IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v24y2012icp18-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

30 years of frequent flyer programs

Author

Listed:
  • de Boer, Evert R.
  • Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar

Abstract

Since American Airlines launched the first frequent flyer program in the US on May 1, 1981, the programs have ballooned in size leading to skepticism around the airlines' ability to manage both liabilities and members' satisfaction. Over time program changes have addressed a number of idiosyncrasies in the original model by aligning customer value better to rewards offered. More appropriate earn and reward structures were developed and clearer reporting standards introduced. In this article we review how the programs evolved over the last 30 years and introduce three typologies of frequent flyer programs: legacy programs, advanced programs and autonomous next generation programs. The article concludes that airlines operating autonomous next generation programs are more likely to run a frequent flyer program that is sustainable and transparent, resulting in increased profitability.

Suggested Citation

  • de Boer, Evert R. & Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar, 2012. "30 years of frequent flyer programs," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 18-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:24:y:2012:i:c:p:18-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.05.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699712000889
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.05.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fredrik Carlsson & Åsa Lofgren, 2006. "Airline choice, switching costs and frequent flyer programmes," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(13), pages 1469-1475.
    2. Hess, Stephane & Adler, Thomas & Polak, John W., 2007. "Modelling airport and airline choice behaviour with the use of stated preference survey data," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 221-233, May.
    3. Nathalie C. McCaughey & Christiaan Behrens, 2011. "Paying for Status? - The effect of frequent flier program member status on air fare choice," Monash Economics Working Papers 04-11, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    4. Klophaus, Richard, 2005. "Frequent flyer programs for European low-cost airlines: Prospects, risks and implementation guidelines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 348-353.
    5. Mara Lederman, 2007. "Do enhancements to loyalty programs affect demand? The impact of international frequent flyer partnerships on domestic airline demand," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(4), pages 1134-1158, December.
    6. Leonardo J. Basso & Matthew T. Clements & Thomas W. Ross, 2009. "Moral Hazard and Customer Loyalty Programs," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 101-123, February.
    7. Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar & de Boer, Evert R & Lechner, Christian, 2002. "Integrating frequent flyer programs in multilateral airline alliances," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(6), pages 409-417.
    8. Martín, Juan Carlos & Román, Concepción & Espino, Raquel, 2011. "Evaluating frequent flyer programs from the air passengers' perspective," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 364-368.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Stephen W. & Hsu, Maxwell K., 2016. "Airline co-branded credit cards—An application of the theory of planned behavior," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 245-254.
    2. O'Connell, John F. & Warnock-Smith, David, 2013. "An investigation into traveler preferences and acceptance levels of airline ancillary revenues," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-21.
    3. Joshan, Saeid & Maertens, Sven, 2020. "Low cost carriers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Emergence and barriers to development," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & López-Valpuesta, Lourdes, 2014. "Living “up in the air†: Meeting the frequent flyer passenger," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 48-55.
    5. Crespo-Almendros, E. & Del Barrio-García, S., 2016. "Online airline ticket purchasing: Influence of online sales promotion type and Internet experience," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 23-34.
    6. Morimoto, Yu, 2020. "Do citizens of a city that owns a local public airport have attachment to the airport and use it?," MPRA Paper 103442, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Jeng, Shih-Ping & Lo, Min-Fang, 2019. "Lowest price guarantees on airline websites: Perceived believability, perceived value, and purchase intentions," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 85-91.
    8. de Jong, Gerben & Behrens, Christiaan & van Ommeren, Jos, 2019. "Airline loyalty (programs) across borders: A geographic discontinuity approach," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 251-272.
    9. Zijlstra, Toon, 2020. "A border effect in airport choice: Evidence from Western Europe," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sohel M. Imroz & Tamilla Curtis & Scott C. Ambrose, 2023. "Perception of Crisis Management, Service Quality, and Loyalty Programs on Airline Travel Intention: What Roles Do Fear of COVID-19 and Risk Attitude Play?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Crespo-Almendros, E. & Del Barrio-García, S., 2016. "Online airline ticket purchasing: Influence of online sales promotion type and Internet experience," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 23-34.
    3. Henderson, Isaac Levi & Tsui, Kan Wai Hong & Ngo, Thanh & Gilbey, Andrew & Avis, Mark, 2019. "Airline brand choice in a duopolistic market: The case of New Zealand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 147-163.
    4. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & López-Valpuesta, Lourdes, 2014. "Living “up in the air†: Meeting the frequent flyer passenger," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 48-55.
    5. Wu, Hanjun & Tsui, Kan Wai Hong, 2020. "Does a reward program affect customers’ behavioural intention of visiting the airport? A case study of Singapore Changi Airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Christiaan Behrens & Nathalie McCaughey, 2015. "Loyalty Programs and Consumer Behaviour: The Impact of FFPs on Consumer Surplus," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-048/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Federico Rossi & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2023. "Consumer Loyalty Programs and Retail Prices: Evidence from Gasoline Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 794-818, July.
    8. Seelhorst, Michael & Liu, Yi, 2015. "Latent air travel preferences: Understanding the role of frequent flyer programs on itinerary choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 49-61.
    9. Ramon Caminal, 2022. "Time‐Limited Loyalty Rewards," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 962-998, December.
    10. A. Yeşim Orhun & Tong Guo & Andreas Hagemann, 2022. "Reaching for Gold: Frequent-Flyer Status Incentives and Moral Hazard," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 548-574, May.
    11. Zijlstra, Toon, 2020. "A border effect in airport choice: Evidence from Western Europe," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Yuk‐fai Fong & Qihong Liu, 2011. "Loyalty Rewards Facilitate Tacit Collusion," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 739-775, September.
    13. de Jong, Gerben & Behrens, Christiaan & van Ommeren, Jos, 2019. "Airline loyalty (programs) across borders: A geographic discontinuity approach," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 251-272.
    14. Ramon Caminal, 2009. "The design and efficiency of loyalty rewards," Working Papers 408, Barcelona School of Economics.
    15. So Yeon Chun & Anton Ovchinnikov, 2019. "Strategic Consumers, Revenue Management, and the Design of Loyalty Programs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 3969-3987, September.
    16. Maria Grazia Bellizzi & Luigi dell’Olio & Laura Eboli & Carmen Forciniti & Gabriella Mazzulla, 2020. "Passengers’ Expectations on Airlines’ Services: Design of a Stated Preference Survey and Preliminary Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-14, June.
    17. Ramon Caminal, 2012. "The Design and Efficiency of Loyalty Rewards," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 339-371, June.
    18. Henri Bussink & Bas ter Weel, 2022. "Costs and benefits of an Individual Learning Account (ILA): A simulation analysis for the Netherlands," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-077/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    19. Chung, Yi-Shih & Feng, Cheng-Min, 2016. "Brand relationship between global airline alliances and their member airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 222-233.
    20. Martín, Juan Carlos & Román, Concepción & Espino, Raquel, 2011. "Evaluating frequent flyer programs from the air passengers' perspective," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 364-368.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:24:y:2012:i:c:p:18-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.