Twenty of the world’s top airlines largely improved reward seat availability in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to a recent survey.
The IdeaWorksCompany Reward Seat Availability Survey found 13 carriers provided more availability, with three programmes showing a decrease.
IdeaWorksCompany says two airlines exhibited the biggest improvements; British Airways’ reward seat availability increased 17.9 percentage points to 80 per cent, while Korean Air was up 15.4 percentage points to 84 per cent.
Overall, the US’s Southwest Airlines provided the best availability in the survey at 100 per cent, followed by Etihad at 99 per cent and Jetblue and Turkish Airlines in joint third at 98 per cent.
Airlines that reduced the availability of reward seats include Air Canada (down 1.4 points to 95 per cent), Delta Air Lines (down 10.1 points to 62 per cent) and Qantas Group carriers (down 5.7 points to 85 per cent). However, Qantas has recently announced an overhaul of its Frequent Flyers programme that will add more than 1 million extra reward seats annually.
Focusing on the long-haul sector, Etihad’s Guest programme and Turkish Airlines’ Miles&Smiles scheme both topped the list at 98 per cent, followed by Air Canada’s Aeroplan at 94 per cent. The average result of 69.6 per cent availability in 2019 is a marked improvement on the 2014 return of 47.2 per cent for long-haul flights.
The survey is based on 3,975 booking and fare queries made by the IdeaWorksCompany on the websites of 20 frequent flyer programmes to assess economy class reward seat availability for June through October. The percentage of total availability represents the frequency of searches that produced one or more available flights for a roundtrip pair of dates with a minimum of two seats.
The company says the results from the tenth annual survey reveal an increasingly more complex landscape for travellers when it comes to booking reward seats. The research revealed airlines are deploying a “branded fare” approach by offering a range of rewards priced at different mileage and point levels.
However, IdeaWorksCompany points out that these reward seats often do not deliver added benefits for the higher price, leading some customers to pay more for the same seats on more popular flights.
The company said: “Frequent flyer programmes have evolved to become complex beasts. When programmes were launched nearly 40 years ago they offered a single first class reward available on any flight without capacity controls. Programmes have focused too much on the sale of miles and points to partner accrual networks rather than building loyalty to the airline.
“For 2018 the major airlines in the US posted revenue of nearly $19 billion attributed to frequent flyer programmes, notably from the sale of miles and points to their bank partners.
“For decades airlines have chased this rich vein of revenue ore. The results of the 2019 IdeaWorksCompany Reward Seat Availability Survey demonstrate airlines are taking a more balanced approach, which acknowledges the need to make reward programmes rewarding again.”
ideaworkscompany.com