NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia is in the process of developing its own frequent flyer program as it plans to exit the Etihad Guest loyalty scheme it has been utilising for the past decade. Speaking at the Southeast Europe Aviation Summit this week, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “We are currently working on it both on the technology side and the business concept side and we strongly believe that within this year we will be able to introduce our own program, which we want to position more as a lifestyle program, not just within aviation. Therefore, it won’t be based on miles, it will be based on the spend. We would like to have co-branded credit cards so that people can collect points in their daily lives, by buying groceries, buying gas, going to the cinema and so on, and they can later use these points for flights and vice versa. We believe that within this year we will have an announcement regarding this matter”.
So no flying blue?
ReplyDeleteDoes any other airline have loyalty program like JU is planning, by having co-branded cards and earning miles by spending money on everyday basis?
ReplyDeleteLike someone said below, it is very common in the US.
DeleteI have an AFKL Amex in France which works the same way.
DeleteYes! The SAS EuroBonus is huge in Scandinavia. I have all my credit cards connected.
DeleteWizz Air also has some credit card in Bulgaria
DeleteThis is really nothing new, and very common, at least in Star Alliance. It used to be 1 eur = 1 mile now it is 2 eur = 1 mile.
DeleteYou can spend miles not only on flights, there is a whole catalogue on what other products you can spend this.
2 EUR = 1 mile is a terrible deal. I guess you're talking about Miles & More? (There is no Star Alliance programme as such).
DeleteIt is very common. I have a British Airways credit card that gives me avios on every £ spent. Also, since I joined BA credit card program I have companion voucher every single year so spending money on everyday stuff you collect avios and basically getting one free return flight every year. Not sure how that works for them though. I repay my whole debt each month so they are not charging me interest and I am getting free flights every single year.
DeleteOne downside on those free flights is they are very strict on dates so if you are flexible you can benefit from it but not much if your schedule is strict.
Good to see AirSerbia is starting this.
In Australia. I have Velocity and Qantas membership. Each one is connected to a different credit card. Each is connected to a different grocery store chain, which is also connected to petrol stations so I can earn from those spends as well. They also have their own ‘malls’ so you can purchase every day products and earn. These are points earning through.
DeleteAir New Zealand earns points in $ value.
Singapore Airlines PPS status is achieved by $ spend.
US carriers also have $ spend related programs.
In Brazil. I tend to concentrate all of my spend on my credit card where I get 2.5pts per USD, then I can transfer these to most national and international programs, some of them are 1:1, however Flying Blue, AAdvantage, Copa Airlines program are 3,5:1 and that for sure isn't worth it. Having a credit card like that in Serbia is awesome, however, Serbia has a very complicated procedure to obtain a credit card (much paperwork). Here everything is online, and approved or not on spot.
DeleteYes, turkish airlines has Miles & Smiles credit cards through 3 or 4 banks in turkey. If you use them smartly it can get you thousands of miles (buying tk tickets, following the monthly campaigns on industries and brands etc.) Credit card miles won’t give you m&s status though.
DeleteQantas has it as well. But its divided on status points for flying and points by cards and etc. those points you can use to by tickets really cheep just paying taxes.
DeleteOh wow! This has the potential to be really, really good. It's very common in the US.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThis would be great; but for love of god, please make it international
ReplyDeleteHighly unlikely. It makes no sense for a regional carrier to do co-branded cards abroad.
DeleteWhy not, e.g. in the region with a bank that is strong in the whole region (ex-YU)?
DeleteJU can position themselves as leading airline also by branding (especially where there are no national airlines or are extremely weak, like 4O).
DeleteIt could work for Montenegro where JU has a huge presence, but in other Balkan countries I really don't see it as viable.
DeleteWhy not in Slovenia and Macedonia where there is no national carrier?
DeleteWIZZ and LH?
Delete@anon 11:51
DeleteBecause JU has a comparatively small share of air traffic in those countries, and those markets are not that big to begin with. Plus, what is the brand recognition of Air Serbia with an average person in SLO and NMK?
Co-branded credit cards are a big and complex project for both the airline and the banks involved, and the investment required to get it off the ground just doesn't seem worthwhile to me at all.
I hope it will be possible to earn Flying Blue XP points on Air Serbia flights. <3
ReplyDeleteFlying Blue is cancelling XP earning on all non-SkyTeam airlines in a week from now. So no, it will not be possible.
DeleteThey should just join Super Kartica or Lidl Plus.
ReplyDeleteImagine rolling up to your Business Class flight to JFK with the Lidl Plus kartica
DeleteI died laughing at this 🤣🤣🤣🤣
DeleteI can smell some snobism here. What's wrong with Lidl or other loyalty program? BA is sharing their avios with nectar card which is basically Sainsbury's loyalty program similar to Lidl.
DeleteBut yeah those who fly Business class and especially JFK are of higher value than people who buy at Lidl.
lmao
DeleteLidl Plus works for me. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteFor us in Serbia, it is rather tricky to simply switch banks, as most of us do have some sort of loan or already using variety of products. It would be more practical to allow us to link our cards to the program itself or to somehow make it useful to wider audience. Super kartica is not the solution
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am a Magnifica client at Intesa Bank and it would make it extremely difficult to switch banks even for the sake of retaining Etihad Guest Platinum status.
Would like to hear from more people in Serbia, where most of JUs customers are.
DeleteI assume it's going to be Intesa since it's the largest bank and they will really want to cement their position on the market with such a unique product. My other guess is AIK which has been expanding like crazy.
DeleteNot Kombank?!
DeleteThey can do it with multiple banks.
DeleteAlso, I think those cobranded card will not be used as a card given in basic packages, it will most probably be a "exclusive" thing, possibly with additional fee.
Or, they can just go and cobrand all Dina cards, that would make sense :)
In the US major airlines are making more money out of their loyalty programs than from flights. So much so that their value, without loyalty is negative. In a way, the airline business in the US is more about banking than flying. The major airlines Delta, United, and AA are operating their programs in line with the plans Marek described for AirSerbia.
ReplyDeleteYou can read more about it in the Atlantic article "Airlines Are Just Banks Now" or watch a video on YouTube "How Airlines Quietly Became Banks. Link Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/airlines-banks-mileage-programs/675374/
Link YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUduBmvQ_4