According to eTNW, South African Airways frequent flyers will, from early 2015, be rewarded for the amount of money they spend with the airline rather than the number of miles they have travelled.
Customers will earn one mile per R1,60 spent, and the accumulation of miles under this earning structure will count towards tier status.
The redemption of miles under the new structure will be applicable to the base fare and fuel levy of a member’s requested SAA flights. Government and airport taxes are excluded.
Voyager has introduced ‘Dynamic Award’, which is related to the actual cost of the desired flight and is applicable to all revenue booking classes. Initially, Voyager members will have to pay with miles only, but during the course of 2015 they will be able to split a payment between miles and cash.
Based on the new SAA exclusive earning and spending structure, SAA Voyager members’ loyalty will be rewarded with a 5% return on their SAA spend. For example, if a Voyager member has spent R5,000 on an SAA flight, a value of R250 in loyalty miles as a currency (cash) will be available to spend towards flight rewards.
Voyager has reviewed and improved the benefits of members based on their tier status, ensuring loyalty over time is rewarded, which means more benefits for Elite members.
Future expansion plans for SAA Voyager include more third party redemption partnerships, the launch of a SAA Voyager credit card mid-2015, and a SAA Voyager online shop.