Budget Airline Loyalty Programs: Are They Worth It?

The Economics of Budget Airline Loyalty

Full-service airline loyalty programmes reward spending with miles redeemable for flights, upgrades, and partner benefits. Budget airline loyalty programmes operate differently: they typically reward spending on flights and ancillaries with points, tier credits, or discounts redeemable primarily on future purchases with that same airline. The value proposition is narrower but can still be meaningful for travellers who fly a single budget carrier multiple times per year on the same regional network.

The critical question for any budget loyalty programme is whether the benefit exceeds what you would achieve by simply shopping around on price comparison sites for every booking. On a full-service carrier, loyalty status provides value through upgrades, lounge access, and partner benefits that have clear monetary value. On a budget carrier, loyalty benefits are almost entirely future purchase discounts — valuable only if you will definitely book more flights with that airline at prices that remain competitive even after discounting.

Two categories of budget loyalty programme exist: points-based programmes where accumulated points reduce future fares, and membership subscription models where an annual fee provides a flat discount on every booking. Both have distinct use cases, and several carriers now offer both in different markets.

Ryanair's MyRyanair and Subscription Products

Ryanair's basic MyRyanair account is free and provides no direct monetary benefits — it stores payment details and travel history. Ryanair has historically avoided a traditional loyalty programme because its commercial philosophy holds that the cheapest fare is the loyalty mechanism. If Ryanair is the cheapest airline on your route, you will book it regardless of points accumulation.

Ryanair Choice and Ryanair Plus subscription products (launched and revised multiple times between 2020–2024) have offered subscribers fee waivers on seat selection, priority boarding, and bag fees at flat monthly rates. The value calculation is straightforward: if you fly Ryanair four or more times per year with a cabin bag, any subscription that covers bag fee waivers pays for itself. However, Ryanair has periodically modified, discontinued, and relaunched these products — verify current availability and terms directly on Ryanair's website before subscribing.

The Ryanair credit card, available in some European markets in partnership with Mastercard, earns cashback on Ryanair purchases convertible to Ryanair credit. For frequent Ryanair travellers — particularly business flyers on the London–Dublin or London–Barcelona corridors — this effectively provides a 1–2 percent discount on all Ryanair spending with no annual fee in some versions. The card is not available in all markets.

Southwest Rapid Rewards: The Gold Standard of Budget Loyalty

Southwest Rapid Rewards is widely considered the most generous loyalty programme in US budget aviation. Points are earned at a rate that depends on fare tier (Wanna Get Away fares earn 6 points per dollar; Anytime fares earn 10 points per dollar; Business Select earns 12 points per dollar). Points are redeemed against flight prices at a fixed rate of approximately 1.5 cents per point, meaning 10,000 points are worth roughly $150 in flight value.

The Companion Pass is Southwest's most valuable benefit: once you earn 135,000 points in a calendar year (through flights, credit card spend, or partner activity), a designated companion flies with you free for the remainder of that year and the entire following year. This effectively halves the cost of all flights for couples or parent-child travellers. The points required to earn the Companion Pass have increased over the years but the benefit remains exceptional by any industry comparison.

Southwest's Rapid Rewards credit cards (issued by Chase) offer substantial sign-up bonuses and ongoing earning rates that can accelerate Companion Pass qualification. The Premier Business Card and Priority Card each have different annual fee structures and benefit profiles. For a household spending $30,000–$40,000 annually on credit cards and flying Southwest four to six times per year, the Companion Pass effectively provides thousands of dollars in free travel value annually.

A-List and A-List Preferred status within Rapid Rewards provides benefits that matter on Southwest specifically: priority check-in and boarding (critical given Southwest's open seating model), same-day standby processing, and bonus point earning rates. A-List requires 25 one-way flights or 35,000 tier qualifying points in a calendar year. For travellers flying Southwest weekly, this status is achievable and provides meaningful operational benefits.

easyJet Plus: A Practical Membership Product

easyJet Plus is an annual membership costing approximately £215 per year (2024 pricing, subject to change). Its benefits are specific and concrete: a dedicated fast-track security lane at most easyJet bases, a reserved overhead bin space (a dedicated front row for Plus members), one free allocated seat on every booking, and priority boarding. These benefits eliminate the most common friction points of budget air travel for frequent easyJet passengers.

The value calculation for easyJet Plus depends on your flight frequency and typical ancillary spend. If you fly easyJet eight or more times per year and typically pay £8–£12 for seat selection, the seat allocation savings alone cover £64–£96 of the membership cost. Priority boarding and bin space eliminate the anxiety of overhead space scarcity. At four flights per year the membership is marginal; at ten or more it is clearly worth it.

easyJet does not offer a traditional points-based loyalty programme. Unlike British Airways or Virgin Atlantic where frequent flying accumulates redeemable miles, easyJet Plus provides service benefits rather than monetary ones. This is either a feature or a limitation depending on your priorities: service benefits have guaranteed value on every flight, whereas points programmes require accumulation before any value is realised.

Wizz Discount Club and Wizz Priority

Wizz Discount Club costs approximately €29–€39 per year depending on market and provides a guaranteed discount on all Wizz Air fares (typically 10 percent), a reduced carry-on fee, and a reduced checked bag fee. For a traveller taking four Wizz Air flights per year at an average fare of €60, the 10 percent discount generates €24 in savings — nearly covering the membership cost before bag fee reductions are counted.

Wizz Multipass is a monthly subscription model launched in 2023 providing unlimited flights (subject to seat availability) on a specified domestic market (initially Hungary, Romania, and UK) for a flat monthly fee around €75–€99. For travellers who can fill seats at short notice and have flexible schedules, Multipass represents extraordinary value — effectively making every flight a marginal-cost decision. However, availability is limited to the lowest-priced remaining seats, and scheduling flexibility is essential.

WIZZ Go is Wizz Air's bundle product combining priority boarding, a cabin bag, and a checked bag at a price below the sum of their parts. For a traveller who always needs bag fees covered, booking WIZZ Go at time of purchase is almost always cheaper than adding components separately. Bundle values shift seasonally, so compare the bundle price against individual add-on prices at the time of booking.

Assessing Value: When Budget Loyalty Pays Off

The clearest case for a budget loyalty membership is when you fly the same carrier four or more times per year within a specific regional network. A London-based professional who flies easyJet to European cities for work meetings eight times annually, always needing an allocated seat and occasional priority boarding, will save £60–£100 on easyJet Plus compared to paying for each ancillary separately. The maths is simple and the benefit is immediate.

Budget loyalty programmes are rarely worth it for occasional flyers who use multiple carriers. If you fly twice per year and choose airlines primarily based on price, no single budget loyalty membership will recoup its cost. In this case, the better strategy is a cashback credit card that earns on all travel spending, combined with vigilant price comparison across carriers. A credit card offering 2 percent travel cashback earns more than most budget loyalty programmes for irregular flyers.

The strongest argument against budget loyalty programmes is lock-in risk. If you commit to easyJet Plus and then easyJet raises fares on your routes significantly or discontinues service to your city, you have paid for a membership that no longer delivers competitive value. Loyalty programmes create switching costs by design. Evaluate your local budget carrier competitive landscape annually before renewing any subscription — carrier pricing power and route availability change more rapidly in the budget segment than in the full-service market.