Emirates: "This is how Italians use points. We're aiming for 100k new Skywards members this year."
How many Italian members are there in Emirates' Skywards loyalty program? how are the points used? interview with Andrew Sayers, Vice President - Emirates Skywards Commercial Engagement
Emirates
MXP
United Arab Emirates
On the eve of the August holiday, I had a long talk with. Andrew Sayers, Vice President - Emirates Skywards Commercial Engagement, not even on purpose a few days after flying (thanks to Skywards points) in brand new business class on a 777/300 Geneva to Dubai.
In this article:
Andrew Sayers has worked at Emirates for more than 20 years, is Australian and is one of the heads of the Dubai-based company's loyalty program. I have to thank the company's Italian press office for their cooperation-I am certainly not Sam Chui, so getting to do certain interviews is not easy.
A small premise. Of course I could have spoken Of recent write-downs, of the increases in the cost of award tickets and what has happened in the last 24 months in the Skywards house, but as always my nature leads me to look forward and not dwell on the past, which no longer returns.
Here at TFC we talk about points and Loyalty and understanding how Italians behave with Emirates was one of my curiosities about that.
Starting with the Italian membership figure for the Skywards loyalty program: more than 750 thousand members, with the goal of growing over the next 12 months by as many as 100 thousand users. A truly ambitious project.
"Globally we are at over 30M subscribers," Sayers explained to me from Dubai, "We have resumed our growth after the pandemic and after a cleanup of our database, and I can say that Italy is in our world TOP10. Fruit certainly of our Malpensa/New York flight, which is one of the most coveted by all Skywards point accumulators, not only Italians."
The use of points is the highlight of a loyalty program: the Anglo-Saxons say "earn & burn," which translates nicely to accumulate (the points) and burn them. This is also the advice we here at TFC give to all reward travel newbies: this is the only way to secure yourself from devaluations.
"The number one route by number of points used by Italian travelers is undoubtedly the Milan/New York (ed. this route is also the busiest for EK in Italy, by paying passengers), followed by Dubai. The top continuing destination from our Hub, however, is Male, or the Maldives, and our destinations to Australia are the first off the podium."
But how do Italian users use points? I have explained in many articles how Skywards miles can be used, and I was not surprised to find that "the most popular mode is definitely cash+miles, especially for economy tickets. The ability to save a small (or large) amount on the ticket with two simple clicks is by far the most popular use."
On the one hand cash+miles is an easy way to save on the ticket and use points that would otherwise expire without being able to be used, but on the other hand it is the way where you are able to give the least value compared to the other methods of use.
"Then," the Emirates Skywards vice president continues, "there is the use of points for class upgrades. Either for upgrades from Economy to Business, or for flying first class on one of our planes. Finally, in terms of total point usage, there are classic rewards, which are tickets fully redeemed using accumulated points."
The most striking figure, at least from my perspective, was the number of activities done each day by Italian members of Emirates' loyalty program: "On average, considering the three possible uses, points are used, every day, by 50 Italian users".
On balance, it means nearly 20 thousand boarding passes issued each year through the accumulation of points, so many as to fill 38 A380s from first to last place every year, almost one a week.
"We have very important partnerships such as those with Amex, but also with all the other partners such as shopping at the Bicester Collection to Emirates Hotels bookings that allow you to earn up to 10k miles with a single booking."
"We try to constantly improve our program and help users get more and more benefits through our card. When you travel to Dubai you can accumulate points by shopping at Dubai Mall, thanks to Skywards Everyday you can have benefits, discounts and bonuses in hundreds of businesses in Emirates. And then one thing that many people ignore: just one business class round trip from Italy to Australia allows you to get the Silver level in our program, a card that allows, among other things, access to our Dubai lounges."
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One of the benefits for all members, not mentioned by Sayers in our call, is free wi-fi on board EK flights. Just enter your credentials to get all the messaging for free, for the entire flight and without any limitations.
A final mention also on one of the most eagerly awaited innovations in the Italian market, namely premium economy on flights to/from Italy: "We are looking forward to opening these routes and allowing our members to use points to try our new and unique product. It's not long until that day."
