CRM / Loyalty
Airlines give their best customers access to branded zones at cinemas and events
8 December 2011 | IKEA stores in Canada feature ‘green parking’ spaces close to the entrance that are reserved for drivers of hybrid cars and fuel-efficient vehicles. Credit card companies such as Amex and Mastercard have been opening airport lounges for their members (at for example Toronto and Budapest airports). UK mobile operator 02 gives its customers exclusive access to concert tickets up to 48 hours before general release, while Palmeiras, one of the major football teams in Brazil, reserves 5,000 seats exclusively for Visa Card customers. Called the ‘Visa Sector’, the section has a lounge, restaurant, bars, plasma TVs and other perks.
Coined by trendwatching.com as ‘Perkonomics’, these initiatives are part of a new breed of perks and privileges that are added to brands’ regular offerings in order to satisfy consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience. Several airlines have also jumped on the ‘perkonomics’ bandwagon by offering more inclusive perks for members of their loyalty programs.
Cine TAM
Cine TAM is a cinema owned by Brazil’s TAM Airlines. In 2007, the airline transformed a former theater in the Santo Amaro neighborhood of Sao Paulo into a TAM-branded cinema. The design of the four-screen cinema is inspired by the jet-set era of the 1960s, and for example features several ‘ball chairs’ in the entrance hall, while the theater’s screens are named Londres (London), Nova York (New York City), Milão (Milan), and Paris. Red and Black members of TAM’s Fidelidade frequent flyer program, as well as holders of TAM co-branded credit cards, receive a standard discount of 50 percent on film tickets, can make use of a preferential queue when buying tickets at the box office, and are invited to attend exclusive premieres. TAM commercials are shown before each movie.
Air France-KLM Kinepolis
On a similar note, albeit on a much smaller scale, Air France-KLM offers members of its Flying Blue loyalty program the chance to reserve one of the airline’s VIP seats at the Kinepolis cinema in Brussels, Belgium. Amenities of the so-called ‘Air France-KLM VIP Lounge’, include 4 comfortable “Business Class” aircraft seats, a cooled bottle of champagne and a mini-bar. The perk is reserved for Flying Blue members (silver tier and higher) residing in Belgium, who can book the cinema lounge twice a year.
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Estonian Air’s social loyalty program rewards fans for online promotion
14 November 2011 | One of the most compelling aspects of location-based social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook Places are their game dynamic, which rewards users with virtual badges for checking into venues repeatedly, thereby promoting a venue or brand to their friends through Facebook and Twitter. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Virgin America and JetBlue have launched campaigns that reward their fans and followers for ‘checking in’ into their virtual venues.
Gamification
The initiatives by these airlines are early steps in what is called the ‘gamification’ trend, which is described by JWT as “Brands applying game mechanics –incentives and rewards such as leader boards, leveling, stored value, privileges, superpowers, status indicators, etc.– to non-gaming spaces in an attempt to drive certain actions or behaviors.” Gamification can encourage people to perform taks that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites, and according to trendwatching.com it taps into basic human needs: “Fun and entertaining, games allow players to visualize progress, while satisfying fundamental needs and desires – for reward, status, achievement, self-expression, competition, and altruism.” For more on ‘gamification’, we recommend reading ‘Gamification 101: The Psychology of Motivation’.
Social loyalty
Moving beyond location-based reward schemes such as TopGuest, companies such as Badgeville, CrowdTwist, Gamify and Manumatrix have created ‘white label’ social loyalty platforms that allow members to earn points, unlock badges, and be featured on a leaderboard as they engage in various activities such as watching videos, commenting on articles, reviewing, “Liking” or tweeting products and promotions, posting photo’s on Instagram, and participating in polls. Examples of social loyalty programs include ‘Samsung Nation’ and the upcoming Hilton Social HHonors (site is not yet live).
Estonian Air ‘AirScore’
In late October 2011, Estonian Air, flag-carrier of the tiny but internet-savvy Baltic nation, became the first airline in the world to launch a social loyalty programme on Facebook, rewarding its customers and fans for being strong advocates online. Called AirScore, the scheme allows customers and fans to get rewards for promotional actions such as sharing a review of the airline or tweeting a deal. Read full article »
Qantas’ epiQure community connects food-loving frequent flyers
1 September 2011 | Despite the large number of travel-related social networks around, several airlines have launched social networks of their own in the past years. Think BA’s Metrotwin, Virgin Atlantic’s vtravelled.com, Air France-KLM’s Bluenity and American Airlines’ BlackAtlas.com. Other airlines, such as KLM (Club China, Club Africa, Flying Blue Golf), Lufthansa (Miles & More MemberScout), BA (Face-to-Face, and Etihad (Golf Club, IndiaConnect) have launched business-oriented social networks for members of their frequent flyer programs.
The fortunes of these communities have been mixed, as shown by a lack of conversations between members and outdated feature content. The basic idea f an airline-facilitated online community makes sense though, as the airline business is essentially about connecting people. The latest kid on the block is Qantas, which in June 2011 launched a community build around food and wine.
Qantas epiQure
Aiming to tap into its 7.8 million members-base, Qantas Frequent Flyer, the loyalty program of Qantas, has launched EpiQure as a more in-depth feature of its existing program. Combining the online community with real-life events, the wine and food community gives members access to “on-line forums to gain knowledge from industry experts, wine selected by the Qantas Wine Panel, personalised winery tours in every Australian wine region and invitation to dinners with globally renowned chefs.” Among the Australian chefs to be part of the community is Qantas in-flight consultant and celebrity chef, Neil Perry, who designed the airline’s international in-flight menu.
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Airline ‘fare clubs’ offer regular travellers a standard discount
7 July 2011 | As ancillary fees for checked baggage, priority boarding, extra legroom seats, etcetera, become more commonplace in the airline industry, several airlines have been introducing branded/bundled fares and annual ancillary subscriptions as a next step. United Airlines, for example, offers unlimited checked baggage for USD349 a year, while airBaltic recently introduced a similar fee in partnership with luggage brand Samsonite. Another category are ‘fare clubs’, which for an annual fee, provide regular travellers with a standard discount or access to member-only fares.
Wizz Air ‘Xclusive Club’
Wizz Air, a low-cost airline from Poland that offers flights from several bases in Central and Eastern Europe, has recently launched a new membership program called Wizz Xclusive Club. For an annual fee of EUR 29.99, Wizz Xclusive Club members get exclusive access to a pool of tickets that can be cheaper by up to 10 EUR per one-way flight than regular prices. Up to 9 passengers can be booked together with the Xclusive Club member on the same reservation and benefit from the discounted fares. Wizz Air is the first airline in Europe to offer a ‘fare club’ and says that in the first two weeks following the rollout, almost 50 thousand customers signed up.
Spirit Airlines ‘$9 Fare Club’
Wizz Air seems to have been inspired by Florida-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which in 2008 launched its ‘$9 Fare Club’. Spirit guarantees a member-only sale, with ticket prices as low as a few dollars, at least once every six weeks, but usually offers at least one sale per week. The special fares are offered on a first come, first serve basis and travellers flying on the same ticket will receive the members-only fare as well. Annual membership of the $9 Fare Club costs USD59.95, but those who sign up for a Spirit-branded MasterCard also obtain a free membership to the $9 Fare Club.
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Lufthansa gives its virtual fans real discounts on A380 flights
26 May 2011 | In early May 2011, Lufthansa’s 7th A380 entered into daily service on the Frankfurt – San Francisco route. To promote its A380 destinations in the USA – New York, San Francisco and Miami (from 10 June 2011 on) – Lufthansa has launched a Facebook campaign in which it offers its virtual fans a real, tangible, reward.
Facebook members can book a virtual flight on a Lufthansa A380 flight from the USA to Frankfurt, and the more ‘likes’ their flight gets, the bigger the discount voucher.
How it works: Participants must ‘like’ Lufthansa on Facebook, submit a ‘virtual flight’ by selecting an origin and destination from Lufthansa’s timetable, get their Facebook friends to ‘like’ their virtual flight within a 24 hour time period that begins upon the submission of the virtual flight. Participants who create a virtual flight but receive less then 10 ‘likes’ on Facebook automatically receive a USD25 discount voucher, with the amount rising to USD50 with 10 to 29 ‘likes’, USD75 with 30 to 59 ‘likes’, while those who get 60 friends to like their A380 flight, receive a USD100 discount voucher. A maximum of 15,000 discount vouchers will be awarded in each denomination and a purchase is required to use the discount voucher.
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Malaysia Airlines lets members book, check-in and select their seat via Facebook
2 March 2011 | Malaysia Airlines in partnership with technology provider SITA have launched a new Facebook application, called MHbuddy, that allows users to search, book and pay for flights with the airline directly through Facebook. Malaysian is not the first to introduce such functionality (see “Delta first airline to sell tickets on Facebook”), but the airline has gone several steps further by integrating the booking process with the user’s Facebook profile, allowing members of the popular social network (over 800 million active users worldwide) for example to identify friends who might be on the same flight.
Says Amin Khan, Executive VP Commercial Strategy at Malaysia Airlines, “Our passengers are spending more and more time using social networks. […] With MHbuddy we are pleased to provide our fans an easy way to book a ticket without having to leave Facebook. In doing so, we have also opened another distribution channel for ticket sales.”
The Social Flight
During the search and booking phase, Facebook users can open an additional box to see if any of their Facebook friends are on the same flight or expected to be in the same destination during the selected period. Users can then send a message to notify friends of their trip plans.
For the outbound flight, passengers can also check-in from within the Facebook module, and obtain an email booking reference and boarding pass or, on domestic routes, an SMS mobile boarding card. And here it gets really inventive: At this stage users are also shown any seats which have been selected by friends who are travelling on the same flight, so they can choose to pick nearby seat. With this feature Malaysia Airlines and SITA take a first step towards Internet guru Jeff Jarvis’ concept of ‘The Social Flight’, an idea which is also behind social network Satisfly.
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The Next Frontier: KLM to sell tickets for suborbital space flights
23 November 2010 | KLM has partnered with Space Experience Curacao (SCX), a commercial suborbital space flight venture planning to operate out of its Space Port on the Caribbean island of Curacao. SCX will offer passengers a few minutes of weightlessness beyond Earth’s atmosphere and a view of the planet from about 105 km (65 miles) above ground. KLM has registered for the first flights from the island in the Dutch Antilles and also will be supporting future suborbital flights through promotion and sale of the tickets, for example as part of vacation packages to Curacao. The airline will also enable frequent fliers to put their points toward flights into space. KLM CEO Peter Hartman said of the new suborbital spaceflight partnership: “It is a fantastic project that totally fits the pioneering spirit of KLM.” A KLM spokeswoman said the airline still had to work out exactly what the criteria would be to earn a space flight ticket — which sells for EUR70,000 (USD95,000).
XCOR ‘Lynx’
Space Experience Curacao was founded in 2008 by a former commander of the Royal Dutch Air Force and an air force test pilot and has backing from private equity investors and Hato International Airport in Curacao. The company signed a deal in October 2010 to lease a sub-orbital spacecraft called the ‘Lynx’ and a pilot from U.S-based XCOR Aerospace,. The Lynx takes off and lands horizontally and is designed to fly to over 100 km in altitude up to four times per day. The spacecraft has just two seats, meaning that it can carry just one passenger at a time who is sitting right up front like a co-pilot, instead of in back. The total flight time would be about 30 minutes, with the passenger experiencing just over four minutes of weightlessness. To see how an XCOR suborbital flight would look like, see this video (recommended). Pending U.S. government approvals for the spacecraft, Space Experience Curacao hopes to start flights in January 2014. Read full article »
Qantas unveils iPhone app for frequent flyers, adds augmented reality
21 October 2010 | As the number of airlines that have rolled out applications (apps) for mobile devices such as the iPhone grows (around 30 at last count), the types of apps are becoming more specific. Qantas has just released a dedicated app for the seven million members of its ‘Frequent Flyer’ loyalty program. Standard elements of the carrier’s new iPhone app include access to current point balance and personal profile, features which are also offered by several ‘general’ apps of other airlines.
Earn and burn
The main focus of the Qantas Frequent Flyer app, however, is to show members the wide range of earn and burn options of the loyalty program. In the past years, Qantas has been turning its frequent flyer program into one with a broader appeal, and in 2009 teamed up with Australia’s largest retailer Woolworths to combine their loyalty programs. Qantas’ objective is to turn Frequent Flyer into Australia’s dominant loyalty program, much like Aeroplan in Canada. Aeroplan, which manages Air Canada’s loyalty program, was spun off from the airline via an IPO in 2005, and today Aeroplan’s market value is more than three times that of Air Canada.
Points goals
The Qantas Frequent Flyer app has a number of interesting features. Users can ‘flip’ easily – ‘iTunes style’ – through award flights (including an estimate of the surcharges, fees and taxes payable) and through a large catalogue of non-flight awards, to find out how many points they need. Based on their preferred flights or goods, members can set themselves points goals, track progress, and get notified once their goal has been achieved. It is also possible to let others know via Facebook and Twitter when a points goal has been reached. Read full article »
Airlines, airports and hotels experiment with location-based social networks
16 August 2010 | Airlines, airports and hotels are starting to embrace the latest trend in social media: location-based social networks. The most popular platform is currently Foursquare, which has 2.7 million users worldwide (of which 60% in the U.S.) and is adding 100,000 users per week. Foursquare allows members to share their current physical location with friends via their gps-enabled cellphone when they enter a new location, a procedure also known as ‘checking-in’. Foursquare just reached 100 million ‘check-ins’ and says that the most popular venues are transit-related locations such as airports and train stations.
An important social status element of foursquare are ‘badges’. Points are awarded for ‘checking in’ at a locations, and by checking in frequently, visiting specific locations, or performing tasks members can earn badges. For example, the ‘Jetsetter’ badge can be earned by visiting an airport 5 times, and the ‘Airport’ badge can be earned by visiting 5 different airports.
Since early August 2010, foursquare users can also check-in at 30,000 feet. Passengers in the U.S who use Gogo’s inflight Internet service can earn a special foursquare ‘Mile High Badge’, once they connect. Gogo is hoping that foursquare users will be tempted to try out its WiFi service if they know that they will receive a special badge for using it, as many foursquare users are avid badge hunters. Read full article »
Qantas unveils ‘next generation’ check-in for its frequent flyers
26 July 2010 | Qantas has unveiled what it calls a ‘next generation’ check-in experience. The new ground service provides premium Qantas passengers on domestic flights with a smart card-based check-in, as well as electronic bags tags that keeps track of their luggage. The new check-in is designed by renowned designer Marc Newson who earlier created Qantas’ A380 cabin and its first class lounges.
The ‘next generation’ check-in will be trialled from August 1st in Perth among 100,000 Qantas premium Frequent Flyer members, who will receive a new smart chip-embedded Qantas Frequent Flyer card, called the ‘Q Card’. Passengers arriving at the airport who have not already checked in either online or on their mobile, can check in simply by tapping their Q card against a scanning point. A visual alert confirms a successful check-in, and the frequent flyer card is turned into an electronic boarding card, which the passenger can use to self-board at the gate. Travelers also receive a confirmation SMS with details such as seat number, departure gate and boarding time. Read full article »
‘On the Fly’ course teaches travelers how to make the most of frequent flyer programs
22 June 2010 | There is no shortage of online help for frequent flyers to help make sense of the often complex and often changing policies in airline loyalty programmes. Websites such as Flyertalk, FrequentFlier.com, InsideFlyer and ExpertFlyer.com aim to help travelers make the most of frequent flyer programs, often by letting community members help eachother.
Now, Nicholas Kralev, who has flown more than 1.5 million miles during the past decade in his job as the diplomatic correspondent and business travel columnist for The Washington Times, has launched a smart ‘feeder business’ concept: ‘On the Fly’ seminars, named after his weekly column in the Washington Times, are real-life ‘frequent flyer 101’ courses that aim to educate participants on the best ways to benefit from frequent flyer perks when traveling.
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British Airways and Air New Zealand latest airlines to launch online business communities
14 April 2010 | Realizing they are not only in the business of taking passengers from one destination to the other, but that they are rather connecting people, a number of airlines have launched social networks of their own in the past years. Think BA’s Metrotwin, Virgin Atlantic’s vtravelled.com, Air France-KLM’s Bluenity and American Airlines’ BlackAtlas.com. Other airlines, such as KLM (Club China, Club Africa, Flying Blue Golf), and Lufthansa (Miles & More MemberScout) have launched business-oriented social networks for members of their frequent flyer programs.
British Airways has just launched an online ‘Face-to-Face Community’ for small business professionals in the U.S, as part of its ‘Face-to-Face’ campaign. Initiated in July 2009, the airline’s ‘Face-to-Face’ program solicited stories from U.S small and medium companies on how a face-to-face meeting overseas would help them during the recession. The 1,000 winning entries received free travel on three special BA flights from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to London and beyond to make their meetings a reality. BA says the people who went on the first Face-to-Face trips at that time asked how they could stay in touch with each other, hence the online network.
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Air New Zealand’s ‘Airpoints Fairy’ honours a wish a day
23 February 2010 | Air New Zealand (ANZ) has come up with a clever way to surprise members of its Airpoints frequent flyer program. ANZ’s ‘Airpoints Fairy’ once a day pubicly will grant a customer’s wish. ANZ Airpoints members can make wishes via Twitter and hope that ANZ’s ‘Airpoints Fairy’ will honour their request. Says the Airpoints Fairy: “You can wish for whatever you want, but I can only grant wishes for Airpoints members. Most wishes I grant are related to Airpoints or a few other services Air New Zealand offer.”
The wishes that are granted can be big or small, and wishes so far have included requests for 500 Airpoints, lounge passes, to several requests for elite status upgrades and free flights. In order to get the Airpoints Fairy’s attention for their wish, some members have been getting very creative, like this lovely request to the Airpoints Fairy via YouTube. All in all this is a great way for ANZ to make its Airpoints program top of mind for its members and strenghten the ties with a daily random act of kindness.
Etihad and Lufthansa launch loyalty apps for the iPhone
13 January 2010 | There are travel-related iPhone applications (apps) abound, devoted to everything from ticket search and booking (Kayak), airport codes (Airport Codes), airport gates (GateGuru), airplane seating charts (Airline Seat Guide), to flight tracking (FlightTrack), flight delays (Flight Tracker), and aircraft specifications (aeroguide).
Compared with the above, the list of airline-branded apps remains relatively sparse. British Airways led the way in July 2008 with the first iPhone app launched by an airline. Qantas soon followed suit, while Air Canada became the first North American carrier to launch an application. Other airlines that have launched iPhone-based services include Lufthansa, Swiss, Southwest, Cathay Pacific, DragonAir, Viva Macau, and Air New Zealand. Apps from these airlines mainly provide general travel information, such as timetables, and the ability to change booking details. Some airlines also offer the passengers the ability to check in, or let them check their FFP mileage balance. For a full overview of airline iPhone apps, see this blog by mvolution (in German). Lately, airline applications have been getting more specific, with Virgin Atlantic’s ‘Flying without Fear’ app, and Air New Zealand’s mobile boarding pass app.
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Delta and Continental latest airlines to introduce uber-elite loyalty tier
17 December 2009 | In order to recognize their highest-value customers, several major airlines maintain unpublished programs that operate as ‘top tiers’ to existing frequent-flier plans. These über-elite tiers are often by invitation-only and offer VIP-perks such as personal concierges, exclusive express check-in lines at airports, access to high-end lounges even when the customer flies economy, and personal escorts to help travelers make tight connections.
Airlines don’t discuss the selection process to get in these programs, and only say that a small number of passenger are invited based upon their annual spending in addition to mileage earned. For example, United Airlines’ 6-year-old Global Services program is granted to no more than 20,000 of United’s estimated 1 million elite Mileage Plus members. Says a United spokesperson: “It’s like the American Express black [invitation-only] Centurion card: We try to keep the mystique.”
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