Travelers are Still Confused by Airline Loyalty Programs
by Daniel McCarthy /The survey ranked JetBlue Airways as the best airline loyalty program, scoring 812 on a 1,000-point scale. Photo: Carlos Yudica / Shutterstock.com
More than half of travelers that belong to airline loyalty programs do not understand how they work, according to a new J.D. Power survey.
Based on 3,025 responses from reward program members, J.D. Power found that more than half of those members did not understand how they can redeem their points.
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“Airlines have worked hard over the past several years to demonstrate the value of their loyalty programs, particularly to general members,” said Michael Taylor, travel practice lead at J.D. Power. “While those efforts are paying off in the form of improved overall satisfaction scores, airlines have a huge opportunity to improve when it comes to customers’ ease of understanding the rewards program.”
The survey ranked JetBlue Airways as the best airline loyalty program — it scored 812 on a 1,000-point scale. According to Taylor, JetBlue excels in giving its members a clear understanding of how to use its program.
JetBlue was then followed by Southwest Airlines (798 points), Alaska Airlines (791), and Delta (786). Those four carriers were the only ones above the industry average of 776. Both American Airlines (749) and United Airlines (747) scored below that threshold.
