Why Loyalty Programs Alienate Great Customers

In late 2010 I needed to travel from Dallas to Sydney for a business meeting, so I booked a first-class ticket through Los Angeles on Qantas. The round-trip fare: $25,278, or about 10 times the price of a coach ticket. For that premium you’d expect flawless service. But I wasn’t a member of Qantas’s frequent-flier program (since I rarely fly that airline), and I quickly learned the challenges of being a rookie. When I call American Airlines, where I have Executive Platinum status, I use a VIP line that’s answered instantly. But when I had a question about my Qantas connection at LAX, I waited on hold forever. Although the Qantas flights were spectacular, the experience was filled with subtle reminders that even though I’d paid a fare twice what most Qantas frequent fliers might spend in a year, I couldn’t access basic services offered to “elite” members.