Asian airlines trying hard to keep elite flyers on board

From wellness workshops to dinner with a celebrity chef and flights to nowhere, Asia’s big international airlines are working hard to keep their most lucrative customers engaged as the pandemic-related travel halt stretches beyond 18 months.

While flights are starting to rebound in the United States and Europe, international travel is still down 96 per cent in Asia due to tough travel restrictions, making it harder to maintain a relationship with grounded premium clients.

Elite frequent flyers, many of them business travellers, are coveted by full-service carriers like Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd, Singapore Airlines Ltd and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, and the airlines want them back when travel resumes.

Before the pandemic, around 5 per cent of international passengers globally flew in premium classes, but they accounted for 30 per cent of international revenue, data from airline industry group IATA shows.

Asian airlines have given status extensions of at least two years to elite tier customers who have earned access to airport lounges and other perks such as priority access to seats and upgrades to higher flight classes.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said customers had made clear to the airline that such extensions were important.

”They work in many cases for years to achieve these high statuses and high tiers, so it was really important for us that we were going to continue to be loyal to them just as they had been loyal to us in the years gone by,” she said.

For airlines, the extensions come at relatively little cost given the potential future reward. Grounded elite members are not accessing airport lounges stocked with fine wines, made-to-order meals and day spas, although Qantas did host a dinner in Sydney for a few of them with celebrity chef Neil Perry and CEO Alan Joyce in June.

Singapore Airlines, which lacks a domestic market, said it has hosted virtual wine tastings, wellness workshops and online courses such as miniature clay art and coffee-brewing and offered a first class dine-at-home experience.