British Airways forced to defend ‘aggressive’ loyalty scheme changes
Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy British Airways has defended changes to its loyalty programme, insisting the move towards a spending-based system will create more fairness, not fewer rewards. British Airways Boeing 777 Aircraft G-YMMO Landing at London Heathrow International Airport British Airways chief commercial officer Colm Lacy said awarding points for spending is “the best way of recognising our customers’ loyalty and we’re confident it’s the right thing to do”. “The focus for this is making sure we have a loyalty scheme that rewards people for the right behaviours.” Mr Lacy said “one of the benefits” of the changes is they will make it harder for people to use “gamification and loopholes” to earn points, as “that is not really rewarding loyalty”. Gilbert Ott, founder of the travel website God Save The Points, said people have an “emotional attachment to loyalty”, and the bonus offer creates “a little bit more of that game feeling”.
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