Qualiflyer was a frequent flyer program, created in April 1992 by Austrian Airlines, Crossair and Swissair. When Swissair began acquiring stakes in other European airlines in 1998, Qualiflyer was extended to become their frequent flyer programs as well. This spawned the alliance known as The Qualiflyer Group. With the failure of Swissair in 2002, the group dissolved along with the program and a company was formed to give each former member airline an individual frequent-flyer program.
Currently Swiss International Air Lines, the successor company of Swissair, is participating in the Miles & More frequent flyer program with Lufthansa.
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Qualiflyer was formed in April 1992, as Europe's first frequent-flyer program, for Swissair, Crossair and Austrian Airlines. Originally, Swissair's partner airline Crossair and its high-end hotel chain Swissôtel also participated in the program. As one would expect, Qualiflyer's affiliation to one of the world-class airlines caused membership to grow quickly to 2 million members in the first eight years. After that, other airlines joined in the program, and the program received even larger amounts of membership.
The Qualiflyer Group logo resembled a blue globe surrounded by to swooping arms. The entire globe was encircled by ten stars symbolizing the ten member airlines. Airlines participating in the group were required to fly airplanes with a rather large Qualiflyer logo sticker applied. Swissair and Sabena principally had several airplanes painted with a blue underbelly with "The Qualiflyer Group" titles applied near the nose.
In 1998, Swissair, one of the more conservative European airlines, decided to have a hand at expansion. Instead of doing this by joining one of the new airlines alliances Star Alliance and oneworld, it decided to this by acquiring minority stakes in several airlines. Among these were Sabena, TAP Air Portugal, Air Europe, and LOT Polish Airlines. These airlines all came to participate in the Qualiflyer program. The Qualiflyer Group would ultimately be a contributing factor in Swissair's demise.
The Qualiflyer program always made a distinction between genuine frequent flyers and other traveling members. That is why, when Qualiflyer launched in 1992, two account types were introduced: the Qualiflyer basic level, for everyone wishing to collect miles, and the Qualiflyer Travelclub, for more frequent travelers. To meet the needs of particular target groups better, further club levels were added. The Travelclub Gold, for very frequent travelers and Qualiflyer Circle for an exclusive group of selected members. The existence of the "Circle" was not actively communicated, to ensure optimum exclusivity. The Circle was introduced in 1994 and the Travelclub Gold membership only many years later in 2001. For every level, further benefits were offered to make the travel as smooth and pleasant as possible.
Qualiflyer regularly won industry awards in a wide range of categories.
The Freddie Awards offer frequent travelers a chance to voice their opinions about their favorite frequent traveler programs.[1]
This award honors the best dialogue marketing campaigns and is selected by a jury of dialogue marketing experts.
| Airline | Notes |
|---|---|
| Air Europe | |
| Air Liberté | |
| Air Littoral | |
| AOM French Airlines | |
| Austrian Airlines Group | Founding member of the Qualiflyer Frequent flyer program |
| Balair | Not part of the Qualiflyer Group, just the Frequent flyer program |
| Crossair | Founding member of the Qualiflyer Frequent flyer program |
| LOT Polish Airlines | |
| LTU | Not part of the Qualiflyer Group, just the Frequent flyer program |
| Portugalia Airlines | |
| Sabena | |
| Swissair | Founding member of the Qualiflyer Frequent flyer program |
| TAP Portugal | |
| Volare |
| Airline |
|---|
| American Airlines |
| Finnair |
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