Originally Posted by
Freddorick
I would think that the typical person spends somewhere between 200 (1x euro roundtrip) and 1500 (1x LH + some short haul) eur on airfare with finnair per year.
People still like to collect points. My parents once traded a bunch of Lufthansa points for a gas heater for the terrace and are still very happy with their “free” gas heater.
...
I agree, points collecting is a habit that once established it can stay with people even a bit beyond the point where it started to be irrational.
And as long as they are loyal and well yielding there is no need for Finnair to pay any attention. It was just striking to me that 94% of the active member base does not reach any tier. When I worked with loyalty, we've always worked to move people up the ladder and 94% non-tierd members would be a great opportunity, but for Finnair it might not be the case.
Originally Posted by
xenole
A lot of people may look at:
I'm paying €120 for an economy return. Why would I pay 3-5x that for business which gets me a sandwich on a 1hr flight, and maybe one or two other things?
People may fly a few times a year. What's the point in collecting miles, points, Avios that probably wont amount to anything, assuming you're aware of the programme in the first place.
Maybe people dont need to go anywhere. Happy in Finland, or could get a train / drive to another city.
BA, for example, pulled the rug out from under the feet of a large number of their members. Would you want to make frequent flyer plans based on future travel if at any time the airline could devalue any aspect?
€2500 is probably a sizeable chunk of someone's salary as well. A long haul holiday, a weekend or two away perhaps?
Most big spends are probably from a business / client paying rather than out of someone's own pocket.
I would need a lottery win to be able to drop money on 8x LH returns or the £65k required for BA GGL!
I agree, but part of my point is that Finnair (and maybe BA too) has made a deliberate change-of-mind when it comes to which customers are of interest.
Some years back Finnair started to do meetings between loyalty and frequent flyers (including a lot of FT'ers). I clearly recall one of the early ones, where after initial presentation of FF'ers Finnar responeded "we are very interested in the segment of people flying premium cabin for leisure travel".
A few CEOs and Loyalty managers later, the tune has changed. Focus is on those who spend on Finnair anyway. That means the captive audience, wether those on monoploy routes or on company dime. A smaller and less frequent network fits well with a more narrow definition of the customer base.
So while €2500 is sizable chunk of money for many, I am thinking Finnair is not aiming to get the 2500€ from the many and certainly no longer from the segment "premium cabin for leisure travel". They are looking at keeping the company travellers that do not have to look at ticket prices. And that is how I land at the guesstimate that top tiers probably holds the same percentages as before, it is just a different group of people and a quota of a smaller total number.
And that the Lumo tier has the same members as before minus those who made an effort of getting there after the tier thresholds were made public. Those who made it to Lumo on company dime before is making now aswell. Probably even some that didn't under the old rules, as now frequent flying on expensive shorthaul is rewarded much higher.