Revolution in airBaltic Frequent Flyer Program led by PINS

The national airline of Latvia conducted an in-depth analysis of their customer data and found out that the existing loyalty program has to be highly improved for the majority of customers who fly only a few times per year. For them, it was not possible to collect enough points for meaningful rewards or to achieve the upgrade to higher membership levels of the loyalty program.

Furthermore, a lot of active loyalty program members fly only once or twice a year, often choosing one airline for their flight in one direction and another airline – for the return flight.

A challenge was accepted to reach the following business goals:

• Boost incremental revenue by selling additional flights to the non-frequent flyers;
• Increase flight bookings on the airBaltic website;
• Increase channel shift to airBaltic website.

A Few Words about airBaltic and PINS

airBaltic is the national airline of Latvia, operating since 1995. As a hybrid airline taking the best practices from both traditional network airlines and low-cost carriers, airBaltic connects Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East countries reaching more than 80 destinations.

PINS provides strategic and data-driven loyalty solutions for business that boost 100+ business partners worldwide. Simply put, all PINS loyalty program members (over 2.8 million) use a plastic card or the mobile app to shop at PINS partners, earn PINS loyalty points that can be spent on many valuable rewards:

• Free flights and other travel rewards,
• Home appliances and electronics;
• Gift cards, cinema tickets and many more.

Time for Revolution in the Aviation Industry

So, how to deal with a necessity to technologically improve the existing loyalty program for customer retention and provide customized rewards solution for customers with different flying habits? That's where airBaltic did a smart move and partnered up with PINS to introduce the all-new airBaltic Club loyalty program and the digital Stamp Card.

The Stamp Card was an innovative and effectively unique mobile loyalty solution as a feature of the airBaltic Club and PINS mobile application, making it easier than ever to join, earn and instantly use airBaltic Club privileges. By joining airBaltic Club and the Stamp Card, each member collects both PINS and digital stamps for each flight with airBaltic. There are two main rewards – PINS points for Reward flight and opportunity to reach next tier level by completing the Stamp Card, but along the way members collect digital stamps to receive additional extra rewards such as:

• Free baggage;
• Free advanced seat reservation;
• PINS points, discount vouchers and other extras. 

Within a few months, the digital Stamp Card was significantly improved by PINS along with other new features developed in the mobile app, such as the Travel section that enables airBaltic Club members to easily check-in for airBaltic flights and purchase additional services for a more comfortable flight.

It is a truly innovative approach on how to reward airBaltic customers with different flying habits. Some may even call it a revolution, furthermore, currently there is no similar loyalty platform available anywhere in the aviation industry. 

Results – Sky High (Both Literally and Figuratively)

The revamped loyalty solution has attracted more engaged and motivated members, and showed a great increase for members buying more flights, reaching the monthly average rate of a 66% increase! Moreover, the monthly average purchase count for ancillaries has increased by 67% within 12 months’ time.

Members are now more engaged and motivated with the new loyalty program:

• Actively booking their flights and using rewards;
• Taking part in different marketing campaigns (Shake&Win, BIG SALE);
• Proving their loyalty and interest in the airBaltic Club.

More than 13% new enrollments to the program were made within 12 months’ time and 45% of this total number registered to the Stamp Card as well.

59% of the registered Stamp Card users have also purchased a flight, furthermore, the annual marketing campaigns like BIG SALE had overrun the previously implemented ones by doubling the bookings.

So What's Next?

For airBaltic, every innovation in the loyalty program represents an effort to bring greater value to the customer and to improve the overall customer experience. The new Stamp Card concept is already paying its dividends showing that the number of loyalty members sky-rockets up by more than 50% year on year and the number is growing rapidly with each passing day.

All of this data proves the programs’ worth and leads all the possibilities for further development of the loyalty solution for business.

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