Why the Survival of the Airlines Depends on Frequent Flyer Programs

Credit cards and frequent flyer miles. In 1981, when American Airlines became the first major airline to launch a frequent flyer program, executives wouldn’t have been able to predict that this innovation would one day become the difference between an airline that was profitable and one that wasn’t. But that’s precisely what’s happened. In 2018, Am

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For example: there are programs that allow customers to earn points for following a brand or for writing a product review. This sort of bribery usually attracts the least loyal - and least valuable - audience who is mostly interested in the positive transaction utility and has a low brand investment (once they claim a reward, they can unfollow the ... See more

The irony of most of today’s loyalty programs is that they aren’t about loyalty at all. They have more to do with economic calculation and gain management than with the true affinity for a brand.