Help a student
 

Sorry for the intrusion but I am a non-flyer who must write on frequent flying for a school paper. The questions is: "Airlines initially created frequent flyer programs to create customer allegiance, but quickly found that they were able to gather a tremendous amount of information about the habits of their most profitable customers (business flyers account for over 80% of volume and revenue). This segment of people would never willingly divulge the information that could be gleaned from flight info, and related services (VISA cards, long distance and cell phone plans, car rentals, hotels, etc.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating customer programs like this (in different industries)? Is it worth the effort? Is the information gathered of high enough reliability to use in marketing decisions?"
Thanks for any input you can give me on this.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

To get started, you could put hours and hours reading posts about the different FF programs and what makespeople use them. You can go back a long way and will get more information here than any other place. Remember, most occasional flyers are going with price; others go for the miles. A lot depends on how and when miles are used. You'll also see why people show loyalty and/or whay it takes for them to leave a program.

Good luck.

Excellent suggestion, USCGamecock! Welcome to FlyerTalk, prudolph! ;)

Welcom to FT!

Not to be flippant, but I would drop the class.

You need to tell us your major, year level, importance of the paper. If this is Biz 101 weekly paper it's quite different than an MA thesis. Either way, the info is here on FT.

There seems to be a bias in the assignment, assuming there is great importance in giving up information in return for perks, and a what point would one say "no."

You might check out the supermarket programs like Vons Club. In return for rather substantial discounts on grocery items, I don't care if they calculate how many potatoes I purchase per year. Besides, I don't acutally have a Vons Club card, the checker swipes hers for me most time or has the checker put the stuff back on the shelf. Mr. lili was pissed with the whole grocery card club game until I explained the trade off. You agree to give them info about your shopping habits and they give you a discount. Works for me.

Or how about those sandwich club cards at local delis? I buy a lot of sandwiches for company meetings, but does the card influence me? Not really, I just order an extra for me and write the whole thing off, but I DO get my card punched for each an every one. Am I cheating my employer?

This is not big time stuff, but the ethics are the same.

Not only does Flyer Talk offer a wealth of information but there are enough references on these pages to give you different perspectives on almost every topic. Might I suggest you do a little research via "Inside Flyer" also.
Good luck with the assignment, it could be a fascinating topic for a novice to delve into.

We see "targeted" promotions all the time on the airline forums, where they offer extra miles, or elite qualifying miles (EQM's), to certain segments of frequent flyers, on certain fare classes. You might search using the word "targeted" or "promotion" and see what kinds of promotions you run across. Most of my targeted promotions this year have been coming from United Airlines, where I haven't flown revenue tickets since early 2004, so that forum might be a good place to start. Good luck!

Discuss the 80-20 rule,

From my experiance academics love when you mention that.

When I get an invitation to provide TSA all of my personal information. No way. I would rather lock my personal belongings in my carry on when preparing to leave for the airport, and take off my shoes and pull out my laptop at security. You can avoid lines by choosing the time you fly and in some case, but not in my hometown of DCA/IAD, you can use Elite/FC security lines. Sorry, got a little off topic in answering your passing query.

I see this is a good place to launch into a pet rant... ;)

My pet rant: the airlines have established FF programs in a legal netherworld that allows them to manipulate the programs relatively at will and provides little consumer rights/protections. There are government regulations that extensively cover tradable commodities, currencies, coupons, rebates, lotteries, discount programs, sweepstakes, gift certificates, etc., etc., etc. But FF miles are not legally considered any of these things - and there is little accompanying regulation about how the programs are run.

Personally, I've benefitted from the programs greatly. I have - for the most part - gotten awards when I've wanted them. I have milked many promotions for maximum advantage to score "free" vacations for very low cost. I'm glad that the ludicrous notion that the IRS could value FF miles as a currency never went anyway.

But still, the thought that the airline effectively sell miles to you as part of their primary product, and then provide no consumer rights associated with them, is unsettling.

Coming back on-topic: joining the FF program doesn't reveal much additional information to the airline that they can't already get. If I chose not to join (which would be silly, because I have to "buy" the miles associated with the flights either way), they could still match up my name, address, credit card, etc. and find out where I'm going and for how long. These days, the only way to conceal that information is to use something like Greyhound. (At least I think you can still ride the Dog with cash and no ID.)

I participate actively in the programs, so they know I hold credit cards. They know I eat at restaurants. They know I order flowers. If I was freaked out by all of this, I guess I'd move to Montana and live in a log cabin miles from nowhere. But since I travel frequently and use credit cards all the time, I just assume that The Man is watching regardless of whether I join the programs. You gotta buy the miles with every segment you take: might as well accept them even though they are flawed. :)

I think you guys scared him, ;) Welcome to Flyer Talk prudolph!
I agree with what lili-dui says. Please provide more info. I have learned a lot in the past year.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

This really doesn't have anything to do with the "Latest Frequent Flyer Program Buzz" nor is it the Collega Paper Research" forum. If you have particular questions, I suggest you ask in an appropriate forum.

I'm going to close this here.

Regards,

Flipside