United Airlines will extend three of its Corporate Preferred loyalty programme benefits to “selected” corporate customers across its joint venture with Lufthansa Group and Air Canada from this autumn.
The JV partners made the announcement on Sunday (14 August) at the Global Business Travel Association Convention in San Diego.
The three benefits are preferred boarding, preferred reaccommodation when there is a service disruption, and preferred flight protection following an equipment change or an overbooking situation. All of United’s Corporate Preferred Elite tier customers will initially be eligible for the new benefits.
Glenn Hollister, United’s vice president of sales strategy and effectiveness, said the three JV members had selected a group of corporate customers that “use the joint venture the most and will receive the greatest benefit from the Corporate Preferred programme”.
“We are exploring ways in which we can extend more of the benefits to more of our customers,” he added.
The impetus behind the benefit extension is to provide a more seamless experience for travellers, said Hollister, particularly as the three carriers have different corporate programmes and benefits.
The benefits will apply not just on transatlantic routes but on the combined networks of all three airline groups, according to the companies.
For Lufthansa Group, that includes flights across the company’s carriers: Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, according to Don Bunkenburg, Lufthansa’s senior director of sales for the US Central, West and Central America.
“Regardless of what airline the customer is flying, or where they are flying, they will enjoy those benefits,” explained Hollister. “It provides a more premium experience to these customers, especially those who do not have loyalty status.”
If a customer's loyalty status or purchased airfare entitles them to benefits beyond the Corporate Preferred programme, they will receive those higher benefits, said Hollister.
What’s important, he added, is that “it’s the first time we are building technology to pass the information back and forth on the travellers”.
“So regardless of where they book and where they fly, they can [receive those benefits]. That is really where the work has been, to make sure we’re exchanging behind the scenes the information to deliver these benefits on any airline anywhere in the network,” added Hollister.