Loyalty programs are all about numbers. Award Charts, earning and burning, all weighed in as a part of a business plan at the core of which lies how many miles will be minted, billed and how many of those extinguished and paid for during the year. So, it becomes sort of important to catch your breath every time a milestone is hit. After all, bargaining power is based on the number of members you have in the program. So are costs of servicing the loyalty of a member.
JetPrivilege reached one such milestone this past week. They are now 5 million members large, which makes it a pretty strong family to be a part of. JetPrivilege was taken over by Etihad Airways as a part of the deal for Jet Airways’ equity investment, and at that point of time back in 2013, they were about 2.4 Million members strong, which means they more than doubled in size within a couple of years or 3!
India, as a market for loyalty programs is pretty minuscule as compared to the US of A, for instance, where with a population of 330 million people in its home nation has over 67 million members in the AAdvantage program (2011 numbers/wikipedia). So, as the number of fliers within India grow, so will the number of members of loyalty programs and the whole industry. Air India has about 2 million or so members in their loyalty program for instance, from memory.
Overall, I still feel enthused that there is a lot more benefits to come via loyalty programs, and while I am trying to not think about the changes to JetPrivilege as of August 2016, I’m hoping I’d be able to adjust and they won’t be as bad as they sound.
What do you guys think about this 5 million milestone of JetPrivilege? Any good memories of the program?
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Hi, I was travelling on 17 hours delayed Etihad flight to Delhi as Jetprevillage GOLD. I have requested for Business class complimentary upgarde. There was one other passenger Etihad guest Silver, who also requested for complimentary upgrade.
EY silver guest got upgrade and I was not.
My question is .. Is there any status match kind of thing between EY and 9W. Is JP GOLD is less valued than EY silver on Etihad?
Thank you
I wouldn’t be too proud to be a JP member – the JP program was , and always has been below par, compared to other western FF programs. (One could claim that the exception could have been only at the beginning of the program, where it was almost equitable)
@Bala Balajee Vasireddi:
Obviously EY considered their own member first over you, so if you wish to continue flying EY, I would also get status in their program as well…maybe Jet treats EY elites the same, so then you could get the benefit of both “worlds”??
OMG guys – haven’t you seen how much the JP program has been watered-down??
I have even stopped using my JP-affiliated cards and am using US ones – how else can you fly F one-way for 60k miles and hardly any taxes! *NOT* with JP – that’s for sure!
AA would be having many members who are not US nationals. We should also compare how much % of India’s population flies regularly.
@neil that is the point I am trying to make, that there is a long way we need to go 🙂
Proud to be a JP member
JetPrivilege is the best FFP of India. They truly are rewarding! Proud to be a JP member since 1995.