Author Archive

Pan Am is not only preparing to resume regular flights, but has also announced that it will revive the legendary WorldPass Frequent Flyer Program and has already selected a software provider for it. Details about the program itself are not yet known, but given Pan Am’s planned modest size, the program name is likely to be the most interesting element.

If you have WorldPass miles outstanding from the early 1990s, don’t get your hopes up about being able to reactivate them, as legally they are two different companies.

Sadly, the original Pan Am joins the long list of airlines – Ansett, TWA or Spanair, to name just a few – where frequent flyers have irrevocably lost their outstanding miles when the airline ceased operations.

Due to the associated risk, customer loyalty programs worldwide – not just in the travel sector – operate on the principle that you first collect points and then redeem them. Exceptions are rare, such as Miles & More, which grants its Senator status members a mileage overdraft of up to 50,000 miles.

The relatively young HeyMax program in the Far East is now turning this principle on its head. HeyMax is a coalition program in the retail market, operating in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong or Japan, with the only reward option being the exchange of points for the currency of one of its numerous partner programs of airlines and hotels.

Under the slogan “Fly Now. Earn Later,” you can now indeed use rewards on a large scale and collect the points later. Given the constant devaluation of the programs, the argument is certainly compelling that you don’t know how much the points you collect today will be worth in two or three years.

Let’s hope that HeyMax’s courage will be rewarded and that they won’t be exploited by fraudsters!

Accor’s ALL program has always been distinguished by a clear reward value. For 1,000 points, you get a reduction of 20 EUR in Accor hotels.

Alternatively, Accor maintains many partnerships with Frequent Flyer programs, where traditionally 4,000 points could be exchanged for 2,000 miles. Since it is hardly possible to achieve a value of 80 EUR with 2,000 miles, this was never really interesting.

However, there are three parallel developments at ALL that make one reassess the matter. First of all, there is a lot of dynamism in the partner network. Departures (like the Iberia Club) are countered by new arrivals, such as Asante Rewards from Kenya Airways or BluChip from Indigo. Secondly, some exchange rates have improved to a 1-to-1 basis, for example, with Flying Blue from Air France KLM or with SUMA from Air Europa. And thirdly, Accor has started regularly running promotions with partners to temporarily improve the exchange rate.

And of course, Accor also offers the possibility to double dip with 4 different partners – Flying Blue, Privilege Club (Qatar Airways), Frequent Flyer (Qantas), and TudoAzul (Azul) – with varying conditions between the partners.

You can think what you want about the Etihad program Etihad Guest, but above all, the network of airline partners is quite interesting.

However, it has now shrunk by Air Serbia, which has launched its own program called Elevate. The revenue-based program has no partners, and points expire after one year, making it useless for many. Air Serbia has not published any concrete information on how to use the collected points, which does not make it easier either to identify with the program. However, you can have a valid Etihad status matched and even claim miles according to your Etihad Guest balance.

Based on the right strategic decision that with its own program it can control its destiny better than by using a partner program, Air Serbia has unfortunately not managed to offer its customers a better value compared to the Etihad solution with this first step.

And as soon as Hawaiian Mokulele Airlines hears about the program, Air Serbia might have to change the name of the program, as Elevate is already the name of Mokulele’s program… A simple look at our website would have been enough to understand this and prevent future problems.

Especially in hotel programs, you will find more and more experience rewards. They present an interesting alternative on paper, but often have a less appealing value per point.

Therefore, the approach of Langham Hotels with their new experience rewards across five categories is quite interesting: Prices for reward nights in the Brilliant by Langham program are dynamically set and usually cost at least 100,000 points, often even significantly more.

The first published experience rewards, however, only cost 1,000 or 3,000 points and are thus significantly more quickly attainable. To collect 1,000 points, you need to spend 35 USD at Langham Hotels in the program. Even though it is often difficult to assign a monetary value to these rewards, this can indeed be a worthwhile alternative to using points.

The Langham Experience awards are always changing offers, each available only at specific times in specific hotels.

It’s not the first time, but easyJet has once again announced a proper customer loyalty program. This time, however, it seems to be true and it is expected to be launched in late 2027, with details to be announced in early 2027. Given the previous experiences with easyJet and the customer loyalty issue – and their general attitude towards customer friendliness – one should probably issue a warning that expectations should not be set too high.

Air India’s low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express, has probably done better here, as it is now a full partner in its parent company’s Maharaja Club. The Maharaja Club itself does not necessarily have to be counted among the most generous programs on the market, but it remains to be seen whether the attractiveness of an easyJet program will come close to that. And with a bit of luck, this is just the first step for Air India Express and – similar to Eurowings from the Lufthansa Group – in the future, we might even see some partnerships with other, more attractive Star Alliance programs.

In addition to several full airline partners, Bangkok Airways’ FlyerBonus program also has some airlines as redemption partners only, which adds an interesting dimension to the program.
The latest award partner is Etihad, so now all three major Gulf carriers are represented in the program.

Where things get complicated, however, is that the program applies a separate award chart for each partner. For example, a one-way flight from Bangkok via the respective hub to London shows that such a flight costs 261,000 points with Etihad in Economy Class, but only 83,500 points with Emirates and 157,000 points with Qatar Airways. In Business Class, the prices are 520,500 points (Etihad) and 296,000 points (Emirates) and 313,500 points (Qatar Airways) respectively.

So, where exactly the value of this new partnership lies, is likely to remain rather obscured for the 99.9999% of FlyerBonus members who are not based in Abu Dhabi.

Sun Group is a Vietnamese conglomerate in the local travel sector that will significantly shape Vietnamese tourism. It includes its own airline (Sun PhuQuoc Airways), (luxury) hotels and entertainment facilities.

Now, a group-wide customer loyalty program called Sun Signature has been launched, in its initial phase being limited to the airline and hotels, as well as a local credit card. While Sun PhuQuoc Airways is currently limited to the Asian market, this will change quickly as the company has ordered 20 Dreamliners, with options for 40 more aircraft, with which a global network will be established. This is likely to quickly give the Sun Signature program greater significance – and turn tourism in Vietnam into true mass tourism.

In the travel sector, there are more and more subscription offers, where the question of profitability arises.

Horizons Club is one of the latest offers on the market. Offered in two forms, it is available in all the Minor Hotel Group’s properties in Europe and America, with the exception of Brazil. The group includes brands such as NH Hotels, Tivoli and Anantara, while being itself part of the Global Hotel Alliance.

The main benefits are a direct reduction on the published rates as well as on additional services, but also a credit of 150 DISCOVERY Dollars in the Minor DISCOVERY program (or any other DISCOVERY program of the Global Hotel Alliance). From the second stay onwards within a year, you receive an additional credit of 50 DISCOVERY Dollars per stay, with a corresponding redemption value in USD.

With an annual fee of 179 EUR for the basic version Open, the offer becomes a no-brainer for anyone who books at least two stays per year in Minor Hotels.

Although Sixt recently launched its own loyalty program, SIXT ONE, Sixt remains closely connected to its numerous Frequent Flyer partners.

And until the end of June, Miles & More plays a particularly important role here: For reservations made by June 30 and rentals of at least two days until July 31, you will receive a points credit depending on the performance of the German national team in the FIFA World Cup. For an exit in the group stage, you get 2, 3 or 4 miles per euro spent, depending on the car category. With each additional round, you receive 1 more mile, up to 8 to 10 miles in the case of a tournament victory.

The miles will be credited retroactively in August, when the outcome of the tournament is known.
Small tip: Of course, you can wait for Germany’s last group stage match on June 25 to understand whether you should really bet on this card or not…