Hostage Takers.

In 1979 a small Texas airline called Texas International decided to change the aviation landscape by trying to turn the US penchant for in store coupons and coffee cards into a way to encourage their customers to keep flying with them. Ahead of their time but behind the times in computer resources to make it happen the first airline loyalty program didn't take off but that didn't discourage American Airlines from taking the idea and expanding on it, to what we see today, customers shackled, emotionally and commercially.

Okay a bit dramatic but a ring of truth. Flying has not been the same since that auspicious launch in 1979 and every airline worth its peanuts has tried to influence the buying decision of flyers via their loyalty programs. Everyone knows the cost of everything an airline does, goes into tickets and ancillary products like frequent flyer programs, so to brand it as a loyalty program when you are just getting back what you put in, can seem a reach. Loyalty is when you make a decision to buy, based on your experiences of a product that exceeds your expectations and you continue to go back to the well.

A company like Apple competes in a very tight technology market along with global giants like Samsung, Dell and Nokia, yet they haven't come out with a loyalty card or rewards program. They create loyalty by innovation, design, products that work and complement each and ipeople in Apple stores. This is especially true when you consider how many people buy an Apple for their own use while work supplies them with another, "people use a Dell but they are Apple".

The same thinking is not consistent across industries but I wonder if airlines supplied the best product, always flew on time, treated their customers as lifetime clients and gave away the occasional bag of peanuts would they still need a loyalty program? A difficult question and one the airlines can't answer as frequent flyer programs are intrinsically woven into the seat fabric and will forever be a consideration in the purchasing decision. The best case scenario for flyers today is choosing an airline that best meets their expectations and having the miles as an added bonus.

People say it's a hostage situation caused by the airlines but isn't there a certain amount of avarice and greed on behalf of the flyers? Don't you know of people rorting the system to accumulate points, aren't we all hoarders in the end and who can deny the prize at the end of the points rainbow doesn't give you satisfaction over mere mortals stuck n the ground? The last point segues into the status and recognition debate that if people weren't so hung up on their perceived status given by the airlines then they wouldn't have nearly as much influence on that buying decision?

So it ends up a two way push pull scenario that may have started out as a good marketing idea but ended up in a frustratingly complex argument over who owns what ( miles accumulated ) and why can't I just fly a product that engenders loyalty via the experience?