Air Serbia is expected to formally launch its new “Elevate” frequent flyer programme at an event in Belgrade on June 16, one day before the carrier marks its 99th anniversary. Air Serbia CEO, Jiri Marek, has confirmed the airline will offer both a tier and points match to existing Etihad Guest members, whose loyalty programme Air Serbia has utilised since 2013. Speaking at the Slovenian Aviation and Travel Summit this week, Mr Marek said, “Passengers will retain the miles they have collected with Etihad and will continue to be able to use them within the Etihad Guest programme. At the same time, we will match the miles earned over the past twelve months, which will be credited as an entry bonus in our programme. We will also offer a tier match, meaning that whatever status level a member holds with Etihad will become their starting tier in our programme”.
As previously reported, the new programme will be a dynamic, spend-based rewards system rather than a traditional mileage scheme. In simple terms, the more one spends, the more points they will earn. There will be a formula outlining how many points are awarded for every 100 dinars spent. This will not be limited to Air Serbia purchases but will also apply to selected third-party partners such as grocery stores, fuel stations and cinemas. Likewise, points will be redeemable not only with Air Serbia but across the wider partner network, although earning and spending points with the airline will offer the highest multiplier value.
Banca Intesa, Serbia’s largest bank by total assets, will issue a co-branded VISA card for all users of Air Serbia’s future loyalty programme. This will enable point accrual, which is not exclusively linked to travel, but rather everyday shopping.
A missing piece of the jigsaw for so long and hopefully over time becomes a good source of revenue, I mean look at IAG saying they plan for 1 billion revenue from their Avios scheme, I realise much bigger but shows the money that can be made. I just hope they also have some reciprocal relationships with other airlines as well.
ReplyDelete"we will match the miles earned over the past twelve months"
ReplyDeleteAs I warned from the beginning, there will be no wholesale transfer of Etihad Guest miles to the new FFP, only a goodwill gesture to kick things off. A lot of people here were taking it for granted that their mileage balance will be transferred in full from EY to JU.
Do 'alot' of JU's current passengers have that? And what are they predicting the uptake to be?
DeleteIt will be great it we could get the miles for flights we took recently but didn’t bother to credit them to our Etihad Guest accounts since it takes forever for them to be processed now, at least in my experience.
DeleteEtihad Guest was Air Serbia official loyalty program for many years. It is disrespectful to the customers not to allow transfer of those miles.
DeleteThis is great and unexpected news. JU isn't know as a customer friendly airline
DeleteAbsolutely yes, there should be a way to credit miles for trips recently taken. Their own reps at JFK have been refusing to add EY loyalty numbers to reservations claiming that JU does not use EY anymore. When you have a toddler next to you, you are not in a position to argue this nonsense. But yes, I would like my miles for the many JU miles I've flown recently and never got any credit
DeleteThey were right to not add EY numbers, cause even if they are added, they would not have been credited to your account. The only way to do this for as long as I remember was to write a retro claim email to Air Serbia address @etihadguest.com. This was actually working for me always, these past few months included. It is just that they should have known this and explained it.
Delete^ true. Just got my points credited this very morning 6 days after writing to them.
DeleteJust to add, if you are not getting the points credited after writing to this email, the best way is to write a private message on twitter to Air Serbia that you wrote to this email but they have not responded. Within 24 hours the miles will be in your account
DeleteSounds like total rubbish, if there’s no gamification it’s a waste of time, a cash back style programme doesn’t encourage the illogical behaviour you need to inspire in an FFP.
DeleteYeah no thanks
ReplyDeleteOne important question: are there gonna be miles for all fares, including Economy light or will stay as like at Etihad?
ReplyDeleteNo, miles for Economy Light won't be counted.
DeleteI don't think there is an airline in Europe that gives miles for the lowest fare bracket.
Delete@16:23 Turkish airlines does.
DeleteAegean Airlines does
DeleteThey said it will be spent based, the more you spend the more you get... + External partners will be part of it
DeleteI understand that as every purchase will be counted if made by BI card.
Literally all airlines give miles for Economy Light. Even Lufthansa does it! Of course, it is less miles than in Economy Standard, but there are still some miles!
DeleteSo it seems that Air Serbia was one of rare airlines that isn't giving miles in Economy. Hope they will change that now
DeleteAir Serbia does give miles in economy. Don't make things up.
DeleteHow do any of you know if they will or will not offer miles in Economy light. An anonymous makes something up and you all go for it.
DeleteThe program will be spend-based, so the fare won't matter at all.
DeleteJU doesn't give miles in Etihad Guest for Economy light.
Deletehey ex yu, help Air Serbia to celebrate anniversary flights properly, like you do, here
ReplyDeleteI bought Etihad Guest miles with my own money, specifically to surprise my family with a trip. I am exactly the customer this programme was built for: the kind who paid in, planned ahead and stayed loyal for years.
ReplyDeleteAnd here is how Air Serbia repaid that. Before any of this was even announced, award availability in Etihad Guest was quietly gutted. Every reasonable high season redemption pulled from sale, so the miles I had paid for became worth nothing at the only time I could actually use them. And now the "solution": no transfer of my balance into the new programme, no compensation, just a "goodwill" match of the last twelve months. Years of accumulated, purchased miles, written off just like that.
Lets be clear about who you just did this to. Nobody uses a frequent flyer programme except your most active and most loyal customers. So of every audience you could have picked to insult, you went for the single most valuable one, and basically told them their balances dont matter.
Serious airlines do not blow up established rules on existing members like this. At the very least you could have left high season award booking open until the transition. You didnt even do that.
I have lived in Belgrade for years and I have flown Air Serbia constantly, for family trips and for business alike. As of today that ends. I am boycotting this shabby airline that decided to spit in the face of the very people who stayed loyal to it. I will not be signing up for this programme. From now on I will deliberately choose competitors, even when it means worse routes, connections and layovers, purely on principle. And I sincerely hope a great many of your most frequent flyers do the same, so that "Elevate" becomes exactly what its name promises in reverse: an elevator taking JU straight down. 👎
When exactly did you buy these miles if it is over 12 months ago?
DeleteOk Karen.
DeleteI sympathise with you, but as any frequent flyer website/forum anywhere will teach you, purchasing miles in advance without a concrete and immediate redemption in mind is a horrible investment and a massive gamble. Every single FFP out there is prone to unannounced devaluations, elimination of award space and more. We've known for years that EY has no investment in JU anymore and JU has been talking about developing their own FFP for just as long. The writing was on the wall.
DeleteWriting was absolutely on the wall, no question about it. Elevate was supposed to start in March, but they did not have the agreement signed with the bank (and probably app was not ready).
DeleteHowever, calling someone Karen for a totally legitimate customer relationship rant is way beyond rude. JU could have sent out an email to FFs, alerting them of the fact, giving out a timeline or anything of sorts.
@10:23
Delete+1
I hope they didn’t pay too much money, with ai coding this capability can be built for very little $$
ReplyDeleteSeems like you don't have a clue about how enterprise-grade software is built.
DeleteThey waited just enough for most of EYG miles to expire, since you basically couldn't even claim them since forever. Nice strategy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, no mention of retroactive claim, as far as I see.
Next, since it's spend-based, it's only logical that even the lowest fares will give earn you points. But I highly doubt that. lol
Can't wait to see how much that Banca Intesa's Visa makes no sense! lol
Man invents arguments and then gets angry at them.
DeleteSpend-based is a fair system.
ReplyDeleteYes and no, depends on your point of view. On the one hand, it's good because it rewards expensive Economy Light tickets more than cheap Economy Flex ones. On the other hand, it disproportionately rewards expensive last-minute corporate bookings versus loyal members who have an eye out for deals and book as early as possible.
DeleteThat is a very good explanation Vlad. On the other hand I am very happy to get something for flying with JU, bcz till now couldn't get any mile although I had a lot of flights during year
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