other airlines calculate their fares. This will also reduce transparency, according to analysts. In-demand flights will cost more points, although the reverse will also apply for less popular destinations and dates. This emphasises just how complex reward schemes have become. Even Randy Petersen, the veteran commentator on frequent-flyer schemes and founder of the Frequent Flyer Services website, admits: “It’s really confusing, especially as the average person gets carried away by all the special bonuses, which means they’re not looking at the details.”
REAPING THE REWARDS But while certainly confusing, the real elephant in the room remains exactly who should get the benefits – the company that pays for the flights or the traveller who puts up with the inconvenience of travel and being away from home and family? The airlines, of course, insist the individual traveller named on the ticket gets the rewards, rather than the corporate entity that paid for it. But schemes such as BA’s On Business do recognise that the company should also get some reward.
The real elephant in the room remains exactly who should get the benefits
However, a straw poll of travel buyers in-
dicates that some companies do take a hard line with rewards. “All frequent-flyer miles are used to keep travel costs down and all employees have to give them back to the company,” says a buyer at a pan-European retail products franchisor. “We only use the reward points to buy free tickets – not for upgrades or anything else.” Yet a buyer at a London-based adver- tising agency is more relaxed about the issue, revealing that “employees may retain frequent-flyer benefits for personal use, although airline selection must not be compromised by this”.
One issue that does come up in negotia-
tions with the airlines over corporate deals is matching the status of the employee in
REWARDING SMEs
EASYJET’S FLIGHT CLUB scheme is invitation- only. Rewarding its best customers (who take a minimum of 20 flights a year and book through its website), it includes a ‘best price’ guarantee and no fees for flight changes.
Easyjet has been testing the scheme in the UK, France and Switzerland since mid- 2014, and these countries have been the first to see the loyalty programme officially introduced. Flight Club will probably be most useful to travellers working in SMEs. British Airways was among the first to recognise this market when, in 2009, it launched On Business,
28 BBT MAY/JUNE 2016
France, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Czech Airlines, Delta and Korean Air – all target this market.
a loyalty programme specifically aimed at small companies which did not have sufficient volume of business for a traditional corporate deal with the carrier. Last year BA relaunched the scheme, with a three-tier points system based on spend.
Travellers registered with BA’s Executive Club can also earn Avios points on the same flights.
Other airlines have also established reward schemes for small companies, usually as part of their existing alliances. Six members of the Skyteam alliance – Air
The Star Alliance also now operates Partner Plus Benefit, involving 11 of its member airlines, which replaced the alliance’s Company Plus scheme early in 2014. The main change of the revamped scheme was that points are awarded on all flights – previously discounted tickets were not eligible. Middle Eastern carriers have also embraced the small company/employee rewards concept: Emirates with Business Rewards, Etihad’s Business Connect and Qbiz from Qatar Airways.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
any switch of airlines, says CTM director Stuart Birkin. “Any corporate will face chal- lenges if they move from one preferred carrier to another and then start the points/ status of the traveller from scratch. As part of the negotiations, travel managers should be factoring in status match programmes for key travellers and fast-track status promotions for other employees.” In the final analysis, perhaps the more surprising development in the airline loyalty world has been the recent conversion by Europe’s two biggest airlines (in terms of international passenger numbers) to the appeal of frequent-flyer programmes after years of eschewing them. Not only is Easyjet now rewarding top customers with its new Flight Club loyalty scheme (see panel, below) but rival Ryanair last month followed suit with My Ryanair Club, whose benefits for regular travellers includes discounts and a free return flight when a dozen flights are booked in a year. Yet this is not Ryanair’s first ever loyalty scheme: back in 1988 it launched its Frequent Flyer Club (and even a business class) before both were ditched a year later for being unprofitable – by a then fledgling director called Michael O’Leary.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128