Air Miles

Air Miles

Industry	Loyalty program
Founded	1992 (1992)
Retail partners	Rona, Inc., Staples, Toys "R" Us, Shell Canada, Safeway, Metro Inc., Sobeys, Sobeys Liquor, Thrifty Foods, Lawtons, Rexall/Rexall Pharma Plus, Marlin Travel, Eastlink, Liquor Control Board of Ontario
Major rewards	Travel, cashback, electronics, entertainment, personal care, appliances
Number of members	10,000,000+
Owner	LoyaltyOne
Website	www.airmiles.ca

The original Air Miles logo, no longer used in most countries

Air Miles (often stylized as AIR MILES) is the name of separately operated loyalty programs in Canada, the Netherlands and the Middle East. In Spain the scheme is operated under the Travel Club name by Air Miles España, S.A.. Points are earned on purchases at participating merchants and can be redeemed against flights with specific airlines. The scheme was also operated in the United Kingdom until it was combined with BA Miles and Iberia Plus points and rebranded as Avios in November 2011.

History

The Air Miles concept was created by Sir Keith Mills, and began operating in the UK in November 1988. British company Loyalty Management Group (LMG) operated the program and licensed the rights to it in other countries to other operators.

LMG was later acquired by Canadian firm Groupe Aeroplan, now Aimia, which retains the intellectual property associated with the Air Miles name and logo internationally, and is the majority partner in the Air Miles program in the Middle East. In all other countries in which Air Miles programs operate, Aimia is the licensor and is not involved in program operation. In Canada, Air Miles competes directly with Aimia's program, Aeroplan . Similarly the former Air Miles program in the UK had no affiliation with the Nectar program operated by Aimia.

Air Miles Canada

Currently owned and operated by LoyaltyOne, whose parent company is Alliance Data, the Air Miles reward program was launched in Canada in 1992, and is Canada’s largest coalition loyalty program.^[1] In 1998, Air Miles Canada was acquired by Alliance Data Systems. In 2008, Alliance Data Loyalty Services became known as LoyaltyOne.^[2]

Air Miles Canada has more than 100 sponsors,^[3] including Bank of Montreal, American Express, retail partners like Rona, Inc., Staples, Toys R Us, Shell Canada, Safeway, Metro, Sobeys and Sobeys Liquor, the Lawtons, Rexall/PharmaPlus and Jean Coutu pharmacy chains, the Eastlink cable company, and online partners such as Amazon and eBay. Consumers collect Air Miles reward miles from sponsors, which can be redeemed for 1,200 reward choices, such as travel, entertainment, home electronics and giftcards.^[4][5] Consumers get the best value for their Air Miles when they use them for travel.^[6]

There are more than ten million active collector accounts across Canada:^[4] approximately two-thirds of Canadian households participate in Air Miles.

In April 2009, Air Miles Canada launched My Planet, an initiative to help people trade in their Air Miles for environmentally conscious products and services.^[7] Initially, My Planet offered collectors over 140 "green" redemption items, including public transit passes, organic cotton linens, and electric scooters.^[8] In September 2009, the program was extended to stores and point of purchase.^[8]

Air Miles Canada has received awards for marketing, customer care/call centres, human resources, training and leadership.^{[9][10][11][12]}

2016 points cancellation

In 2011, Air Miles Canada announced that points earned by Canadian collectors would expire after five years. All points collected from inception to these end of 2011 would expire MN on January 1, 2017. The announcement went generally unnoticed at the time.

In 2016, as the deadline for redeeming points came closer, the media began to report on Canadian collectors struggling to redeem their points,^[13] frustrations with customer service,^[14][15] accusations that reward offers were being manipulated to discourage redemptions and that merchandise was being hidden from some customers.^[16][17]

On December 1, 30 days before the expiry deadline, LoyaltyOne reversed the policy,^[18] citing an impending Private Members Bill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that would ban the expiration of points in the Province of Ontario.^[19]

It is estimated Air Miles intended to gain an estimated $180 to 250 million, due to the expiration of points(CAD),^[18] for the balance sheet of its parent company, US-based Alliance Data. The cancellation resulted in a $242 million (USD) charge against forth quarter 2016 earnings.^[20]

Air Miles Middle East

In the Middle East region, Air Miles is operated by Rewards Management Middle East. It is owned by Aimia (formerly Groupe Aeroplan). It operates a single program across the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Air Miles offers all of its members a wealth of rewards and unique offers and experiences. Since the launch in 2001, over 1.4 million members have enrolled from across the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. Members collect Air Miles on everyday shopping from a huge range of partners including HSBC, Spinneys, Sharaf DG, Damas, Chilli’s, African & Eastern and many more! Members who are HSBC credit cardholders are credited Air Miles for credit card transactions.

Air Miles the Netherlands

Similar to other Air Miles programs, Air Miles in the Netherlands originally had flights as its only reward but later expanded to include other rewards. As of 2015, flight rewards are available again. The program commenced in the mid-1990s, but its popularity later waned. In 2004, ABN AMRO ceased its participation. Albert Heijn did the same in some branches to allow greater product discounting. At Shell gas stations, customers can choose between Air Miles or stamps. Currently Air Miles has over 3.8 million active users, making it the largest loyalty program in the Netherlands.

Air Miles Netherlands has announced that their points will expire after the 5 year mark for its customers starting in 2018.

Former programs

Air Miles United Kingdom

Both sides of a typical UK paper Air Miles voucher

Air Miles in the UK was created in the mid-1980s by Alan Deller, Commercial Director of British Caledonian Airways and the partners of advertising agency Mills, Smith & Partners – initially Keith Mills, Brian Smith, William Kershaw, Nick Tomlin, Peter Badham and Geoffrey Bean and later Liam Cowdrey. Together they formed the Air Miles Travel Promotions Limited in 1986 and sold 51% of the UK operation to British Airways soon after. They produced the consumer launch campaign ‘Stop dreaming. Start Collecting’, gaining a database of three million Air Miles collectors in the first three months. Keith Mills later founded the Nectar loyalty card. Operations in the UK commenced in November 1988.

In 2007, the United Kingdom Air Miles business had eight million customers.^[21] Airmiles could be collected through Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo credit card accounts, Shell petrol stations, Tesco supermarkets (50 airmiles for every £2.50 in Tesco ClubCard vouchers), Southern Electric, travel products, package holidays purchased from Air Miles and over 100 online retailers.

The British program had an online shopping portal including retailers such as eBay and Currys. Airmiles could be redeemed for flights with British Airways and other airlines, Eurostar and ferry crossings, cruises, hotel accommodation, car hire, travel insurance, package holidays, spa and golf breaks and leisure activities. It was based in Crawley.

Air Miles was a subsidiary of British Airways, but the airline also operated a different scheme for its frequent flyers called BA Miles.

In September 2011 Air Miles announced that it would be rebranding to Avios and that taxes and charges would then be chargeable, quoting £497 for a return flight to Sydney; many previous users expressed regret and anger over this.^[22][23] The Airmiles scheme was combined with BA Miles and ended at midnight 14 November.^[24]

Air Miles United States

An Air Miles program was launched in the United States in 1992 by Loyalty Management Group. Participating companies included Lenscrafters, General Cinema, AT&T Corporation, and Citibank. Unlike its Canadian counterpart, the U.S. program was unsuccessful and suspended operations in May 1993.^[25]

References