Someone help me. I’m being bullied by Southwest Airlines.
Actually, a better set of descriptive terms would be pestered, annoyed, or amused, depending on the day.
The source of my discontent is my mailbox. Southwest has sent me a solicitation for its frequent flyer cobrand credit card at least once per month for probably the past 2 [...]

What do you do when you have a solution in your hand in search of a problem?
If you’re the creator of the solution, you sell, sell, sell, crafting magnificent stories describing the power of your solution to change lives and create profits. That approach is mandated by fiduciary responsibility to those investors who brought your [...]

Everyone knows that the air travel experience isn’t what is used to be. My recent trip around the world in 5 days served to accentuate the contrast of today’s reality with more elegant days past, while reminding me of solutions that remain untapped by the airlines to improve their standing with frequent flyers.
Some aspects of [...]

Breakage is the classic crutch of loyalty marketing financial models. As I mentioned here in a recent post, attitudes towards breakage are changing, both from perspective of the loyalty supplier community and consumers.
Brands aren’t missing the boat on breakage, in fact recent moves by Delta Airlines and Points.com over the past two weeks signal additional [...]

I’m sensing a tipping point in how customers relate to loyalty program rewards, and my thinking goes like this: when customers choose which company to do business with, rewards just don’t matter like they used to.
My take is that the classic loyalty reward scheme—earning points toward “hard” rewards for repeatedly doing business with a company—has [...]

Patrick Sojka knows credit cards, travel rewards cards in Canada to be precise. As CEO & Founder of Rewards Canada, he’s been cataloging and ranking the myriad of offers in the Canadian market to help consumers find the best deals for their wallets and their loyalty points banks since 2001.
If you think Americans are reward-crazy, [...]

Steven Slater is a blogger’s dream. For anyone looking for that quirky story to opine about, Mr. Slater provided a remarkable set of actions that will earn him a bit more than 15 minutes of fame. In fact, I’ll bet the incident that took place this week on Jet Blue flight 1052 from Pittsburgh to [...]

I just signed up for the Virgin Atlantic loyalty program called the Flying Club. I have no immediate plans to fly on the airline. Nor do I really need another frequent flyer card, as I’ve got miles banked in three or four programs now.
The reason I joined the club is I just finished reading Business [...]

Air travel has changed from an exciting and privileged experience to something considerably less elegant. Leisure travelers absorb the shock from ever-changing TSA procedures at security checkpoints, and unknowingly contribute to the woes of their fellow travelers when they board loaded down with enough bags to make the Beverly Hillbillies look like minimalists.
For the business [...]

I am a frequent flyer of Delta Airlines and have a Marriott credit card and enjoy the benefits that I get from using both companies (I like free flights and frequent flyer miles). I just booked a “free” vacation using both vendors and feel pretty good about my loyalty to them, and their loyalty back.
Loyalty [...]