Airline frequent flyer programs are the ticket to free flights, complimentary upgrades, and earlier boarding, but not all programs are the same. Travel reward search platform point.me, for the second consecutive year, has assembled a list of the world's best rewards programs. And this year saw some big changes in the top three.
Air France-KLM's Flying Blue once again tops the list, but American Airlines AAdvantage program jumps from #6 last year to second place this year. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan comes in third, after a seventh place showing in 2024.
"When we see a program like American Airlines jump from sixth to second place, or Alaska Airlines rise to third, it shows that airlines are listening and evolving their approach in the market," said Tiffany Funk, co-founder and president of point.me in a statement.
The rankings are taken from the results of over 22 million searches on point.me, with eight categories, ranging from ease of earning points to redemption rates and award availability.
Among U.S. carriers, American, of course, topped the list, followed by Alaska Airlines. Those were followed by United, JetBlue, Southwest and Delta Air Lines. Spirit posted the lowest results of the American carriers, ranking 36th overall.
Delta's place on this list is somewhat surprising, given that the carrier, for the third year in a row, topped the premium economy segment rankings of J.D. Power's 2025 airline satisfaction survey.
EgyptAir Plus and Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club were the two lowest ranking programs globally.
There have been plenty of changes in the frequent flyer world this year, most notably the alliance announced in May between United and JetBlue. The carriers unveiled a collaboration called Blue Sky, in which the two airlines offer flights on each other's websites, let customers commingle their frequent flyer points and brought United back to New York's JFK airport 10 years after it gave up its slots there.
United’s MileagePlus customers will be able to earn and use miles on most JetBlue flights (and JetBlue TrueBlue members can use their points on United flights). That will give United frequent flyers more access from the Northeast to the Caribbean – and JetBlue members will have a slew of international destinations made available to them.