ziggy01A

I've noticed on a recent flight on AF that the PNC IPAD APP describing the "Dossier de Vol" and listing passengers a reference to a number of "HIPP/ULTI" passengers (5 on that flight) and another reference to "Haute Contrib." with a much bigger number of passengers (17).

While it is obvious that "Ulti" stands for Ultimate passengers, does anyone knows what "HIPP" stands for?

Also does anyone know precisely what "Haute Contrib." really means in their system? In that flight it represented 17 passengers out of a half full P (2) and fully J (59!).

Thanks much

Macaron54

HIPP stands for Hippocampe, which is the new program devised by Air France for its ultra-high-contribution customers. The benefits are those of the Ultimate program plus P-lounge access irrespective of the class of service, and P-service to streamline the customer path at the airport. The program was supposed to be launched on October 15th, but technical hiccups have postponed the official start. Among these hiccups, some PAXs have been assigned erroneously the HIPP status on the pursers iPads. Hippocampe is by invitation only, and at the entire discretion of the Air France and Air France-KLM CEOs.

nldogbert

Interesting....I do wonder how they are going to cope with this when from what I am reading from the ULTI thread, services offered now is so flaky, with the additional of these additional HIPP pax, how much further will the ULTI flaky services degrade....

For Haute contr. pax, I believe these are those on tickets issued from business travel categories - like AMEX Global Business, etc....as these days I noticed that you do have a CORP code on the boarding pass. Or is this a totally different category? So far I've seen Delta and Air France adopting this categorization, on KLM it does not seem to show up anywhere.

Cheers!

bodory

So we have now:
- the published benefits of the 4+1-tier FFP (Ivory, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Platinum for Life)
- the unpublished benefits of the semi published 5th tiers in the FFP program (Club 2000 for AF and Skipper for KL)
- the semi published benefits of the semi published badge coming on top of the 4th and 5th tiers of the FFP (Ultimate)
- the unpublished benefits of the unpublished above-of-all-tier program (Hippocampe)

I better understand now why they got rid of Petroleum Club...

Back in the time Club 2000 was also by invitation of the CEO. And for sure the benefits were amazing. We have seen where it lead though.

VicMart1

Hello,

I have been following this forum for quite a while and now finally posting.

My father use to be Plat then after became Club 2000, then after became Plat again (soon to be PFL)

In my understanding, AF wants to get rid of C2000 but also wants to keep a VIP program because it's necessary to give recognition to people that are high rank or could give a good image of the airline but don't fly often.
To do so they can either keep C2000 and kick out many people to give back it's "Lettres de noblesse", but kicking out thousands of people takes time.
Or they build a new outstanding program, for real VIP, with real benefits; while gently reducing C2000. (It could also be two very different targets between HIPP and C2000: Famous stars and politicians vs Industry Leaders)

From my father's experience, there was no difference between C2000 and Plat, the only thing was some more upgrades, and boarding in group 1 rather than group 2 when flying in Y. But now that he went back to Plat, he has seen much improvements (maybe because he flies more often) with much more recognition from the crew and the AF team in his home airport (MPL).

ziggy01A

Thank you very much for your very clear, quick and knowledgeable answer!

This sounds like what I've experienced with some "VIP" clients (I don't know if there was any label or category, it was obviously very different than any C2000 or now ulti) with constant KX at the airport and access to P lounge at CDG when the P lounge was created (even when flying on code share flights operated by another airline).

Interesting to follow..

flyingjapans

Hi Macaron54, can you cite a source for that?

Macaron54

An internal note dated July 2019.

San Gottardo

With all those tiers it is not surprising that ground and on-board crews do not know how to handle these various pax. Even if there were clear policies (which there are not) and even if crews were properly trained (which they are not) and even if crews actually listened during their training (which many do not) and even if they applied what they actually learned during that training (which many do not) - it still would be a maze of policies and procedures.

NB, by "training" I do not necessarily mean an in-person classroom training. Some of these things could be communicated with a simple memo or a video. But that isn't the core of the problem. The problem is the many variations of "frequent flyer" tiers.

BTW, does anyone know more about the exact benefits of HIPP? P lounge access sounds nice, would they also do that for short haul flights?

Mozart0815

And I somewhat thought becoming platinum by the end of this year meant something. Seeing the context here makes achieving Platinum with the very few incremental benefits it brings even more pointless.

delanotre

I hope and I recommend to stop free access to the lounge for non full fare tickets.

San Gottardo

I disagree.

The point of these super-tiers is that you are treated on the basis of the value your *entire* customer relationship vs. on the basis of the value of a single transaction. Makes sense in my mind.

olivedel

I am always amazed at how Air France puts lots of effort in taking care of debatably influencing people, and how much energy and staff are used to do so, while paying customers, as loyal as they can be, don't get that much attention.

I really do not see the point of having 2 different streams of statuses, one you acquire through travelling and the other one through your supposed influence or level of notoriety.
Instead of having Club 2000, couldn't they just grant Platinum status to these people? Club 2000 does not bring any benefit, besides Zone 1 boarding and sometimes a glass of champagne in Y.
Instead of having Hippocampe, couldn't they just grant Ultimate status to these people, and upscale the benefits (P-lounge access) for those who just spend their whole life in airports. I would expect that from an airline that has just a little bit of respect over their customers.

Fabo.sk

Ah, but there's the problem, you see. You would actually use this perk. That's not good business, is it.

bodory

Indeed. And experienced as well. True VIPs get constant KX attention. And that is worth every Club 2000 or above status.

I'll repeat myself again and again: AF knows perfectly how to handle VIPs, would it be officials or some very special and regular customers.
To scale a bit these operations to some status pax (not that many, after all it is up to them to decide where the threshold is) is not a matter of skills but consistency and commit with what they advertise.