As more countries open up their borders, and air travel becomes more accessible, some airlines are ramping up their frequent-flyer programmes to entice their clients back on board.
Jeffrey Harrison, Marketing Manager SA of Lufthansa Group, says air traffic and the travel industry have been affected on an unprecedented scale and, with it, all travellers are affected.
“We are doing our best to adapt our services and offers to the circumstances. For the most loyal members who may not have been able to earn the necessary points lately to renew their status, Miles & More offers a range of promotions and goodwill measures to its frequent flyers.”
Lufthansa has extended its Miles & More status renewal to all members, says Harrison. “If you didn’t or don’t manage to renew your status in 2020 and 2021, we will renew your status for one year until February 2023. If you achieve your status renewal by the end of 2021 as normal, your status will, of course, remain valid until February 2024. We’ll help you to do so this year with further promotions to reward your flight activities with additional HON Circle miles, and the validity of your status will be adjusted automatically until the beginning of February 2022.”
Relaunched SAA is offering a Voyager double miles promotion and extension of the validity of Voyager miles.
The airline will extend the validity of Voyager miles that are due to expire on March 31, 2022 until March 31, 2023. Simon Newton-Smith, SAA’s Interim Executive: Commercial, says the airline is looking at incentives based on Voyager miles. “We are looking to make the Voyager mile programme more flexible, and are trying to find ways to be more creative.”
Delta Air Lines CEO, Ed Bastian, in a recent letter to SkyMiles members, outlined actions, resources and policies the airline is putting in place to address challenges customers have been facing as they return to travel. Medallion Members who are currently earning status by travelling in 2021 will receive elevated benefits for the 2022 Medallion year. Delta is also extending the ability for award travel on Delta to count toward tier status until December 31, 2022. All SkyMiles members will continue to earn at an accelerated rate on most tickets until December 31, 2021.
“After an unprecedented year, we are thrilled to see so many of our loyal members back in the skies and reuniting with loved ones.”
Members of British Airways Executive Club, whose point collection renewal date is between January and March 2022, will receive another year of their current status. BA’s press office confirmed that no member would lose their tier status, regardless of how many tier points they had earned. The airline has also applied a 25% reduction in the thresholds to achieve various tiers until June 2022: 225 tier points for bronze, 450 for silver and 1 125 for gold.
