Loyalty Program is a popular topic at the Australian Frequent Flyer. All frequent flyer programs are essentially loyalty programs. But there are other non-airline loyalty programs, such as the loyalty programs associated with hotels.
Update: Since this article was written, United MileagePlus had added the ability for Premier qualifying credit to be earned for Virgin Australia flights. Some Australian-based frequent flyers were disappointed to discover, when the recent Virgin Australia-United partnership launched, that Virgin Australia flights will not earn premier qualifying credit with the United MileagePlus program. This means that, … Continued
Throughout the pandemic, most airline and hotel loyalty programs have offered free or easy status extensions to retain once-loyal customers and try to prevent them from switching to the competition when travel makes a comeback. But with travel starting to return with a vengeance and airport lounges getting full, is it now time to wind … Continued
Rex says its new frequent flyer program will be up and running by the third quarter of this year, in time for the launch of a new interline agreement with Delta Air Lines. Once it finally launches, Rex Flyer is set to offer frequent flyer points and access to lounges for frequent flyers in Sydney, … Continued
For many years, the loyalty program of IHG Hotels & Resorts was relatively uncompetitive when it came to status perks. Its former IHG Rewards program was fine as a program for accumulating points and burning them for free nights – especially back in the days of PointBreaks. But the benefits of IHG elite status were … Continued
Virgin Australia has renewed its focus on attracting business travellers and high-spending corporate flyers with the launch of a new loyalty program for businesses and a new invitation-only “Beyond” status tier. Virgin Australia launches Business Flyer The new Virgin Australia Business Flyer program launched last week, replacing the previous Accelerate loyalty program for small-to-medium businesses. Existing … Continued
Qantas has made it easier for businesses to achieve a higher level in its Qantas Business Rewards program, while also increasing the benefits offered with each tier. Changes include larger discounts on flights and Qantas Club membership, as well as a new Gold Accelerator offer. Qantas Frequent Flyer members who book through Qantas Business Rewards … Continued
Phil Hawkins has worked with loyalty programs since 1993, finishing his career recently as the Chief Operating Officer for Flybuys in Australia. With this amount of experience, Phil knows what makes a good (or bad!) loyalty program and what mistakes to avoid when designing loyalty programs and promotional offers. Ever wondered why retail loyalty programs … Continued
Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club program will adopt Avios as its main reward points currency from next month, in a surprise move that almost nobody in the industry anticipated. Privilege Club will remain the frequent flyer program of Qatar Airways. The Qatari airline’s frequent flyers will also continue to earn Qpoints for the purpose of earning … Continued
Velocity Frequent Flyer members will soon be able to convert their points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles again, with Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach promising to bring the option back within months. The ability to transfer points between the Velocity and KrisFlyer loyalty programs was a hugely popular program feature until it was suspended in April … Continued
Update: After we published this story, World of Hyatt has emailed “selected” members to offer them a status extension for another year with status now valid until February 2023. It is not clear which members are being offered this extension and it is not available to everyone. Over the past few months, almost every major … Continued
Singapore Airlines has given KrisFlyer members another lifeline, pausing the expiration of KrisFlyer miles until at least January 2023. Normally, unused Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles expire after three years regardless of your account activity. But with many KrisFlyer members grounded during the pandemic, Singapore Airlines has been progressively extending the validity of miles since April … Continued
Twelve days after Qantas Frequent Flyer announced it would launch a new Green tier to reward members for making sustainable choices, Etihad Airways announced that it is launching the “world’s first green loyalty programme”. While good news for the environment and Etihad Guest members alike, the “world first” claim is a little bizarre when neither … Continued
