The 7 best airline loyalty programs in Europe

One way to make business travel a little more enjoyable is to collect loyalty points from airlines.

You can get access to nicer lounges, better seats at no cost, and sometimes even a free flight that you can put towards an upcoming vacation. Great, huh?

Every company travel policy has different guidelines around collecting and using loyalty points, so make sure to check with your travel manager or office manager first. A common rule of thumb is that it’s okay to choose your preferred carrier if the cost is not more than 10% greater than an alternative, but some companies request that you choose the lower-priced carrier every time - no matter what.

TravelPerk allows travelers to save their loyalty program numbers so that they get used whenever possible. The more loyalty programs, the merrier!

Below, you’ll find information on all of the best frequent flyer programs in Europe, including partner airlines, destinations, and rewards.

But how do you choose the right one? The only way to get great benefits is to fly often, so choose the program whose airlines you’ll frequently fly with.

Most airlines are part of alliances, and their loyalty program partners overlap. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you by selecting the best of the best programs.

Flying Blue

Flying Blue is the Air France and KLM frequent flyer program. One great thing about Flying Blue is that they allow you to collect points when flying with their many partner airlines. The program allows you to earn air miles for every euro spent - miles that can be used for class upgrades and new trips!

Certain tiers of Flying Blue also give you access to airport lounges and offer steep discounts on seat options. If Paris and Amsterdam are business travel hot spots for you, then there’s no reason not to sign up.

Partner Airlines:

AirFrance

KLM

Aircalin

HOP!

Joon

Tarom

Transavia

Kenya Airlines

Tiers & Benefits

Check out the different levels of this program and how to move up the ladder of benefits.

XP can be earned in many ways. E.g. you can get 5 XP on an economy flight under 2,000 miles and 36 XP on a business class flight over 5,000 miles. View all the ways to collect XP here.

Tier Name

Explorer

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Qualification

Free

100 XP (Experience Points)

180 XP

300 XP

Earn and spend miles with all partners

Use miles to upgrade in advance or on board

Earn miles per € spent on flights and options

Earn 4 Miles per € spent

Earn 6 Miles per € spent

Earn 7 Miles per € spent

Earn 8 Miles per € spent

Extra baggage allowance

Up to €10 discount on 1st paid check-in baggage on AirFrance, KLM and HOP!

1 extra baggage allowance on AirFrance, KLM and HOP!

Lounge access

With air miles

Free for you and a guest on international AirFrance and KLM flights

Priority check-in

Other awesome benefits from Flying Blue include free transfers for Gold and Platinum members from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Discover the full list of benefits here.

Flying Club

Brought to you by Atlantic arm of Virgin, the Flying Club also allows you to rack up flights for Delta Air. Unfortunately, tea with Sir Richard Branson is not part of the perks, but there are plenty of other cool rewards, such as exit row seats and premium check-in.

Always wanted to chillax in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse instead of your usual madhouse terminal at Heathrow? Now’s your chance. The swanky clubhouse isn’t just for first class flyers, it’s open to Gold Tier members of the Flying Club as well. So if British and Asian destinations are part of your regular routes with Virgin Atlantic, consider signing up. Even better, you’ll get free seat selection every time you fly.

Partner Airlines:

Virgin Atlantic

Delta Air Lines

Tiers & Benefits

Learn about the benefits of each tier and how to qualify.

Tier Name

Red Tier

Silver Tier

Gold Tier

Qualification

No qualifications

400 Tier Points per year (approximately 4 economy round-trip flights in one year)

1000 Tier Points (approximately 10 economy round-trip flights in one year)

Earn miles on every flight

Additional bonus miles on every flight

30%

60%

Spend miles on Reward Flights

Pay for flights with Miles Plus Money

Free seat selection ahead of your flight in Economy Light

Anytime for member only

Anytime for member and party

Complimentary Exit row seats in Economy Classic

Extra hand and hold baggage

Upper-Class check-in flying in any cabin

Premium check-in flying in any cabin

Exclusive Clubhouse passes for you plus one guest

One complimentary Clubhouse spa treatment plus 10% off thereafter

Access to London Heathrow Revivals Lounge

Little extras like bonus birthday miles and cabin upgrades (when you earn 2,000 Tier Points within a membership year) make this loyalty program enticing.

Learn more and get started by signing up for the Red Tier of the Flying Club.

Miles & More

If Zurich or Frankfurt (or just about anywhere in the U.S.) are regular destinations for you, then Miles & More is the right choice. With so many partners in the Star Alliance, it’d be almost silly not to sign up and start racking up points. The standout benefits of this program are the cabin upgrades and priority check-in. Better yet, you can redeem mileage points at over 300,000 hotels worldwide.

In any airline rewards program comparison, this one will rank towards the top, simply because there are so many big partner airlines.

Partner Airlines:

Lufthansa

SWISS

United

Brussels Airlines

Austrian Airlines

Eurowings

LOT Polish Airlines

Adria Airways

Croatia Airlines

Luxair

Condor

Turkish Airlines

Aegean Airlines

Air Astana

Air Canada

AirDolomiti

Air Malta

Asiana Airlines

Air New Zealand

Nippon Airways

Cathay Pacific

Avianca

Tiers & Benefits

Tier Name

Member

Frequent Traveler

Senator

HON Circle Member

Qualification

1 award mile

35,000 status miles or 30 scheduled

100,000 status miles in a calendar year

600,000 HON Circle miles in 2 consecutive calendar years

Miles don’t expire

Fly one class higher

2 vouchers for class upgrade upon status attainment and when status is extended

6 vouchers for class upgrade upon status attainment and when status is extended

Guaranteed booking

Up to 48 hours before departure in the highest booking class in Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy

Up to 24 hours before departure in the highest booking class in Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy

Waitlist priority

Third highest waitlist priority

Second highest waitlist priority

Highest waitlist priority

Preferential check-in

Business class check-in

First Class check-in or Premium check-in

Free baggage allowance

1 additional bag in Economy, 2 in Premium Economy, 3 in First Class

2 bags in Economy, 3 in Premium Economy, 4 in First Class

Lounge access

Business Lounge

Senator and Star Gold Lounges

Lufthansa First Class, SWISS First, and Austrian HON Circle Lounge, First Class Terminal in Frankfurt

Access to First Class

Only with First Class Ticket (Lufthansa, SWISS)

Regardless of service class (Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS)

Exclusive service hotline

Senator Tier card for spouse / partner

Learn more about the program and sign up here.

Executive Club

Partner Airlines:

British Airways

American Airlines

Cathay Pacific

Finnair

Iberia

Japan Airlines

LATAM

Malaysia Airlines

Qantas

Qatar Airways

Royal Jordanian

S7 Airlines

Sri Lankan Airlines

Tiers & Benefits

To get more benefits with the Executive Club, you need more Tier Points. It’s really complicated to calculate just how many Tier Points you’ll get for a flight, so complicated in fact, that there’s an online calculator you can use. For a quick understanding of how valuable Tier Points are, and how you can reach a new tier, a flight with British Airways from SFO to London Heathrow is 20 points with Economy Low and 90 points with Premium Economy.

While Tier points can help you get more benefits in new tiers, Avios is the name given to the points you spend on things like flights and cabin upgrades.

Tier Name

Blue

Bronze

Silver

Gold

Qualification

Free

300 Tier Points

600 Tier Points

1500 Tier Points

Priority check-in

Priority boarding

First Class check-in and boarding

Access to business lounges

Access to First Class lounges

Bonus Avios on every flight

25% bonus Avios

50% bonus Avios

100% bonus Avios

Free seat selection

24 hours before departure

7 days before departure

At time of booking

Additional baggage allowance

Gold Upgrade vouchers

Given at 2500 and 3500 Tier Points in a year

Pool Avios with a household account (including up to 6 people)

Avios can be spent on holidays, hotels, car hire and more. The fact that you can pool Avios together with a household of 6 makes this program a no-brainer for anyone who regularly travels with kids, in addition to the usual business travel grind.

TrueBlue

Want to get points for taking surveys? You can! Surveys aren’t very fun, but when you can earn points for them… they might be tolerable. The other way to earn points with TrueBlue is to fly JetBlue, so if that’s a regular carrier for you, then go ahead and sign up.

Partner Airlines:

JetBlue

Emirates

Hawaiian Airlines

Icelandair

Silver Airways

Singapore Airlines

South African Airways

Tiers & Benefits

Collect 3 points for every dollar spent. You can spend points on JetBlue Vacation packages, magazine subscriptions, and flights to Hawaii with Hawaiian Airlines (a great carrier to a great destination, by the way). You can also get bonus points for special things, such as receiving 7,000 points when you’ve booked 7 round-trip flights in a year.

Tier Name

TrueBlue

TrueBlue Mosaic

Qualification

Free

15,000 flight points in one year

No blackout dates for spending points

Use points for any seat, any time

Points don’t expire

Pool points with your family

No change or cancellation fees

1st and 2nd bag are free

Expedited security line

Early boarding

Earn points on every flight

3 per dollar spent

6 per dollar spent

Dedicated customer service line

Complimentary alcoholic beverages onboard

Aeroflot Bonus

The Aeroflot Bonus program includes lots of great European airlines including AirFrance and KLM. Choose this over Flying Blue if you often travel to Russia or China or one of the other countries served by these partner airlines. Aeroflot Bonus points can be used towards hotel bookings and shopping sprees. Get to the top tier of the program, and you’ll receive 3 class upgrade vouchers!

Partner Airlines:

Aeroflot

Aerolíneas Argentinas

AirFrance

AeroMexico

AirEuropa

Alitalia

China Airlines

China Eastern Airlines

China Southern Airlines

Czech Airlines

Delta

Garuda Indonesia

KLM

Kenya Airways

Korean Air

MEA

Saudia

Tarom

Vietnam Airlines

XiamenAir

Tiers & Benefits

Tier Name

Aeroflot Bonus

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Qualification

Free

25,000 miles

50,000 miles

125,000 miles

Lounge access

Priority check-in

Expedited security line

Priority boarding

Priority service at ticket/transfer desks

Extra baggage allowance

Priority baggage drop off

In advance seat reservation

Economy class seats with more space

50% off the cost

Free

Service class upgrades

3 upgrades allowed during Tier duration

Guaranteed paid booking on fully booked flights

Priority waitlist for paid bookings

Extra bonus miles for all flights

+25%

+50%

+75%

Learn more about Aeroflot Bonus and sign up here.

Norwegian Reward

Do you fly with Norwegian often? Great, then this rewards program will make your day. They don’t have any partner airlines so you’ll need to use Norwegian regularly to get a lot of value here. That said, you can also earn their “CashPoints” on Norwegian Hotels, all car rentals in France, Italy, and the US, and with their many partners like GetYourGuide and Groupon.

Partner Airlines:

Norwegian

Benefits

Norwegian doesn’t have different tiers. Instead, they allow you to rack up CashPoints from flights, hotels and Groupon purchases and then spend those points on expedited security lines, free seat reservation, free baggage, Premium upgrades and more.

For every sixth flight with Norwegian, in addition to banking points, you get 1 Reward, which gives you +2% CashPoints on every flight (or partner purchase) thereafter.

Next, when you book 6 flights again, you can use that for free expedited security on all future flights, or free seat reservation on all future flights.

What’s really inventive about this program, is that you don’t have to fly internationally 20 times a year to get really cool perks. You can quickly earn benefits - one flight, one benefit.

Go here to learn more about Norwegian’s inventive, one-of-a-kind rewards program.

Do you fly frequently for business travel? Do you wish you could book your own flights instead of dialing a travel agent or sending an email to your office manager? TravelPerk makes it easy for business travelers to book their own flights within policy. And even better, we allow you to save your loyalty program information, so you can easily add it on to every booking and get those points!

The best airline loyalty programs in Europe

Most airlines are part of alliances, and their loyalty program partners overlap. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you by selecting the best of the best programs.

Flying Blue

Partner Airlines:

Tiers & Benefits

Flying Club

Partner Airlines:

Tiers & Benefits

Miles & More

Partner Airlines:

Executive Club

Partner Airlines:

Tiers & Benefits

TrueBlue

Partner Airlines:

Tiers & Benefits

Aeroflot Bonus

Partner Airlines:

Tiers & Benefits

Norwegian Reward

Partner Airlines:

Benefits

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