FFP EXPO 2008       l      FFP CONFERENCE 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FFP Conference is co-organized by AIRLINE INFORMATION and GLOBAL FLIGHT

www.airlineinformation.org

www.globalflight.net

Airline Information: Copyright (2005-2008), All Rights Reserved

 

INDUSTRY IMPACT

MSNBC.COM:

12 APR 2007:

Backroom news on frequent flier programs

 

“Looks like your FFP conference proved to be a format for the future!"

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad

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COMMUNITY
 
 

"It was certainly good to meet you in YVR at the excellent FFP Conference, it was great to talk to so many different people in our FF community."

James Abbott, Air New Zealand
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

About the FFP Innovation Award

Over the past four years, FFP Conference and publications have have raised the standard for airline loyalty professionals. Now one of the most prestigious awards in the business, the FFP Innovation Award recognizes the innovative achievements of the airline loyalty community through peer voting.

Each airline operating an FFP has the opportunity to nominate itself for one specific FFP-related achievement. All airline FFP employees are then invited to vote for any nominated program, except for their own.  This year 22 frequent flyer programs from around the world submitted nominations describing their innovative developments and promotions during the fiscal year 2007.

The top five programs receiving the most votes from a community

of over 150 airlines were:

  • Aeroplan: Air Canada
  • Scandinavian Airlines: EuroBonus
  • Virgin Blue: Velocity
  • Emirates Airline: Skywards
  • Oman Air: Sinbad

 

 

 

FFP Innovation 2008 Gold - Winner: Aeroplan

Retail Ghost Cards. In early 2007, Aeroplan launched an exciting new member acquisition tool in the retail sector with its partner Home Hardware, one of the largest home improvement stores in Canada with 1056 participating locations nationwide, as well as pharmacy partner Uniprix with 157 participating locations.

The Ghost Card product is a real plastic Aeroplan member card with its own account number, but with no name attached. The card is packaged with information about the program and partners, and is offered by cashiers at the register for instant swiping to accrue Miles with their purchase. Members then register the 'ghost card' online following their transaction to assign the card to them individually, completing the enrolment process.

Extensive training, signage and collateral are implemented at the store level. As a result, Aeroplan has been able to enroll close to 300,000 members in just 12 months, accessing a critically valuable market segment for the airline - the leisure infrequent traveler. The ease of enrolment in a non-traditional channel, combined with the attractiveness of the expanding retail partner base of the program, allows the airline to market to highly valuable and engaged members of Aeroplan who often elude airline marketing efforts and would not traditionally be in a frequent flyer data base.
   
   
   

 

FFP Innovation 2008 Silver - Winner: Scandinavian Airlines: EuroBonus

In mid-2007 Scandinavian Airlines and its FFP EuroBonus launched the Award Seat Prognosis on their website. This is an online tool that helps EuroBonus members in their planning of redemption possibilities. The tool assists members with inquiries on the airline's inventory availability, such as where to go and when.

Up to 6 concurrent searches for different destinations can be made. The search result displays an approximate number of available seats, making it transparent for the member. The member can then move on to the booking engine and proceed with fulfilling their reward.

 

3rd Runner up: Virgin Blue: Velocity

Launching the 'Any Seat' redemption option for Air Partners. Velocity launched in November 2005 with an innovative 'any seat' redemption option for Virgin Blue flights. Our members loved the ease and flexibility that this offered so this year we extended the option to include any seat on any air partner, enabling our members to redeem on any seat to destinations all over the globe.

 

4th Runner up: Emirates Airline: Skywards

Skywards has always aimed to take membership benefits beyond just travel. Our latest product, 'The Emirates High Street' allows us to do just that while offering members a global and versatile reward option. Featuring an extensive range of global luxury brands and everyday life-style objects and accessories, The Emirates High Street is a reward catalogue offering members an extraordinary shopping experience. Available as a catalogue onboard all Emirates flights or through theemirateshighstreet.com, members can shop around the world from the comfort of their home.

They can choose to pay with Skywards Miles, cash or cash plus Miles and have their purchases delivered directly to their doorstep in over 60 countries. From iPods to ski experiences and even personal submarines, the collection has something for everyone. www.theemirateshighstreet.com Feedback to-date has been very positive with redemptions from members as far a field as New Zealand, USA, Japan and South Africa.

 

5th Runner up: Oman Air: Sinbad

With the objective of extending status and privileges particularly in the region of origin of most of our members and not being part of a global alliance, Oman Air is building its own alliance in the fast-developing Gulf region to expand on an intercontinental scale. Completing a comprehensive partnership agreement with Gulf Air whereby members not only earn/burn miles but also get reciprocal airport benefits, Etihad Airways became another airline in the region with whom Oman Air signed an FFP partnership agreement with in 2007. That makes an alliance of three mid-sized airlines of the five emerging ones in the region initiated by Oman Air. In addition to the code-share agreement with Gulf Air, Oman Air has also signed a code-share agreement with Emirates whereby it offers mileage earning benefits and some of the airport privileges to its members on the code-share flights.
 
 
 

Nomination and Voting Procedure

Any frequent flyer program may submit a single nomination for its own program. This nomination should outline one innovative achievement for the year 2007 that you think deserves recognition.

Choose any single achievement that seems appropriate to you, from particular program enhancements, back-office achievements, such as system upgrades to management challenges you’ve resolved successfully.

Voting Qualification

All airline loyalty professionals are invited to vote for the program they feel best deserves the Innovation Award. The program receiving most votes will be awarded FFP Innovation Gold and the second most votes will be awarded FFP Innovation Silver. Each airline employee can only vote once for another airline's program; votes for one’s own FFP will not be allowed.