This article intends to provide the basic insights into the airlines’ loyalty programs to our readers who have not yet gathered experience with the travel programs but would like to learn more about advantages and benefits you can get when using them.
Nearly every airline in the world has its customer loyalty program nowadays. The conditions and the program quality vary significantly. Nonetheless, the right choice of the program can be useful for everybody, independent of the frequency and distance of your flights or the level of comfort you use to book on your trips.
In other words, even if you take a flight just occasionally every now and then (let’s say, once a year or even once every second year) you can still benefit from the right loyalty program getting free flights, upgrades, lounge access or other nice goodies from the airlines.
Some of you, being sensitive to data protection, might object that through participation in the loyalty program you would give too many insights into your travel behavior to the airline. Remember, that the data protection in this sense was eluded ages ago by amendments in the appropriate laws in most countries and regions: airlines have to get passengers data and communicate it to the countries of your flight; with your name they can track your flights, being a member of the program or not – you still have to use your traveler passport or your ID if you wish to purchase a flight ticket and to get on your flight. The loyalty programs do not change much in this data storage and usage by the airlines. But you, yourself, can get additional benefits when using it.
If you walked through the center of your city and saw a booth calling pedestrians and offering each of them a note of 100 USD/ EUR/ GBP without any conditions, would you take the note or refuse it? Something similar happens if you subscribe to an airline program. You just get additional benefits without revealing much more of your life compared to what the airlines know about you anyway.
What would be then the sense for the airlines offering such programs? Well, using their programs you become a more loyal customer and might tend to use the same airline again in the future instead of going to a competition. It’s mainly a question of customer retention and your growing loyalty towards the airline.
In general, every program contains two parts:
- Award part and
- Status part
While the first part targets equally all passengers, even those travelling occasionally, the second part is mainly something for frequent travelers. Today we’ll see how the award part of the airlines’ loyalty programs functions. In future articles you will then see also the status options and how to more easily reach different status levels. It is also planned to discuss different programs and stress differences between them as well as to show sweet points.
Surely, a general overview does not replace an individual consultation helping you to select the most suitable program depending on your location, destinations, travel frequency, distance, usually booked or desired cabin etc. Feel free to book a detailed consultation with us to discuss your individual needs:
You earn award miles or points as soon as you subscribe to a program and make your first flight. Even retrospective miles credits are possible with some airlines so that you can subscribe to the program after your trip and ask for the appropriate miles credit afterwards. Do not wait too long as retrospective credits are limited in time.
There are also other options for you to earn award miles. Nearly all airlines have signed partnerships with certain hotel chains or car rental companies which allow you to earn award miles when staying in the partner hotels or renting a car during your trips, no matter whether for business or leisure.
Many airlines offer award miles also for some shopping activities or subscriptions of some print media or you can just purchase your award miles (all this can be very useful in certain circumstances in order to get a nice place in a business or first class saving up to 70% and more on the regular ticket fare).
As you can see, you do not need to fly to get award miles on your account. There are often a lot of other possibilities for earning them.
At the same time, award miles of most of the programs do not remain valid for eternity. Except some few programs offering a life-long validity of award miles, most of the programs either let them unconditionally expire after a certain period of time or require some activity from your side in order to keep the miles valid. Depending on the airline, the extension can be ensured, for example, by one flight every second year or any activity in your miles account like a purchase of 1000 miles for about 10-15 euros every third year. Some airlines allow you to extend the award miles for a few months or a couple of years by paying an additional amount of money. With some of them you can extend the miles without limits and continue accumulating them, others say miles will definitely expire after its validity period or after the (paid) extension if you do not use them. This variety demonstrates again how different airlines programs can be and how important it is to select the right one depending on your flight habits.
Having sufficient miles in your account, you can purchase an award ticket, request an upgrade or an access to a business lounge on your flight, book a meal, pay for an additional luggage etc. In short: you can make your flight much more comfortable without needing to spend additional money for it or you can even get a completely free flight.
The most efficient usage of award miles (in regards of the offered value for the same number of miles) are award tickets in premium classes, like business or first.
In some programs you can easier reach the required quantity of award miles, as they can allow you to pool miles with other family members or friends or to transfer miles to each other.
The most people do not use just one single airline when travelling. In this case, alliances are a very comfortable way to earn award miles on the same account when using different airlines belonging to the same alliance.
As of today, there are three big alliances in the world:
- Star Alliance (25 member airlines: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels, COPA, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopean, EvaAir, LOT, Lufthansa, Shenzhen Airlines, South African Airways, Singapore Airlines, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Thai, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines)
- SkyTeam (18 member airlines: Aerolineas Argentias, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern, Delta, Garuda, ITA*, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, MEA, SAS, Saudia, Tarom, Vietnam Airlines, Xiamen Air)
- OneWorld (13 member airlines: Alaska, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, SriLankan Airlines)
If you subscribe to a loyalty program of one participating airline, you can earn your award miles (and status miles/ points as well) on flights with all airlines within the alliance. As an example: if you participate in the Lufthansa Miles & More program, you can earn award miles and status points on flights with all airlines within Star Alliance. No need to participate in different programs for it. On top of the participation in an alliance, airlines have bilateral code share agreements with airlines outside of the alliance, which makes your earning possibilities even bigger. Participating in Aeroplan of Air Canada, for example, allows you to earn miles on flights with 47 airlines in total. This can help you to faster earn a considerable number of miles on your account and at the same time to remain flexible in regards of the airline choice for your next flight.
As a hint: you do not need to subscribe to the program of the airline in your home country. It can happen that other programs within the alliance could be better suited to your needs.
Many airlines offer not only individual loyalty programs, but also special programs designed for small and medium-sized businesses. If you own a small business, you can subscribe to participate in such programs. Participation in an individual loyalty program and in a business one do not exclude each other. In the best case, you will benefit from earning miles or points in both programs on the same flight. Here as well: you do not need to subscribe to a business program of the same airline in which you have your individual membership. You can be a member of Aegean Miles+Bonus and your business can be registered with Partner Plus Benefit of Lufthansa, as an example.
Company programs are often less advantageous and have fewer participating airlines. For example, Partner Plus Benefit of Lufthansa has only 11 participating airlines which is not even the half of Miles & More airline partners, still it is one of the best developed business programs among the airlines.
With good planning and considering all possibilities you can have the best benefits for you and your business. Even if you travel just occasionally.
If you wish to optimize your benefits in airlines’ loyalty programs feel free to book a consultation with us:
