Originally Posted by
tcook052
I wonder about the costs of reinventing the wheel as I can't imagine it'll come cheap to launch and then build a competing brand to Air Miles. I am, of course, just a layman and not a loyalty program expert...
I would guess that leaving Air Miles would be motivated both by the costs and the benefits (or lack thereof) arising from the current deal. Since it seems everyone and their dog as a reward program of one sort or another, the marginal cost per sale has to be worth it. Air Miles is great for getting instant merchandise rewards but booking travel with them is a real pain.
Originally Posted by
dodgy
This scares me. The reservation system thing was a huge failure. I'm a fan of sticking with what you know.
d
Well, Westjet did go back to tweaking their existing reservation system for now but it still needs replacing to move forward with their stated strategies. Sticking with what you know is fine until you know that what you know won't cut it for much longer. These sort of integrated information systems have an extraordinarily high failure rate from both functional and performance perspectives across multiple industries. One of the IT magazines I get made a reference to somewhere around 30% or more missing the mark outright and an even higher percentage taking longer and costing much more than budgeted. Wait until AC tries to roll-out their new system - if and when it is ready.
It seems that Air Miles is still a long way from on-line travel bookings, so maybe an independent program is the only way Westjet sees this irritant being removed.