal. 

If you fly Southwest and only Southwest, Rapid Rewards are rightfully #1 on your list. Some travelers don't care a bit about flying business class, so the low redemption rates booking through Air France/KLM or Air Canada might not matter as much. There's nothing wrong with that.

Point is: Everyone can (and should!) have a different opinion. Here's ours.

 

Is Flying Blue's #1 Ranking That Clear-Cut?

I don't have a problem with Air France/KLM Flying Blue's top spot on this list whatsoever. But is it 15% better than Air Canada Aeroplan?

I don't think so. 

Flying Blue is far from perfect. It's got a clunky website, which frequently doesn't even allow flyers to actually book an award ticket without making a phone call. The tricks to pull up a monthly calendar of awards sometimes work and sometimes don't, making it harder to find the best deal for your miles. And point.me's methodology apparently didn't consider award taxes and fees – which, while not the worst when redeeming Flying Blue miles, are far from the best … and they keep rising. 

With those quibbles out of the way, Flying Blue has clearly earned the title. At a time when most airlines are raising award rates, Air France and KLM lowered theirs, giving rise to 50,000-point business class redemption rates to Europe. They're far more generous than many other airlines with actually releasing award availability to book those seats with points, too, including many during peak season this past summer.

 

air france business class seat A350-900
Air France business class on the A350-900

 

Its monthly Promo Rewards specials lead to even better deals, including some of the lowest economy rates you'll find to cross the Atlantic. It's now the cheapest route for booking most Delta flights, fly China Airlines business class to Taipei (TPE), and even book new alliance partner Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).

To top it all off, Flying Blue miles couldn't possibly be easier to earn: You can transfer them from all the major banks including American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, and more. It's the best mileage program among the SkyTeam alliance airlines … and it's not even close. 

But Air Canada Aeroplan should probably be closer than a full 15 percentage points behind. 

 

united polaris redemption aeroplan

 

Air Canada's rates might be slightly higher (think 60,000 or 70,000 points for business class to Europe instead of 50,000 points) but its cash surcharges are almost always much lower. Its website functions far better, making those redemptions easier. And the points are nearly as easy to earn by transferring from cards with Bilt, Capital One, American Express, and Chase.

Most importantly, you can use Aeroplan points to book flights on nearly 50 partner airlines – and not just fellow Star Alliance carriers but others including Etihad, Emirates, Oman Air, and many more. In a rarity, you can even book Singapore Airlines business class using Aeroplan points. 

 

singapore business class alert

 

Aeroplan might lose a few points because access to the award availability on that long list of partners can be spotty at times: Increasingly, you might not be able to book flights through Aeroplan even when you can see those same redemptions through other carriers. Plus, its Family Sharing program to pool miles has been shut down for a year and counting.

I don't disagree with the top two in this ranking … but it doesn't feel like Flying Blue is in a league of its own here. 

 

United MileagePlus is Too High & American AAdvantage is Too Low

United MileagePlus is, as points.me's ranking says, useful for less frequent flyers who want to fly United. And that's fair.

But we still think it pales in comparison to other airline programs on the list. How could it be the best airline program in the U.S. when, if you ask us, it's not even the best loyalty program in its own Star Alliance? 

United.com remains one of the best websites to find award availability on any Star Alliance carrier … but once you've found it, it's almost always better to book using another airline's miles. Case in point: United would charge 110,000 miles for this same one-way ticket from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND).

 

seattle tokyo

 

On the other hand, American AAdvantage is one of the most valuable loyalty programs out there – particularly for booking award tickets on Oneworld partner airlines at lower rates. For that reason alone, we think it deserves consideration for a higher spot.

Its unbelievable business class redemption rates – like as low as 54,000 miles to book AA business class to Europe and 60,000 to fly Japan Airlines business class to Japan – make it one of the best bangs for your buck. The biggest knock against American is that, without any credit card transfer partners, it's harder to earn these miles than the likes of United … and yet there's an easy path to earn 145,000 AAdvantage miles.

If you ask us, the pros and cons of American outweigh the same with United.

 

japan airlines new business class
Japan Airlines business class on the A350-1000

 

JetBlue is a True Head-Scratcher

While there is some value flying JetBlue up and down the East Coast and occasionally booking with partners like Icelandair and Qatar Airways, this one left us puzzled. 

Unlike virtually every other airline on the top 10 list, JetBlue's TrueBlue award pricing is almost entirely revenue-based: The more a flight costs in cash, the more miles they charge. That makes it nearly impossible to get the outsized value from redemptions that points and miles experts crave. 

What's more, there are currently just a few easy ways to earn JetBlue points: You can transfer from Chase as well as Citi and American Express … at a poor transfer rate of 1.25:1, so you'd need to transfer 50,000 Amex points to get 40,000 JetBlue points. The only other ways to easily accrue JetBlue points is to fly the airline a lot or open JetBlue's co-branded credit card, which offers few perks compared to competitors. 

We're surprised those two elements alone didn't knock JetBlue out of the top 10.

 

jetblue dublin edinburgh

 

TrueBlue redemption rates can be great for East Coast flyers, but JetBlue's program just isn't relevant to many other travelers right now. For that reason, I would drop it from the global top 10 list. 

 

Asian Programs Should've Cracked the Top 10

ANA Mileage Club and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles deserve some love for being among the best programs in their respective alliances. 

Even after a devaluation earlier this year, ANA Mileage Club's redemptions like 100,000 miles to book a roundtrip in business class to either Europe or Japan are among the best in the world. While it has only one transfer partner – and those transfer from American Express points can be slow – the value is just too good to brush past. 

 

TAP Air Portugal business class
You can fly these seats to Portugal and back for 100,000 ANA miles total

 

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, on the other hand, can be easily transferred in from Amex, Capital One, Citi, and Bilt, making them even easier to earn. And those miles are quickly becoming one of the best ways to book may flights on Oneworld alliance carriers, from Cathay Pacific itself to Southeast Asia to American Airlines to snagging a British Airways flight with far fewer fees.

If these two were to squeak into the top 10, two would have to go.

JetBlue is a prime candidate to sub out of the top 10. And, unfortunately, the recent devaluations and steep change and cancellation fees mean Avianca LifeMiles could go … but I'd also entertain the thought of dropping #3 ranked United out of the top 10 altogether.

 

Bottom Line

Air France/KLM Flying Blue took the top spot in point.me's historic ranking of global airline mileage programs, while Air Canada Aeroplan easily nabbed second place. And that's not wrong. 

As you move into the rest of the top 10, we'd have done things slightly differently. Regardless, this gives travelers some much-needed (and data-backed) insight on which airline programs are worth paying attention to.