South African Airways extends redemption period for its loyalty programme’s members

Johannesburg, South Africa, 2015-2-12 — /Travel PR News/ — South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, announced today that it will extend the redemption period for its loyalty programme’s members to enable them to continue to process AnyDay and MileageKeeper Awards to 28 February 2015 at 23h00, South African time.

Whilst the majority of members applauded the bold yet equitable move by SAA’s loyalty programme, SAA Voyager to change from a mileage-based to a revenue-based frequent flyer programme effective 1 February 2015, some members of the programme appealed that they were at a disadvantage in terms of redemption of Miles for SAA operated flights as available balances were awarded on the mileage-based structure.

“It was well understood that members who have earned Miles as per the mileage-based model, could feel disadvantaged by the revenue-based redemption model when requesting high yield fares and therefore all members were given 64 days to exercise their right to redeem Miles as per the mileage-based model if required,” said Suretha Cruse, SAA Executive Customer Loyalty.

“This extension is therefore given, without hesitation by SAA, in response to feedback from our members in terms of the new Dynamic Awards introduced by SAA Voyager. This will allow members a further period to review their options available,” she added.

SAA Voyager’s new value proposition which includes enabling members to earn Miles at 1 Mile for every R1.60 spend on the base fare and fuel levy paid when traveling on SAA operated flights, has been well received. This means applying a consistent method in rewarding customers for loyalty. In addition, the redemption value for SAA operating flights is transparent, whereby members are assured by SAA Voyager of a 5% return. “In other words, for R5000 spent on SAA operated flights, a member will have R250 to spend towards future travel on SAA operated flights,” says Cruse.

Effective 1 February 2015, mileage thresholds for future travel using SAA Voyager Miles for SAA operating flights is dynamically priced as per the available fare class and will be applicable to the base fare and fuel levy of the requested flight(s).  These redemption seats will not be capacity controlled and Miles will be converted as form of full payment for the base fare and fuel levy with a set conversion. SAA Voyager has furthermore negotiated discounted fares for its Members compared to the available fares to revenue passengers. These discounts, which may vary between routes and regions, will be passed onto Members when Miles are converted to the required ZAR value for an SAA operated flight for redemption purposes.

“The primary benchmark against which our changes were made was a direct response to our customers’ needs. Members wanted to be rewarded for their loyalty based on revenue instead of distance travelled. Members also demanded more redemption options without restrictions and clear transparency in terms of a currency value of a Mile and they requested minimum cash cost against redemptions,” says Cruse.

About South African Airways (SAA)
South African Airways (SAA) is the leading carrier in Africa, serving 57 destinations, in partnership with SA Express, SA Airlink and its low cost carrier, Mango, within South Africa and across the continent, and ten intercontinental routes from its Johannesburg hub. It is a member of the largest international airline network, Star Alliance. SAA’s core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; and Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA. SAA is the winner of the ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award in the regional category for twelve consecutive years and the winner of ‘Service Excellence Africa’ for three years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa’s most on – time airlines.

Issued by SAA Communications

For more information contact:
SAA: Tlali Tlali
tlalitlali@flysaa.com
+27 82 333 3880
+27 11 978 2298

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