Hmmmm, I just don't know if the loss to Air NZ through high-spending customers getting pi##ed at the treatment is worth the buzz they create around exclusivity.
I've written about what it would really take to make us HVCs feel special (most recently here -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes...opportunities/ )
So many of us HVCs also have significant experience with technology and tools that would allow Air NZ to make a difference to our perception of them. Stupid little things like the fact that I've flown Air NZ longhaul on my birthday half a dozen times and it would be so, so easy to have a system that flagged that to the FSM. Or the fact that the couple of times I've taken my wife to the US on one of my business trips and been talking about it on social media beforehand - flagging that to the team so they could do something nice costs bugger all but pays massive dividends.
A silly example.... the annual loyalty offer (for those crazy enough to travel sufficiently to clock the renewal levels a couple of times) comes through each year. It's a lovely offer and means a lot. But the fact that I live in Chch and the offers are generally for Auckland or Wellington, and the fact that I've said repeatedly that something nice in Chch that I could share with my wife would be awesome. It feels like a sense of entitlement but really i'd love to help Air NZ get more for the investment they make in us....
Or the fact that I really like a glass of aromatic with dinner or dessert wine with my dessert. Giving the FAs the leeway to give it to me even if I'm flying in PE and not biz... would pay dividends far in excess of the cost....
All of these things are readily achieved through technology. There are a handful of AirNZ HVCs who do this stuff for a living, and we'd love to help. Hopefully one day they ask us to...
