British low-fares airline easyJet has announced that it will introduce a new recognition scheme for its most frequent travellers, Flight Club, aimed at rewarding loyalty and providing flexibility for frequent flyers.
The announcement, which follows a successful trial, comes as easyJet’s customer loyalty increased significantly over the last five years. In 2015 nearly 74 percent of the airline’s passengers chose to fly with easyJet again – equating to more than 50 million returning passengers, compared to 34 million in 2010.
The scheme will be rolled out across easyJet’s European network from early 2016 when passengers will be invited to join ‘Flight Club’. The invitation will be based on the qualifying criteria of having booked and flown 20 or more flights and/or making a minimum spend with easyJet over a 12 month period.
Carolyn McCall, CEO of easyJet, said: ‘I am incredibly proud that more than 50 million of our customers flying with us this year have flown with us before and chose to fly with us again. This is testament to the customer service they receive, our low fares and our unrivalled network across Europe.
‘easyJet’s Flight Club will reward our most loyal, frequent flyers – most of whom will fly with us more than 20 times a year. It isn’t like a traditional airline reward programme because our customers have told us that those schemes can be a source of frustration. This is a loyalty scheme with a difference because it gives passengers benefits they really value and can access immediately.’
Members of the ‘Flight Club’ scheme will receive a range of benefits and features including free flight changes, free name changes, lower price promise, previews of new routes and special offers. The 18 month trial of Flight Club involved around 15,000 high frequency travellers.
easyJet expects thousands of passengers to qualify for Flight Club based on the criteria that match both the airline’s most frequent flyers and its most loyal customers. Full details of the ‘Flight Club’ scheme will be published closer to the launch date, the airline said.
The loyalty scheme will run alongside the easyJet Plus scheme, which launched in 2008 and allows passengers free allocated seat choice, dedicated bag drop and fast boarding, easyJet said.
