Point.me just released its ratings for this year: 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 Noticeable for its absence is Delta Skymiles. Apparently frequent flyer is yet another area in which Delta is underperforming.
This release generated a disproportionate amount of pixels in the blogosphere because Points.me has such a great handle on actual program results. It's a for-fee service that searches for, finds, and arranges award seats for flyers.
But that fact raises two caveats: Ratings are generally based on use of miles, not earning miles. In my view, that's OK – finding the awards is always the tough part. Ratings tend to reflect the use of awards for premium international flights, not coach trips to Orlando or Vegas.
Again, that's not necessarily a flaw, given that those trips are generally the best use of miles. But ratings such as these can’t account for the one overriding factor for many flyers: where they live and their home airport. And "where they live" pares the list quickly.
The big four, American, Delta, Southwest and United, and Delta and their regional affiliates, fly most places, but smaller geographical footprints lose the others. Regardless of program merit, you want to go with an airline that serves your home airport. If one airline dominate.