If LH really believes that, they are in worse shape than I thought. Because if it is true, they are still rooted in the outdated belief that a loyalty programme is a cost center.

But a new elite qualification system should more than pay for itself. And it should do so quickly, it's nothing like an aircraft which you write off over more than a decade.

A loyalty programme is supposed to change people's behavior. But it's very hard to change the behavior of people who don't fully understand what they must do to receive the carrot (=elite benefits).

There are two things LH must fix: The need to provide a seamless experience for the corporate traveller and they need to provide simplicity and clarity to him. They are working on the seamlessness, and we are starting to see the results (e.g., partner awards being bookable online). But we're not seeing any progress on the simplification front. Again, this is really bad and their competitors are doing it much better.

The new programme is beautiful. The app can tell the customer "why don't you book one more international trip as a weekend getaway this December and you'll be FTL!" The old system leads to things like "if you fly in booking class 1, you need just one more trip; but in 2, it's two more trips, and in 3, it's four more trips."