<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MileageAddict:
As a member of Flyertalk, here is your chance to help create a program from the ground up!
Independence Air will begin service out of IAD later this summer with a fleet of all coach CRJ's and A319's. Service will be to over 50 domestic destinations including transcontinental service.
A loyalty program needs to be developed that will be based on either dollars spent per year or number of segments flown. It will not be based on miles.
Independence Air wants to make this program stand out. Since they will be competing with the likes of UA Mileage Plus, there needs to be some benefits that are not available with the legacy carrier programs. There will be inherent weaknesses with the Independence Air program as well since there will not be any alliances with other carriers domestic or foreign nor any opportunity to upgrade to a first class seat.
Some initial ideas include a "smart card" that allows members to earn AND redeem points at venues other than with the airline. An example: Buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks and earn a number of points. Lets say you need 25,000 points to take a free flight but only 50 points to redeem for a latte and muffin. The key to this is immediate gratification instead of having customers feel that they have points towards an unattainable goal. Since the points would be stored on a smart card, they could be redeemed instantly without having to place a request.
I'm sure many of you have other terrific ideas to share. Please keep the ideas realistic!
Thanks!
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I should preface my comments by disclosing that I am an ACA/Independence shareholder.
I would add to the comments of an elite level, with perhaps a UA-E+ seating-like area on the A319's. You could call it the iZone or something like that and offer extra legroom. Elites could also be able to preassign exit rows.
Non-expiring (at least within 12 months) would be a nice benefit.
Perhaps segment points could be developed, although why not do a mileage-based program, but with a really high minimum to compensate for the CRJs? Like earn min 1000 miles per segment, with 20 000 for free ticket, so with a connection, only 5 RTs are needed for a free ticket.
Another idea would be to let people transfer points (no matter how they are based) to family members or even the booking agent.
If business travel is a target, awarding points to both the traveler and the bus could be a fascinating ammendum-I think AA does something like that.
I'll continue to ponder, but I am convinced that ACA's launch will be quite successful-it's why I keep buying shares.