Begin using the partner currency calculator by entering values in the ACCRUAL DATA section located on the left side of the screen.

(A) Enter how many points or miles you partner's members earned on flights operated by your airline in the first field.

(B) If applicable enter the percentage (x.xx) of excise tax that you are charged by the government of the partner carrier's country on the value of points accrued on your flights.

(C) Beside the tax field enter the (monetary) rate per point earned for partner members according to your agreement. (eg. 0.005 - half a cent or 0.01 - one cent).

(D) Enter how many points your members earned on flights operated by your partner. Below enter the rate for these points according to your agreement.

The input area for REDEMPTION DATA is located parallel to the accrual data on the right side of the screen.

(A) Start by entering the amount of points or miles that your partner's members redeemed on flights operated by your airline.

(B) Below that enter the rate per point redeemed according to your agreement (in some relationships this may be different from point accrual rates).

(C) Enter the amount of points or miles redeemed by your members on flights operated by your partner.

(D) Finally, in the field below enter the appropriate rate per points according to your agreement.

Notice: The REDEMPTION DATA input area does not have a field for excise tax. This is because some counties only charge airlines an excise tax on their partner member accruals on that airline's operated flights. The notion behind this taxation is that allowing for your partner's members to accrue points on your flights is a promotional device to gain ticket sales.

The FFP Currency calculator gives you an instant net performance readout. This is located in the burgundy box at the bottom of the calculator screen. It will indicate how much money you owe your partner, how much your partner owes you, and a point/mile differential that will instantly let you know if you can offer partner members more miles in the form of bonuses to increase traffic or if you are in a deficit.

The net performance box represents the true spirit of airline-to-airline loyalty partnerships. The ultimate goal should not be to earn profits from the sale of miles to your airline partner, but rather to attract new traffic and thus revenue by offering accrual opportunities on your flights. Secondly partnerships should help to increase loyalty and customer satisfaction by offering redemption on partner operated flights. At the same time, allowing for your partner's members to redeem on your flights adds the necessary mutual value to maintain a fruitful partnership. Besides aligning yourself with a partner with a complementary-sized member base and route network, performance within airline loyalty partnerships should be monitored closely in order to maintain relative fairness.

On behalf of Airline Information, Comarch, and the entire FFP Community, we trust you will find this calculator useful for both tactical and strategic management of your loyalty partnerships.