easyjet has blurred the boundaries between low cost and traditional airlines by introducing a frequent passenger scheme.
They are doing this at a time when many traditional/legacy airlines are downgrading their schemes.
Called Flight Club, the low cost carrier says it is will further encourage customer loyalty to easyJet which has increased significantly over the last five years.
The scheme will be rolled out across easyJet’s European network from early 2016 when passengers will be invited to join ‘Flight Club’ when they meet the qualifying criteria which are based around having booked and flown 20 or more flights and/or making a minimum spend with easyJet over a 12 month period. Full details will be published closer to the launch date.
easyJet returning passengers
As well as being loyal, returning passengers book twice as many flights a year as new passengers, so the value of returning passengers is even higher.
In 2015 some 74% of the airline’s passengers chose to fly with easyJet again – that equates to more than 50 million returning passengers, compared to 34 million in 2010.
The 18 month trial of Flight Club, which involved around 15,000 high frequency passengers, provided them with a range of features including increased flexibility on changes to bookings, our price promise and a dedicated customer service team.
easyJet expects hundreds of thousands of passengers to qualify for Flight Club based on criteria which match both the airline’s most frequent flyers and its most loyal customers.
The sorts of passenger groups who will benefit will include those who commute frequently on easyJet, independent business passengers, second home owners, those in long distance relationships or those who have family or friends living elsewhere in Europe.
Carolyn McCall, CEO of easyJet, commented:
“easyJet’s Flight Club will reward our most loyal, frequent flyers – most of whom will fly with us more than 20 times a year. It isn’t like a traditional airline reward programme because our customers have told us that those schemes can be a source of frustration. This is a loyalty scheme with a difference because it gives passengers benefits they really value and can access immediately.
“It is also simpler to run which means that we can continue to keep our costs low – which will enable us to keep our fares low.”
FlightClub Benefits
Members receive a range of benefits and features including the following:
• Fee free flight changes – members can make changes without paying admin fees
• Free name changes – up to five name changes per year completely free
• Price promise – easyjet promise passengers will always get the best price fares from easyJet. If passengers find the same flight on easyjet.com at a lower price, easyjet will give them the price difference towards their next flight.
• Previews and special offers – members will be the first to know what’s coming up so they will receive exclusive previews of new routes and special offers
The loyalty scheme will run alongside the popular easyJet Plus scheme, which launched in 2008 and allows passengers free allocated seat choice, dedicated bag drop and fast boarding.
N.B. Image credit: easyjet.com
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