Flying Blue named the world's best airline loyalty program for the third year in a row

Flying Blue tops the ranking for the third year in a row

The award travel search platform Point.me has published its ranking of the best airline loyalty programs for 2026, evaluating more than 30 schemes. As Euronews reports, the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program has been named the best not only in Europe but in the world — for the third year in a row, scoring 88.8 points out of 100. It was praised for consistently strong performance: miles are easy to earn and spend on available seats, and the program accepts all major transferable points currencies.

Who evaluated the programs and how

Euronews notes that the outlet did not rank the programs itself but relied on the assessment of the specialized service Point.me. The platform's team explained its selection criteria as follows: «Most travelers have a specific destination, dates they cannot easily change, and a points balance they have been building for years. What matters is whether they can find a seat and actually book it at a price they consider reasonable, without having to become experts.» The evaluation covered ease of earning points, redemption terms, partnership options, award seat availability,the booking process, reward retention, quality of customer support, and change fees.

British programs lost ground

Behind Flying Blue in Europe come The British Airways Club (71.3 points, eighth place worldwide versus sixth a year earlier) and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (70.0 points, ninth versus fourth last year). The British Airways Club's strengths are Avios, one of the easiest currencies to accumulate, and a guaranteed minimum of award seats on long-haul flights; this year the program was weakened by higher Avios pricing and additional fees. Virgin Atlantic was noted for its low saver fares, reward retention on its own flights, and transferable currencies.

Full rankings

The European list according to Point.me: Flying Blue — 88.8; The British Airways Club — 71.3; Virgin Atlantic Flying Club — 70.0; Aer Lingus AerClub — 65.6; Iberia Club — 65.0; Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles — 64.4; Finnair Plus — 60.0; Aegean Miles+Bonus — 58.1; Lufthansa Miles & More — 55.0; TAP Miles&Go — 53.8; SAS Eurobonus — 50.0. The global top ten: 1. Flying Blue (88.8), 2. United MileagePlus (85.0), 3. Air Canada Aeroplan (82.2), 4. Atmos Rewards Alaska/Hawaiian (80.9), 5. American Airlines AAdvantage (80.6), 6. Qatar Airways Privilege Club (72.5), 7. JetBlue TrueBlue (72.2), 8. The British Airways Club (71.3), 9. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (70.0), 10. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (69.4).