Marketing Factoids

  • Music sales in the United States will decline to $9.2 billion in 2013, from $10.1 billion this year. source ›
  • Acquiring a new customer costs about five to seven times as much as maintaining a profitable relationship with an existing customer source ›
  • Consumers ages 18 to 27 say they use the Internet nearly 13 hours a week, compared to viewing 10 hours of TV source ›
  • more factoids ›
APR 1

Award Plans Earn Cash for Airlines

New York Times, April 1, 2008 — Travelers have been complaining more often about frequent flier programs — namely, the lack of award seats on desirable flights, escalating fees for ostensibly free tickets and quicker expiration dates for miles.

The airlines counter that they are giving away more awards than ever, despite generally fuller planes, and that most programs allow members to book any open seat on any flight, albeit in exchange for more miles.

In a sense, both sides are right. But this debate misses a fundamental change that has occurred in the economics of frequent flier programs in the last decade. What began 27 years ago as a way to win the loyalty of travelers has turned into a lucrative business for the airlines.

Category: Marketing Strategy
Tag: Loyalty Programs

Add Your Comment

(required)
(required)



(to prevent comment spam)
 


Any HTML in your comment will be removed upon submission. All comments are moderated, and it may take up to 24 hours for your submission to be approved and published. The BackPocket editors reserve the right to edit or remove comments at any time and for any reason.

Subscribe to comments on this article