World of Loyalty Programmes

This blog is based on my own personal experience and is very specific to Airline loyalty programmes.

Each service provider in this world for the want of increasing market share amidst competition , provides loyalty programme in one way or the other. Be it book stores, retailers, Hotels. This is quite evident and highly visible in the Airline industry .

Ever since i made my maiden international flight in 2004, i have been avid follower of Airline frequent flyer programmes across different airlines, most of the airlines provide tier miles for every travel undertaken and these miles could be used to purchase items and also carries a status of the passengers frequent flyer.

My first interaction with a frequent flyer loyalty programme was the Star Alliance " Miles & More" programme. In which during my two year active membership, i was able to purchase duty free items.

Post that , i wasn't active with them but couple of stints with " One World " a rival frequent flyer programme offered by BA, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Iberia, Finnair, Lanchile & American Airlines. This stint wasn't very fruitful for me as i personally did not benefit.

Over the last two plus years i have been on the " Skywards " programme offered by The Emirates group, its been very rewarding . With four business class upgrades (of course free of cost) and one upgrade to business class using my miles.

Its been rewarding to such an extent that i found it unbelievable that on one of flights from Dubai to London in which i was upgraded, i had a session with a flight steward on how this whole loyalty programme works.

I explained my predicament to the steward and i had asked him if the airline was analyzing my flying pattern and providing me with upgrades just to ensure that i stick with them?

The steward explained that airlines normally overbook the economy class in all flights with the hope that there would be last minute cancellations, when this doesn't happen , the frequent flyer's  based on their tiers i.e.Platinum,Gold, Silver have the first right for upgrades in that order, these are called complimentary upgrades.

I asked the steward what happens if the business class is full, he said the same applies i.e. they upgrade business class passengers to first class where one exists.

The tricky part is where they are unable to do so. In such instances, they use a rule in Geneva convention for intl airlines, in which the rule roughly states that even though the passenger might have a confirmed ticket, its possible that they may not be able to fly on the scheduled flight.

Am not entirely sure how this rule is invoked but i have seen this in the fine prints of the tickets as well, that's a bit scary.

I have also seen many other loyalty programmes, another one that i have benefited from is the Landmark book shop programme in which i have had very good discounts over the number of years.

In a nutshell, it looks as though that being loyal to your service providers seem to prove beneficial in the long run, at least, that's what my experience points to.

The only other place i haven't benefited from even tough i have been using the service for very long is the " Credit Cards frequent user/loyalty" programmes , i find them quite appalling.

Any other views?

Yes We Can - Go India Go

In the past year or so , lots has been spoken about the 2G corruption and also about the common wealth fiasco.

What's not spoken though is were the positives that India had manage to achieve  at the same time.

Given that i have just passed through the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport i wanted to write this blog about developments in that space.

Way back in mid 2001 was my first direct contact with westerners or people from countries with good infrastructure.

My first contact was with people from South Africa. At that point in time i was working in Mumbai , there were three instances where we had visitors from Johannesburg and the constant moan was how bad the airport was and how bad things are at the airport as compared to their airport or countries that they had visited.

Following their visit , some of my friends visited Johannesburg and they were at awe about the airport. This infuriated me as a teenager  but alas i could do nothing.

The anger stayed with me.

As years went by , there was only news of corruption and non development, there was constant squabble among each parties in power in one way or the other.

I was tired. Then in May 2004 i had my first glimpse of truly international airport. I left for Europe and my first stop over was at Frankfurt, the worlds second largest airport. Truly gargantuan , dwarfing Chennai airport from where i had departed.

If that wasn't enough , my next stop, Amsterdam Schipol airport , another mega airport with state of the art technology and facilities.

Another couple of years went by nothing seemed to be working, just few gimplse of infrastctural improvements.

Come June 2007 it was my first visit to London Heathrow, truly a mega airport. I felt sick at heart getting mocked about the airports in India.

However there was always hope, during the same time Mumbai revamped ts airport and expats working in my company now started to speak more positively about the improvements in airport infrastructure.

Just in early-mid 2009 i started to hear about the Delhi international airport expansion/redevelopment to prepare it for the Commonwealth games. The airport was completed in record time and was opened with lot of fanfare just in time for the games , it is owned by GMR group and was built by L&T.

To appreciate anything one has to see it so goes a saying. It was no different for me . I saw the airport first hand yesterday in May 2011, ten years after i first stepped into any Aerodrome in my life and i was in for a shock in a pleasant way.

I was mighty pleased and had my head high with pride.

It was not perfect as is the case with everything but i was happy with what i saw. Just as you come out , you can see dirty little tiles, just to bring you back and say to you that you are in India. The airport has all facilities, Walkalator built by Thyssen Kruup, lounge facilities, various other facilities one can find in top airport.

The airport has been built with our tradition in mind, which was a big plus. I was so proud to see it.

At least i can say to myself , although its taken time however we are getting there.

If all of us put our heads together we can make this country reach its ambitions which we find in India's growing young and with so much diversity and capability , i have no doubt we can compete with any country on all levels.

Yes We Can! Go India Go!

Ps:- I know i promised in my last blog that my next blog would be about Loyalty but i could not resist writing this post. Will write about that later.

Why is a Sales Personnel Required in a shop if the products are good?

Is that an obvious question and is there an obvious answer?

I found out the answer today.

I had been wanting to buy pair of formal trousers for a long time and time was right this afternoon for me to go shopping.

I visited a very plush mall with shops of all major brands. I have been to this mall numerous times.

I first visited a shop called Hacketts of London, a very famous name in the clothing industry. To my surprise, the salesman just said a ' Hi' to me and left me to wander in the shop. Unimpressed i just left the shop in about five minutes.

Actually i did not even know what colour trousers i wanted and what pattern i was looking for.

Just as i was wandering the mall, i spotted another shop, which i had seen earlier but had never visited before. Another modern shop with various types of clothing specifically formal wears , well lit and had a good ambience.

Just as i walked in and started looking at the clothes, one well mannered salesman came-up to me and asked me ' Sir what are you looking for ?" , as a customer this was a first positive for me.

I just said to him that i was looking for trousers, the salesman took me up to the suit section and showed me different colours of suits and trousers, explained that i can buy suits and trousers or buy them individually. As a customer , i felt i was pushed a bit but i was given choices, another big win.

The salesman , then won it in the next statement. " Sir, i will leave you to choose what you need, if you need any assistance, am by the side, please give me a shout'. As a customer, in my eyes the salesman was giving me privacy but also re-assuring me that if i had any questions he was just round the corner to assist me.

Once i chose what i needed, i looked-up to the salesman and asked him how the alterations work. The salesman explained me that once i try the fitting he would take care of the rest.

I was very pleased and instead of trying one, i tried two of them. The salesman was assisting even in finding the necessary fitting accessories. You might wonder what fitting accessories? well i needed a formal shoe to wear and check what height fitting i need. The salesman got me a spanking brand new shoe for me to wear to ensure that i was happy and that i how i would wear trousers normally.

Once everything was done, i paid the bill and left as a happy customer.

Thinking about it i thought the salesman won the day. He converted a potential customer into a customer, he converted a potential buyer into an actual buyer.

Answer to my question is , Sales Personnel are required in the shop to convert potential customers into actual customers and also enable to make the brand stand-out in the customers mind , this is where brand loyalty comes.

Incidentally , brand loyalty would be my next blog!