Air France KLM Flying Blue and Air Canada Aeroplan, two airline programs that we love here at RWRDS Canada and discuss frequently have been named the #1 and #2 airline loyalty programs respectively by award search tool Point.me.
“To help everyday travelers determine the best airline loyalty programs, point.me examined the nuances of over 60 worldwide frequent flyer programs. We considered how easy it is to earn miles from non-flying methods (such as dining and shopping, vacation packages, transfer partners, and transfer bonuses), the value you’ll get for those miles, how easy it is to book an award flight, and the frequency of award availability, flexibility in routing rules (can you book a stopover, for example), change fees and policies, hold policies, and customer service quality when it comes to booking.”
We’ve been saying for several years now that Air France KLM Flying Blue is the best loyalty program for Canadians for Transatlantic travel and Air Canada Aeroplan, it’s by far the most encompassing and best overall airline loyalty program for Canadians with so many ways to earn points and a lot of valuable ways to use those points! The results from Point.me qualitative and quantitative survey further solidifies our positioning on these programs.
The top 10 programs overall from Point.me’s rankings:
- Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- United Airlines MileagePlus
- British Airways Executive Club
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Avianca LifeMiles
Point.me also breaks down the programs by region in which AF KLM is best for Europe and Air Canada Aeroplan takes top spot for North America.
One should note the survey by Point.me is based primarily on U.S. earn and burn opportunities but when it comes the Aeroplan and Flying Blue, Canada closely mirrors the U.S.. Both programs have numerous earn options including co-brand cards and credit cards with transferable points in Canada and have redemption options both domestically and all around the world.
The third place program, United MileagePlus would not be third for Canadians. I would have to say WestJet Rewards (ranks 13th for North America with Point.me) would be the third best program, well, just because it’s Canada and with WestJet Rewards you don’t have to worry about things like award seat availability given their currency is dollars – the program is very easy to use for Canadians.
British Airways Executive Club is fourth in Point.me’s survey and this would hold true here for Canadians. It has lots of earn options from Canadian credit cards, offers decent availability and redemption rates out of Canada (the fees can get high though) but it’s one drawback is that it does not provide any domestic redemption options.
And I would round out the top 5 in Canada with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan – it ranks 7th in Point.me’s survey behind American AAdvantage and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, both of which are not as valuable to the majority of Canadians. Alaska Airlines has a Canadian partner in Porter Airlines with which you can earn Mileage Plan miles for flying with and very shortly will provide the option to redeem miles on Porter flights as well.
Wrapping it up
Point.me’s best airline program rankings takes into account a lot of factors including the millions of award searches conducted on their own platform and analyzing a lot of the data from those searches. The rankings solidify RWRDS Canada’s and many other points & miles experts recommendations of using Air Canada Aeroplan and Air France KLM Flying Blue. The remainder of the rankings however are a mixed bag when it comes to the Canadian market so be sure to take heed if you are considering some of those for your own loyalty program choices.
Click here to see the entire Point.me best airline program rankings
Don’t forget that Air France KLM Flying Blue and Air Canada Aeroplan are sponsors of RC23 RWRDS Canada’s 23rd Anniversary contest! Be sure to enter here if you have not done so yet!