The miles are the goal,” said Ryan Bingham, a fictional character portrayed by George Clooney in the 2009 movie Up in the Air. This has resonated with me over the years. The character was on a quest for vanity, striving for 10 million miles as a personal goal. Collecting 10 million miles, per se, has never been my goal. However, it is essential to discuss the loyalty ecosystem being developed around the globe, which can offer significant savings potential for our wanderlust.
Opportunity loss
Loyalty programmes are not new; they have existed for over 40 years. AAdvantage, American Airlines’ loyalty programme, was the first to launch in 1981. The idea was that the airline would provide virtual currency, or miles, to customers, who could collect and redeem these for free flight seats. One mile equalled one mile flown. Through this process, the airline would fill empty seats that it could not sell. The airline gains a loyal customer; in return, the customer receives a complimentary seat for travel.
The concept of loyalty programmes has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. However, in India, we still don’t prioritise them as customers, which leaves opportunities for those who do care to gain significantly at the expense of those who don’t. In simple words, when we do not collect airmiles on our tickets, we are paying extra for future tickets, which ought to have come to us for nearly free of charge. It’s value left on the table—for the airlines to keep.
Air India’s Maharaja Club—a merger of Air India Flying Returns and Club Vistara—has just 10 million members, while IndiGo’s recently launched BluChip programme has 2 million members. While these figures are notable for any loyalty professional, they pale in comparison to the 160 million passengers India transported in 2024.
Lure of the miles
Why do you need to care about your miles? When I ask people if they have accumulated their miles for a flight, they look at me as though I am a ghost. However, loyalty programmes are rebates or privileges airlines offer their customers in exchange for the hope of future business. So, why not take advantage of them, especially since they are free?
People often say they don’t travel much and therefore don’t collect miles. The truth is, miles are like money: the more you have, the better. Imagine getting a Rs.20,000 flight for just Rs.500-700 in taxes. Why wouldn’t people want them? All it takes is adding your frequent flyer (FF) number to your ticket—or sign up for the FF programme if you haven’t already.
Earning miles
It doesn’t matter if you are not travelling much—miles are everywhere, like Pokémon. You have to catch them. Many Indian and international airlines have partnered with banks to offer co-branded credit cards. If you prefer a specific airline, use its card. Major carriers like Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, and British Airways, all have co-branded cards in India.You can rack up plenty of points with credit cards that let you transfer them to airlines when needed. Many major credit card issuers have formed partnerships with various loyalty programmes. So, when you need points in a particular programme and don’t have enough or any at all, you can always transfer your credit card points to these partner programmes by converting them. I did this a few weeks ago when I needed a ticket to travel within Europe. However, I couldn’t bring myself to pay Rs.50,000 for a one-hour, one-way flight. Instead, I converted some credit card points into miles and eventually paid only Rs.8,000 for the ticket, which covered the fees for various airports’ security and other charges.
Similarly, hotels also offer loyalty programmes. I redeemed my hotel points and saved over Rs.25,000 on an airport hotel stay two weeks ago. Not because I couldn’t pay cash, but because I don’t particularly enjoy airport hotels and couldn’t justify spending so much for a night at a European airport hotel.
In addition, these major credit card issuers also offer their own white-label portals where you can redeem your points for travel at a fixed value. For example, HDFC Bank has SmartBuy, ICICI Bank has iShop, and IndusInd Bank has Indus Moments. Occasionally, when people cannot obtain a mileage ticket due to limited inventory, these portals can be used to purchase cash tickets with their credit card points.
We don’t travel every day, but we always spend money. It is hard to get by without spending in today’s world. So, if we select one or more suitable credit cards for our purchases, why not take the points and use them to reduce our travel costs, or perhaps enable more travel? The money saved could go toward presents for the family or provide more funds at the destination.
The Author IS THE FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF LIVEFROMALOUNGE.COM
