For the May issue of InsideFlyer and for the upcoming Freddie Awards, which both celebrate the 25th anniversary of frequent flyer miles, we've pored over all the data we have collected through the years and have been able to come up with the total number of awards that these frequent flyer programs have awarded to their members.
Among the programs here in America, members have cashed in a total of nearly 193.6 million free awards over the past 25 years (this does not include awards used for upgrades or awards for other than free flight).
Among the programs outside of America, members have cashed in 82.8 million free awards.
Total globally over 25 years: an astounding 276,400,000 free tickets given away (not counting upgrade awards).
(We had hoped to compile a similar number for upgrade awards but don't have enough of the proper data to calculate it.)
GUWonder
Apr 5, 06, 5:29 pm
Very interesting. That's a ton of miles with a lot of redemption value: at least $55 billion worth.
Anything similar calculated for hotels? (Probably more of a challenge to figure out given the greater diversity in the way different programs issue points.)
Tenacious
Apr 5, 06, 7:07 pm
Total globally over 25 years: an astounding 276,400,000 free tickets given away (not counting upgrade awards).
^
inlanikai
Apr 5, 06, 9:37 pm
Interesting stat. Thanks, Randy.
It would also be interesting to know what the trend has been over those 25 years of the number of award tickets as a percentage of sold tickets.
777-DCA
Apr 5, 06, 10:24 pm
:eek: :eek: :eek: Wow! Thanks for the info.
the_traveler
Apr 5, 06, 10:32 pm
And how has the trend of award tickets been over the 25 years - rising or falling? :confused:
Aisle Seat H
Apr 6, 06, 9:37 am
Thank you very much for that info Randy, fascinating stuff.
An aspect of all this that interests me is the cost benefit analysis side of things - GUWonder quite rightly points out how much these award redemptions may have 'cost' the airlines, but I personally suspect that in reality FF schemes will have increased profitability etc for them, and more and more as the years go on.
FF schemes mean (getting from millions of people) loyalty, them choosing air travel over other options, and (I'm sure quite regularily) people buying more expensive fares to ensure they are 'mile' earning. (And they give us back in miles, what, about 1% of the revenue we spend ?!?)
Plus all the money they make from affiliates (credit cards, hotels, etc, adverts on the very well visited FF websites etc), which is getting bigger and bigger as the years go on.
You don't have any figures / data / etc on this aspect of things too have you Randy ?!? Would love to see if anyone has been able to financially quantify any aspect of this (even if just on one or two carriers), and what the FF phenomenon has done to the financial realities of the airline industry. Have FF scheme related revenue for e.g. even been a major factor in saving any carriers from going under... or been too generous (UA / AA ?!?) and helped some go under ? (I read on FT for e.g. that the FF scheme is/was AC's most profitably division).
And I will add one more, personal, issue - travel can be a chore, yet the huge amount of air travel I do is made enormously more enjoyable by the knowledge of the free trips/upgrades/progess towards life-status I am getting for myself out of doing travel (that on the whole I have to do any for work). It makes an enormous psychological difference to my entire view of travel... heck, I actually enjoy flying, despite doing it every single month of every year, and not sure I would if I was getting nothing out of it. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Elite status perks/benefits help too of course !!! ;) :D ^
seat 50J
Apr 6, 06, 2:31 pm
About 55 of these were by me! Some of them were for domestic coach, others were for international coach, and still others were for international business class.
If you count magazine awards, the number is higher.
Still, I have been unable to redeem my last 25,000 mi from United despite trying many times for many dates over the past 2 years. I had to credit some miles just to extend the expiration date.
Continental nonepass miles seem hard to redeem. Flying coach to Europe in the middle of winter is easy but I have just 25,000 mi. Domestic coach isn't easy to redeem.
As you can see, I'm burning miles. I'm almost done except that I still have 200,000 in one airline, 100,000 in another and between 25,000 and 60,000 in several. Never again will I keep hundreds of thousands of miles in the shaky bank of airline miles! Will there ever be a frequent flyer Enron?
cruisr
Apr 6, 06, 4:13 pm
That is an amazing number and I'm glad to have gotten my share of the award tickets. What I think is even more amazing is the number of miles that are avaialble for redemption and for what ever reason are not getting used. (I would say that LACK of availability is probably the main reason)
Cheers
Teacher49
Apr 6, 06, 8:06 pm
Thanks, Randy. This is really interesting information for perspective on miles/points and the industry.
Not to nit pick, but I wonder about these awards being described as "free". I feel like I earn and/buy mine.
flamboyant 1
Apr 9, 06, 11:41 am
Very interesting. Thank you so much.
Also for Randy and all other FTers, I have an interesting topic to write a paper on at University, and you can help me with your opinions, advice, thoughts, etc.
Make me wonder, how many were premium (first, business awards), how many international.
Counsellor
Apr 18, 06, 2:20 am
Fascinating!
Went back and looked over my records, and I've redeemed 16 free flights over the last three years, plus many, many upgrade awards (all upgrades were on intercontinental flights).
The 5 free tickets for me were three in intra-European economy (including one last-minute one-way flight on Air France from CDG to STR to avoid an excruciating train journey), one Business intercontinental round-trip (STR-AMS-CPT) and one First intercontinental round-trip (FRA-ORD) for vacations.
The other 11 were round-trip gifts for relatives and friends (wedding presents, etc.). Five were trans-oceanic Business Class tickets, three were intra-Europe economy class, and three were US domestic economy.