The world’s best airline rewards programs have been revealed and national carrier Qantas has made the list, scoring 24th place.

Analysis firm Point.Me published its latest rankings this week assessing airlines around the world on their frequent flyer schemes, including how easy it is to earn miles, redemption rates and customer service.

France-based Flying Blue won the overall top spot with a rating of 93.06, with all but two of the assessable categories rated as “great” and only one (change fees) rating as “average”.

Air Canda (score 77.4) and US-based United Airlines (72.2) rounded out the 2024 podium.

Australia’s biggest airline Qantas scored about midway through the top rankings with a score of 38.9, which also made it the fifth ranked frequent flyer program across the Asia Pacific region.

Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Japan-headquartered ANA tied for the first ranking in the Asia Pacific region, with Asiana Airlines and Japan Airlines among others scoring ahead of Qantas.

Value for money separates top programs

The best programs rated by Point.Me were applauded for the range of redemption services available to customers and value for points.

Flying Blue, for example, has expanded the number of partners it works with to give customers more options about how to redeem.

Air Canada has also been rated as particularly valuable for flyers and is available with a wide range of major credit card programs.

British Airways, meanwhile, scored among the top in the world for prioritising value for flyers trying to use points for long haul flights.

Middle-of-the-road score

Overall, Qantas managed to make the list of top frequent flyer programs globally, but did not break into the top ranks and instead was assessed with a middle-of-the-road score.

Qantas’ frequent flyer program was rated “good” on the ease of earning miles and the availability of the scheme on partner airlines.

One area highlighted by Point.Me was the expanded availability of point redemption within the Qantas network, with the national carrier winning plaudits for creating additional opportunities for travellers to redeem points.

Meanwhile, Qantas was rated “average” on categories such as redemption rates, ease of booking and routing.

In terms of where the airline could improve, Qantas scored “poor” ratings in two assessment areas, customer service and change fees.

That makes sense given the torrid time the national carrier has had with service standards in recent years that have forced a huge mea culpa from the airline’s executives and board.

More recently, however, the airline has sought to lift its customer service, including the offerings across its frequent flyer program, which has been largely overhauled.

Under changes made by new Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson earlier this year, the airline has created 20 million additional rewards seats for its loyalty members across all fares.

The new program, called the Classic Plus Flight Rewards system, effectively fixes the value of points at 1 cent for economy flights and 1.5 cents for business class flights.

Alongside the changes to frequent flyer points, Qantas has also earmarked general service standards for improvement, including baggage tracking, wifi access and seat comfort.