LEARNING

MODULE 06:

Airline Passenger

Marketing

Air Transport Economics and

Management

HONESTY CLAUSE

As an institution of higher learning, students are expected to display highest degree of

honesty and professionalism in their class work, requirements, and activities; thus, in no

case that cheating—or any form of it, may it be plagiarism, copying other students'

works, and fabrication of materials—shall be tolerated. The college assumes as a simple

and minimal preferred of habits in academic matters that students be truthful and that

they publish for deposit solely the merchandise of their personal efforts.

DELA CRUZ, Anztronn P.

BSAeE 4-4
Airline Loyalty Marketing

A business practice of the airlines to build trust among frequent customers by rewarding

them so that they conduct business with the company continually. Loyalty marketing

motivates the customers to remain loyal to the business by adopting loyalty programs.

For example, the customers are given an electronic account with the airline where the

airline can deposit frequent flyer miles which can be redeemed for the next trip (tutorials

point, n.d.). This scheme is also called also called frequent-flyer programs (FFP), are

offered by many passenger airlines to keep their customers loyal to them. All airline

loyalty programs have a similar ‘earn and redeem’ design: Business travelers have to get

a membership (mostly free) and earn miles and points every time they fly with airlines or

use any of their partner’s services.

The perks are designed in such a way that they incorporate the entire ecosystem of air

travel including hotel chains, airport stores, and lounges, car rentals, taxis, restaurants,

travel credit cards, and so on. As the entire ecosystem is so tightly connected, the loyalty

programs in the airline industry thrive due to frequent fliers (Hamid, n.d.).

Cooperating with Metasearch Engines to Provide Seamless Booking

Experience

Working with distribution channels is one of the most important parts of airline marketing.

Metasearch engines occupy a specific place in air travel, because they allow customers
to search flights among thousands of airlines and compare prices. All the competing

airlines are here, so customer-wise it’s really handy.

Until recently, metasearch engines only allowed travelers to view flights, while now it is

possible to book via them. That became doable via NDC APIs offered by airlines to

connect with their inventory, source flight information, and book without redirecting to

its website. For example, Virgin Atlantic is currently testing booking capabilities through

Skyscanner’s Direct Booking Platform.

Speaking of metasearch engines, it’s difficult to ignore Google. Google Flights appeared

in 2011 as a metasearch, which allows users to search and compare fares. Now things

look a bit different for two reasons:

 Searching for a flight destination via a Google search page will show customes the

results of Google Flights right away, so there is no need to go on airline.com to

see the prices.

 Google, which doesn’t offer booking, facilitates direct bookings. When customers

choose a fare on Google Flights, it will offer customes some booking options. Most

often, it will redirect customes to the airline.com page, but sometimes it offers

booking via an OTA (AltexSoft, 2020).

Integrating Social Networks as a Part of Travel Experience

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is a flagship carrier of the Netherland operating to over 146

destinations. In 2009, it pioneered the use of social networks to send customers their
flight documentation. KLM first enabled flight status update via WhatsApp, Twitter, and

Facebook Messenger. Additionally, customer support of the airline can also be accessed

via social media channels.

In 2012, KLM Royal Dutch launched a social media initiative aimed at connecting its

passengers via Facebook or LinkedIn. The project was called Meet & Seat. So, what it

does is basically connects your Facebook profile page to your booked seat and makes it

available for viewing by other passengers.

The feature became available for intercontinental flights and profiles can be viewed not

later than 48 hours before departure. Focused on business users, KLM’s Meet & Seat gave

passengers the opportunity to become acquainted with other travellers before the flight.

Live Analytics to Explore and Engage with Target Audience

American Airlines (AA) holds the place of largest carrier by revenue and fleet size in the

world. Merged with US Airways in 2013, American now owns a fleet of 956 aircraft

operating across the globe.

In 2017, social networks became a standard way to communicate with large brands and

companies. So did American airlines. AA used an interactive map with geo-markers to

track the location from where American was mentioned on the web. The use of real-time

tracking of social mentions made geotargeting simpler, keeping in touch with its loyal

customers in the bargain.

Fostering User Generated Content to Increase User-Engagement and Collect

Customer Data

In 2014, a flagship carrier of Singapore announced a large cooperation campaign between

Australian media agency MEC and Singapore Airlines. The activity was named The

Storytellers. The idea was to pick 4 journalists and bring them to one of Singapore Airlines’

available exotic destinations. The journalists were tasked with documenting their trip and

travel experience in written and video format. The content gathered was hosted on the

dedicated hub at MEC’s website. And all the interested viewers could vote, with the

number of votes indicating a winner.

Fostering user-generated content is one of the simplest ways to boost user interaction

with your brand. But, on a much deeper level, that campaign helped Singapore promote

not only its tickets, but also chosen travel destinations as one of their products.

Promoting a Small Number of Ultra-Low Fares

This case with low-cost airlines is a smart marketing move. When the flight booking

opens, the occupancy is low, so the price is also low to foster purchases. Low-cost airlines

tend to promote those low prices on the dedicated platforms to start the buzz around

“insane offers”.

A price for the destination in general may seem incredibly low. So, here’s the trick: The

given price is just a small number of fares that will be available until the occupancy

increases. Then, it will appear at different distribution platforms, media resources, social
networks, and “special deal” aggregators. However, this fare bucket will be closed, so an

average fare for this flight will be much higher.

By promoting ultra-low-cost flights, carriers make headlines and increase the number of

travellers visiting their websites, even though only a handful of them will really fly so

cheap.

Gamification of Travel Experience

Gamification, a term that came up from the pedagogical discipline, means turning

something into a game-like process with rules, target, and reward. Air France turned the

whole travel experience into a game with the help of mobile diversion Cloud Slicer. This

game is basically a competition playground for passengers to play for “service-class

upgrade.” It works this way:

 The passengers are gathered at the airport gate waiting for it to open.

 Cloud Slicer could be installed on any mobile device like tablet or smartphone.

 A number of people selected could compete in the game to slice clouds and earn

points

 The winner receives a reward – a chance to upgrade to Business Class and travel

in a new cabin of a 777 plane

The campaign helped Air France accomplish two tasks: involve customers in a gamified

travel experience and promote both its new jet type and a business class product.
Building a Strong Brand Visibility with the Help of Commercials

British Airways has always run powerful ads during. It is a major UK carrier, considered

an air symbol of Britain, like American Airlines for the US. And it’s also famous for its TV

commercials, as some of them became advertising classics.

The latest commercial, featuring numerous well-known British actors, musicians, and

media stars, certainly brings home the BA brand as a national symbol (AltexSoft, 2020).

REFERENCES

AltexSoft. (2020, February 3). Airline Marketing and Advertising Use Cases from American

Airlines, Ryanair, Air France, and Others. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from

https://www.altexsoft.com/blog/airline-marketing-advertising/

Hamid, A. (n.d.). Importance of Airline Loyalty Programs Post-COVID World | Annex Cloud.

Annex Cloud. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from

https://www.annexcloud.com/blog/airline-loyalty-programs/

tutorials point. (n.d.). Aviation Management - Airline Marketing. Retrieved January 3, 2022,

from

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/aviation_management/aviation_management_airline_mar

keting.htm