Flight Makes Right

TO PARAPHRASE the Spice Girls: What do frequent flyers want, really really want, from their loyalty programs? How do they feel, really really feel, about their travel?

The answers to those questions helped Trans World Airlines improve its frequent flyer program, according to Elisbeth Mack, vice president of marketing and services. The most valuable perk turned out to be an upgrade to the front of the cabin, she explains. And many frequent flyers claimed they felt like intrepid heroes and heroines of old, overcoming adversity at every airport.

“They felt they were special people,” Mack says. “And in airlines the most special people were the original aviators.”

And so TWA named its revamped frequent flyer program Aviators, applying a term once reserved for pioneering pilots to what are, in the end, passengers.

The program, in place since May 1998, recruits new members through an active direct mail campaign. Prospects are the customers of such partners as American Express, Marriott and The Flower Club, among others. TWA’s Web site (www.twa.com), as well as links from other sites, also gather new members. Mack cites Business Week and The New York Times as two sites with links to TWA that are not travel-related. Offers generate responses ranging from less than 1% to over 12%.

Aviators is much more responsive to members’ needs, Mack maintains. Fewer miles can be redeemed for short trips. Qualifications for different levels of the program are based on dollars spent and the transatlantic segments flown, as well as the miles. “You spend more, you expect more,” Mack notes.

The program caters especially to businesspeople who travel often, although Mack points out that “aging baby boomers” tend to use their increased leisure time to make frequent shorter trips.

There are some 12 million members, but only 1.8 million are active (those who have traveled within the last 12 months).

Members of TWA’s old frequent flyer program were automatically enrolled in Aviators. Mack describes the original program, dating to the early ’90s, as “generic.” To which she adds “solid” and “unexciting.”

She suggests the strength of the current program is that it is one-to-one marketing: “The frequent traveler wants to be recognized as a valued customer. The more frequent travelers are aware that they are valued customers, the more likely they are to remain customers.”