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As I passed through the US Immigration recently, when the official asked what I’m going to the US for, I replied, “I’m delivering a speech at an airline loyalty conference”. To which he casually exclaimed – “loyalty for airlines? I just go for the cheapest fare man!”. That gave me even more impetus to try and find the answer to the loyalty puzzle at the conference.
In late February, I spoke at the Loyalty11 conference, where a majority of the leading airline loyalty executives gather annually. This year, it was held in Dallas, and I managed to round up some key experts in airline loyalty business – from the stalwart AAdvantage program, to the soon-to-be started AirAsia’s loyalty program. And asked them just one question – what will have an impact on the future of airline loyalty. Here’s what they had to say:
What does the future of airline loyalty programs hold?
Looking through my notes from the conference, here are five indications towards the future (including some quotable quotes from the conference):
- “Loyalty is no longer defined by the repeat customer” – Tom Klein – President, Sabre
- There are three customer segments: the satisfied customer, the dis-satisfied customer and the loyalty customer. It’s the first airlines should try to convert to the last
- Airlines will only get a share of wallet if they have a share of heart
- The feedback airline loyalty programs get from social media channels than traditional feedback forms – Ryan Green, Southwest Airlines
- It will be interesting to sort loyalty members by their Klout scores (twitter influence) – Gabi Kool, Voila Rewards
