Air New Zealand has revamped its Airpoints loyalty scheme making it more attractive for shorter flights, while also adding an exclusive by-invitation-only membership tier for its highest spending passengers.Air New Zealand's head of customer loyalty Mark Street said many fares will earn higher points, particularly on short routes. But fewer points will be earned on some cheaper fares.
"But overall we expect Airpoints members to earn several million more Airpoints Dollars each year," Street said.
Passengers would be able to earn Airpoints Dollars on every airfare, except last minute grabaseat greenlight fares through grabaseat.co.nz.
The programme has 1.4 million members.
Street expected redemption of points to increase as a result of the changes.
Most of the changes will take effect on 31 March next year.
Earning rates for Airpoints Dollars have been increased on 62 per cent of all airfares, with a focus on regional, domestic and trans-Tasman travellers.
Street said the new system would better reflect the routes most frequently travelled, particularly on the short haul networks where passengers felt earning rates for Airpoints Dollars and Status Points did not reflect the amount spent across the fare classes.
Airpoints Dollars are redeemed by members and have a 'dollar-for-dollar' value. Status points accrued by members can be used for benefits like Koru Club access and upgrade privileges.
There's also good news for members of the renamed Elite membership tier (previously Gold Elite) who will receive an additional complimentary upgrade each membership year for use specifically on short haul routes across the Tasman and to the Pacific Islands.
This is in addition to the existing two free ''recognition upgrades'' redeemable across the whole Air New Zealand international network.
The airline's top spending passengers will be invited to receive an exclusive Elite Priority One annual membership which will come with additional benefits to be revealed in the New Year.
The programme update follows a nine month review and a marketing push by rival Qantas in New Zealand, using a replica Mars Rover to entice travellers to join its Frequent Flyer programme.
Business travel agent Andrew Dale said Air New Zealand knows how powerful loyalty schemes are to business travellers and is tweaking its offering.
Dale said the invitation-only Elite Priority One status club's still-secret benefits would "get tongues wagging at Koru Clubs across the country.
"There are a number of regular travellers who will be eager to know if they get the personal invitation from the CEO early next year," he said.
- © Fairfax NZ News
I'll be interested to see the details on this - haven't been able to find anything on the Air NZ website yet...
