Qantas rewards program climbs global ranks as customer service improves

Qantas’ Frequent Flyer scheme has risen up the ranks of the world’s best airline rewards programs, marking a dramatic turnaround.

Qantas Frequent Flyer has been ranked 17th in the world, in a global list of airline loyalty programs. Picture: Qantas

Improvements in customer service and its partner network have lifted the Qantas Frequent Flyer program seven places on a global list of airline loyalty programs, and it now ranks at 17th.

For the second consecutive year, airline rewards website point.me analysed the performance of 59 programs across eight categories, including the ease of earning points, redemption rates, award availability, partner opportunities and customer service.

KLM’s Flying Blue retained the top spot on the list, ahead of American Airlines’ AAdvantage which moved up four places. Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan came in at third spot.

Virgin Australia’s Velocity was not included in the analysis because membership is restricted to people in Australia or New Zealand.

Qantas Frequent Flyer jumped from 24th to 17th, despite a major devaluation of points in 2025 across its Classic Rewards, Classic Plus and Points plus Pay products.

President and co-founder of point.me Tiffany Funk said Qantas’ improvement in the rankings reflected its lift in customer service for frequent flyer members.

Airline rewards 2025 ranked

“Last year Qantas actually received negative points when it came to customer service; it was really very poor and they’ve made adjustments to that,” Ms Funk said.

“They’re now on par and it sounds silly to say ‘congratulations you’re average’ but it’s a huge improvement, and it’s a difficult thing to change.

“I think there’s been a lot of investment that the program has made in the call centre staffing and call times are half of what they were.”

The other area where Qantas excelled was “partner opportunities”, she said.

Dutch airline KLM has been recognised as having the world’s best loyalty program for the second year in a row. Picture: AFP

“Yes Qantas is part of the oneworld alliance, and has been for a really long time, but they’ve worked with other carriers to have a partner network that is meaningful, and expands the route network in a way that allows more people to get to the places they want to go with their Qantas points,” Ms Funk said.

“There are definitely programs on our list that have more partners on paper than Qantas but Qantas has done a good job of selecting partners that matter, that expand the route network and have reward availability.”

Emirates has just started making its premium economy seats available for redemption in its Skywards program.

Its partners include Emirates’ Skywards and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, which ranked ninth and 11th place respectively.

Emirates Skywards recently announced the extension of its rewards to coveted premium economy seats, in a significant win for travellers.

“A lot of programs won’t let you redeem your points for premium economy and it’s a really popular cabin,” Ms Funk said.

At this stage, the offer is restricted to members of the Skywards program, but Emirates said it planned to expand it to other airline partners.

The success of KLM’s Flying Blue program centred on its reward seat availability and “pricing”, which Ms Funk described as “very reasonable”.

“They have dynamic pricing, like Qantas does for their non-Classic rewards (points plus pay) but their prices aren’t ludicrous – they’re sanity-based; it’s linked to supply and reward,” she said.

“They’ve also done a great job of their customer service which is phenomenal and they allow award holds which is very important. It means people can hold a reservation while they transfer points from American Express or Revolut.”

Qantas Loyalty chief executive Andrew Glance said the airline had unlocked more premium cabin Classic Reward seats with partner airlines in 2025, and boosted the number of points members earn when flying with Qantas.

“Our members have booked record numbers of reward seats using their points in the past year, showing the value members are getting from the program and investments we have made,” Mr Glance said.

Ms Funk said any program in the “top 10 or 15” could be considered a safe bet for travellers who should “pick the one that makes the most sense for your travel patterns”.

“I think they’re all really good programs,” Ms Funk said.

“We can say what is the most rewarding program and get very nuanced because we have so much data, but at the end of the day you’d be doing great with any in the top ten or 15

relative to this global list of 60.”

Originally published as Qantas rewards program climbs global ranks as customer service improves