Air Miles adds perks to recently controversial loyalty program
After a difficult saga involving angry customers that caused it to change course and restore a policy it was initially hoping to nix, Air Miles is making an effort to restore its goodwill with customers by introducing some new loyalty program perks.
With this update, Air Miles' online merchandise rewards catalogue will now become fully accessible to all customers after formerly being available to just a certain committed group. On top of that, those more engaged points collectors will now have the opportunity to buy under an enhanced tiered pricing structure (up to 10 per cent off of all merchandise for Gold Collectors, up to 20 per cent for Onyx Collectors). The second improvement is a tweak in which Collectors can now make merchandise purchases with credit cards and Dream Miles cards, a change that will help them save points when making those purchases. Finally, Air Miles has pledged a commitment to extended customer service. It will now have 24/7 customer support through its Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Air Miles is hoping that these concessions are able to quell a widespread customer dissatisfaction that largely stems from the company's now-voided decision to introduce points expiration. About a month before it was set to enforce a policy whereby points would be lost if unused for more than five years, Air Miles reversed its position and decided not to take that measure. Although it was able to appease many by doing that, there were lots of cases in which Collectors had rushed to cash in points prematurely since they believed they would be unable to wait as much as they would have liked to.
Earlier in 2016, Air Miles experienced another customer relations crisis when it received numerous complaints from points collectors who had found that merchandise items they could have afforded were being hidden from them.
The fallout from these blunders prompted Air Miles head Blair Cameron to pen an apology letter to customers detailing his and the company's remorse for how it handled various matters in 2016. These new perks may not move the needle all that much for customers who felt betrayed by Air Miles, but its certainly a good starting point for redemption.