Air France-KLM Understands Loyalty. Can It Resist The Urge To Destroy Flying Blue?

As both British Airways and Lufthansa transform their frequent flyer programs to reward big spenders while gaslighting their most loyal flyers, Air France-KLM can go in a very different direction with its Flying Blue loyalty program. But can it resist the urge to mimic its fiercest competitors?

Air France-KLM Flying Blue Stands At The Crossroads Of Loyalty – Will It Make The Same Mistakes As British Airways And Lufthansa?

I have written fondly in the past about Benjamin Lipsey, the Senior Vice President for Customer Loyalty at Air France-KLM. He’s a fellow Flyertalker and av-geek…he gets it. He understands the “irrationality” that drives loyalty and seems to understand the importance of having a loyal program, not a program that simply recognizes the biggest spenders.

He recently sat down with CNN (thanks to One Mile At A Time for sharing this story) and explained the “irrationality” of loyalty programs.

“A rational consumer would take the cheapest flight at the best time. From a psychology perspective, [loyalty programs] are about trying to stimulate irrational behavior.”

But context is important. Why wouldn’t a customer take the cheapest flight at the best time? Well, if she could score an upgrade or enjoy lounge access or checked baggage or priority boarding, or all of the above by paying a little more or connecting in Frankfurt instead of Paris or Houston instead of Dallas, is it really that irrational?

The problem for us “gamers” (I don’t like that label, but I will begrudingly accept it) is that planes are running full, airlines have smartly montetized premium cabin fares, and there simply isn’t the bandwith for such rewarding programs any longer…they are unecessary when people are buying premium cabins tickets without any loyatly status, negating the complimentary ugprades that used to be commonplace but lately are more like a needle in a haystack.

And yet concentrating all flying into one program may still make sense if you do enough of it. Per Lipsey:

“It’s important to let customers feel they can find gamification opportunities. If you do London-Paris-New York, or London-Amsterdam-Tokyo, by connecting you achieve status more easily. Me personally, I’m happy with that.”

Gamification is not defined, but to me it most clearly means lounge access and upgrades, the sort of perks that really transform a painful flying experience into a nice one. That may not be possible even if you are loyal to one carrier or alliance, but it won’t be possible if you are not.

“I think a lot of companies forget loyalty is a two-way street. It’s not just a transactional relationship; trust is really crucial… When the program makes a change, it reflects on the airline and vice versa.”

Yes, loyalty is a two-way street.

And what I hope for Flying Blue is that it will always be honest and transparent with customers. Let Ben Smith, the former Air Canada CEO who now runs Air France and certainly understands loyalty, and Lipsey avoid the critical mistakes made by British Airways and Lufthansa Miles & More. It can do so by:

• providing advance notice of devaluations to give loyalty members time to lock in at old rates
• not gaslighting consumers by trying to cast negative changes as positive
• offering aspirational redemptions that make earning points more lucrative than spending on a cash-back credi card

Honesty goes a long way. Transparency goes a long way.

If Flying Blue can embrace honesty and transparency while realizing that loyalty and big spending may overlap but are not the same thing, it can continue to offer a leading loyalty program…and make more even more money by attracting customers at the margin who will go out of their way to fly Air France-KLM or use a co-branded credit card because they actually get something they value in return.

The temptation to follow the crowd…like a lemming…will be intense. But hopefully Flying Blue can resist.

image: Air France