Paula: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for Loyalty Marketing Professionals.
Paula: I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in Loyalty Marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from Loyalty Specialists around the world.
Paula: Hello and welcome to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.
Paula: Today’s interview features the SAS Group, the Swedish airline holding company originally formed in 1946 after the merger of three Scandinavian flag carriers, serving Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Paula: And it’s now Scandinavia’s leading airline, offering the most departures to, from and within Scandinavia.
Paula: Like many airlines, the SAS Group has made significant changes to its corporate structures over the years, and particularly this year to its global alliance strategy.
Paula: SAS was one of the original founding members of the Star Alliance in 1997, but then it left in August 2024 and joined Skyteam the very next day.
Paula: Joining us today to share some of the insights on their loyalty program and some recent award-winning loyalty-led campaigns is Olivia Wasiewski, who is head of the EuroBonus program operated by SAS.
Paula: I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Paula: So, Olivia, welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.
Olivia: Thank you, thanks a lot, Paula, really good being here.
Olivia: I’ve listened to your podcast previously as well for a while, so it feels like an honor to also be here and talk to you.
Paula: Amazing, fantastic.
Paula: And I know our paths have crossed at a couple of different conferences.
Olivia: Yes, that’s why I’m also sitting here with the Let’s Talk Loyalty branded mug.
Paula: Amazing, that always makes my day, Olivia, so thank you for that.
Paula: Listen, we’ve a lot to get through, Olivia.
Paula: As you know, we always start with the same opening question, which our audience always loves to get a sense from you as a loyalty professional.
Paula: Would you mind just kicking us off and telling us, what is your favorite loyalty program?
Olivia: I will actually answer, because I’m not going to answer the one that I’m working with, your voters, I’m not going to answer anyone within the industry.
Olivia: I think there are a lot of interesting travel-related programs.
Olivia: I’m going to answer more from a personal level on this one, I think, because there is one loyalty program that has me hooked and has me acting a little bit irrationally and staying with the product, although maybe financially I should have just cut it.
Olivia: And it’s a gym chain.
Olivia: And I think that probably some magic that also the travel industry has, that also maybe the gym chain has, that if you identify yourself and feel passion about the product, it’s easier to also give the loyalty and stay.
Olivia: So in my previous life, without kids and so on, I used to work out a lot at a specific gym chain, so I reached their top level.
Olivia: And as long as I stay within their loyalty program and don’t quit, I stay at the top level.
Olivia: Right now, to be honest, I just go there a few times a year.
Olivia: So I should really, from financial resources, cut the subscription.
Olivia: But as I know that I will lose that top position if I cut it, I still stay there because I want to identify myself with that brand and with the product and hope to come back.
Olivia: And I think also they are really, they’re seeing that I’m, that I have identified my churn risk, or like trying to communicate and get me over there.
Olivia: So…
Paula: Okay.
Paula: Well, well done.
Olivia: One day I will, like a lot of other people thinks.
Paula: You know, it’s one thing to behave irrationally, Olivia.
Paula: It’s another thing to be aware that you’re behaving irrationally.
Olivia: And still do it.
Paula: Yeah, still be doing it.
Paula: So that’s loyalty at its best example.
Paula: So thank you for that.
Paula: So tell us a bit about you, Olivia.
Paula: I know you’ve been working in the airline industry for a very long time, but just give us an introduction.
Paula: I know you’ve had lots of different roles within the industry as well.
Paula: So tell us a bit about your background and your experience in loyalty so far.
Paula: And maybe a little bit about the airline as well, because we have, as you know, an audience in the US, UK and Australia.
Paula: So yeah, just if you don’t mind doing the basic introduction.
Olivia: So we’ll go to you.
Olivia: Yes.
Olivia: OK, so I’ve been, as you say, Paul, I’ve been in the airline industry for like for quite a long time.
Olivia: It’s as a lot of people, I find it addictive.
Olivia: It’s a lot of fun and very, very rewarding to work with.
Olivia: So 11 and a half years, I’ve been working in different parts of the airline.
Olivia: So revenue management, price distribution for a while in Loyalty, and then I came back.
Olivia: But also with the product on board, with a meal offer focused on sustainability and on the strategy team and now back in Loyalty the last few years.
Olivia: Previously, I worked with consulting in my background.
Olivia: What I studied was economics and finance, so kind of like hardcore stuff.
Olivia: But also then, I wasn’t really thinking about that Loyalty would be my passion then.
Olivia: But my passion then when studying these like more hardcore analytical subjects, it was behavioural finance.
Olivia: So I think this is kind of also affected now because Loyalty is like loyalty.
Olivia: It’s a very commercial and analytical field, but also with this psychological twist, which I find very interesting.
Olivia: I think it’s what makes it fun to work with and keep on thinking from different angles.
Olivia: Yeah.
Paula: OK, fantastic.
Olivia: And a little bit about the airline, sorry, you said as well.
Olivia: So also another long history, even longer than my 11.5 years.
Olivia: So SAS is now it’s like, I would say mid-size airline, like 130 aircraft, 10,000 employees.
Olivia: So what is specific for us is that we are, we have bases in Scandinavia.
Olivia: So in three, we have the three bigger hubs in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Olivia: Although Denmark is, we’re focusing more and more on Denmark, Copenhagen as our main hub, but we have the three hubs.
Olivia: And we have a lot of flights in Nordic and Europe, but also a good coverage of the US market.
Olivia: So if you say that you have a lot of US listeners, it could be worth trying out, because we have, we fly to nine cities in the US and also one in Canada and some Asia as well.
Olivia: But the interesting part about SAS, I think, is like the history also, it was founded in 1946, so just after the Second World War.
Olivia: And the nice thing was that it was like three countries that came together and said, hey, we want world peace, we want to work like a sustainable world where people work together and meet, because this is needed for the world to work together.
Olivia: So they together created one airline that had like three state owners, so it was the flagship carrier of three airlines.
Olivia: And it has had a very, SAS has a very important, since then a very important role in the Scandinavian market, because we are very much like, in Scandinavia we have long countries, so you have to, you need an aircraft to travel, and also countries, for example Norway has huge mountains, so you really need an aircraft to fly.
Olivia: And it gets super dark and cold in the winter, so we all need to go south to survive.
Olivia: So it has played a very key role, the airline in the Scandinavian society.
Paula: Incredible.
Olivia: And right now, also it was founded, emerged after the war.
Olivia: And right now, SAS is also in a very interesting position, because right now we have also emerged from a long and tough period that we’ve had, because we’ve been in Chapter 11, so in bankruptcy protection and reconstruction, we got new owners now, finally.
Olivia: So we had a lot of focus on just surviving.
Olivia: And of course, from my perspective, trying to also keep members happy during that and the customer.
Olivia: And also we did the alliance shift, so put a lot of focus on changing alliance, airline alliance from Star Alliance to Skyteam, which requires a lot of work.
Olivia: So now finally we are, we have landed, and it feels really good because we can look forward more.
Paula: Amazing.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Almost feels like it’s the first time, maybe in a few years, Olivia, that you could actually catch your breath.
Paula: And all of those changes were probably quite difficult to go through.
Paula: And we’re certainly going to talk about the alliance piece now in a couple of minutes.
Paula: But certainly Chapter 11, I can imagine is quite stressful.
Paula: And like everybody, of course, as an airline, the pandemic was devastating.
Paula: So I know you’ve been through all of that.
Paula: Come out the other side.
Paula: So I’m thrilled that the survival story is the one that we’re focused on today.
Paula: And so talk to us a little bit just specifically then about the loyalty program about EuroBonus, because as you said, the airline was launched in 1946, but not the loyalty program.
Paula: That always obviously takes a bit more time.
Paula: So tell us about the story of EuroBonus and what you currently offer.
Olivia: Yes.
Olivia: So EuroBonus was launched in 1992, much inspired also by because the American Loyalty Programs and Frequent Flyer Programs, because in the US the airlines were front runners in this field.
Olivia: And so we are, yeah, I would say quite young still, turning 33 in May 25.
Olivia: But it was originally like a lot of loyalty programs connected to the airlines.
Olivia: We were set up like a frequent flyer program, focusing on those that fly a lot with levels and benefits.
Olivia: We had some partners to start out with, hotels and so on, but mainly focused on the frequent flyer.
Olivia: We have the last years, we are on a journey to become more of a loyalty program that you can use in your daily life, not only for frequent flyers.
Olivia: So we have more than 2000 partners, and we want to have even more.
Olivia: And a lot of the focus in the program is on earning and using points.
Olivia: It’s also been a switch, because before the pandemic, most points were earned on flights.
Olivia: But right now, most points are earned in daily life.
Olivia: But people then want to use them to fly.
Olivia: So it’s still like the dream of the travel and to get what I like to call the bonus experience that keeps people engaged.
Olivia: And we also have a lot about earning using points, but we also have tiered level programs.
Olivia: So we have the entry level, and then we have three levels above the entry level.
Olivia: We call them silver, gold and diamond.
Olivia: So this is quite a lot in line with a lot of traditional airlines and the programs.
Olivia: I think what sets us apart here is that we have quite a lot of members that are actually on the silver, gold level.
Olivia: Because of what I explained about the importance of the airline industry and flying in the Scandinavian market.
Olivia: I mean, specifically in Norway, we have a lot of members, a lot of silver members, because you just can’t take the train around or car around these mountains.
Olivia: You can fly in 45 minutes, but if you go by train or car, it takes you four hours.
Olivia: So it doesn’t really make sense to do that.
Olivia: So for people to live their normal life, a lot of them are relying on us.
Paula: Amazing.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: So you probably have a lot of built in loyalty then, dare I say it.
Paula: I don’t want to make your job sound too easy.
Paula: I know you’re doing a lot, but am I right in saying you’re just about to cross a major milestone in terms of the actual size of your base, Olivia?
Olivia: Yes, actually, we are just like keeping our eyes open.
Olivia: And any day soon, like really any day, we will cross, we will get our 8 million member.
Paula: Amazing.
Olivia: Yes.
Olivia: OK, so that will be it’s an honor.
Olivia: And also looking at like the penetration of number of members, it’s it’s quite big.
Olivia: So it’s it’s good.
Paula: It does.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Well, I mean, you’re certainly not the only airline.
Paula: In fact, I’d be surprised if there’s any airline that’s still only focusing, as you said, on the frequent flyers, because as you rightly said, the dream of travel as a redemption opportunity is something that every airline can harness, can tap into that passion for getting to sunny places.
Paula: As you said, Scandinavia can be quite dark.
Paula: So this idea of earning in everyday life through the partners that you mentioned and then being able to jet away to somewhere fabulous is very inspiring.
Paula: And I know we’re recording now in November.
Paula: And hopefully, you know, anybody listening to this, you will already have announced that 8 million members.
Paula: So no doubt somebody’s a very happy passenger, a very happy member.
Paula: So tell us about, I suppose, the big topic for today, Olivia.
Paula: And I know we’re going to talk about some of your amazing campaigns specifically for EuroBonus.
Paula: But the big story about moving from the Star Alliance over to Skyteam, I think that’s something that I don’t know of any other airline that’s done it.
Paula: Perhaps they have.
Paula: But you literally left one alliance.
Paula: I know at the end of August, the next day, you’re a member of a new alliance.
Paula: So that must have been a massive amount of work and a big challenge, both for loyalty and, of course, for the whole airline operations, whether it’s code shares and systems and everything that goes with being part of a global alliance.
Paula: So I guess the first question for me is, why was that decision taken, Olivia?
Paula: So, you know, what was the big reason that you wanted to move to Skyteam?
Olivia: Yes.
Olivia: So, I mean, we have been with Star Alliance since it was founded, because we were one of the five founding airlines of Star Alliance.
Olivia: So, of course, and Star Alliance, it has been a very integrated part of our offer and so on.
Olivia: So, of course, it was a very big step.
Olivia: But I think that what raised the initiative of changing the alliance was actually part of the whole reconstruction and also finding new owners.
Olivia: And one of the investors is Efrans KLM.
Olivia: And Efrans KLM is, they are founding partners of Skyteam.
Olivia: So for us, it didn’t really make sense to be partially owned by another airline, which would mean that we will want to deepen relationships over time and not be part of the same alliance.
Olivia: So we have been very happy with the Star Alliance, and now we are very happy with Skyteam.
Olivia: And we’ve had very good initial, great support during the transition, and also very good discussions and started a good relationship, both with the Skyteam team, and also our new partners, the new Skyteam airlines.
Olivia: So here we’re looking forward at also deepening the relationships with the airlines.
Paula: Amazing.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Thank you for sharing that.
Paula: That’s one of the things I love about this show actually is really to hear about business strategy and how the business and the loyalty programs obviously have to support each other.
Paula: There is that interdependency.
Paula: And I hadn’t realized the investment structure.
Paula: So that makes perfect sense.
Paula: And as you said, I know there was a very strong and very loyal relationship, dare I say it, with Star Alliance.
Paula: So it’s really good to hear that everybody was clear on the business rationale and obviously you left on good terms.
Paula: So congratulations of making the transition.
Paula: How does it feel now to be part of Skyteam, given that there was again, just a lot of operational work to get done to make that happen?
Olivia: Yes, no, it feels really good.
Olivia: I mean, the cooperation that we are starting to have now or are having now is really good.
Olivia: It feels like it’s…
Olivia: We have like a strategic team, loyalty advisory group we call it.
Olivia: So we work with loyalty strategies with a representative from every airline.
Olivia: And we had a meeting actually.
Olivia: I had an honor to host all of the airlines in Stockholm in October.
Olivia: So we just a month and a half after joining.
Olivia: And I was very happy with the open, honest and helpful atmosphere on how we discuss challenges and how we actually can make the best loyalty product for our joint customers.
Olivia: Because a lot of our members, there are members in one loyalty program.
Olivia: But I mean, there are our joint customers to travel across the network and the Alliance.
Olivia: So yeah, that feels very good.
Olivia: It feels very good.
Olivia: And also you mentioned about all the work and so on.
Olivia: And also that’s another thing that also feels very good.
Olivia: Because people told us that it wasn’t…
Olivia: When we were getting estimates from both from Skyteam and other experts from the system providers, Amadeus and so on, on how long time a transition would take, people said that 18 to 24 months if you really, really focus.
Olivia: And we had less than nine months, because we wanted to make a very clear cut to also not to leave the customer hanging because there’s always a risk of being in between alliances.
Olivia: You know, when if you’re going out from something, it’s maybe not that easy to invest in that relationship and so on.
Olivia: So we did something.
Olivia: I mean, a lot of people deserve a lot of vacation during the fall now.
Olivia: There’s still some things to fix, but it also shows something about how cool it is when the whole organization is really focusing with one clear goal, although the path was not always clear because it hasn’t, as you said, it hasn’t been done before.
Olivia: And we literally we turned off alliance one night and then we turned on the other alliance.
Olivia: So there was like a minute by minute schedule during that night.
Olivia: And also we did it on a Saturday to Sunday for fun or not for fun.
Olivia: But the month and it happened to switch there.
Olivia: So we also had people being up in the air, departing in one alliance and landing in one alliance, both by, I mean, because airlines, planes are flying all the time.
Olivia: But also some people were actually doing this on purpose for fun.
Olivia: So this is also something about how engaged our customers are.
Olivia: That it’s a cool once in a lifetime thing.
Olivia: Some people wanted to try to just like do, it’s like standing, you know, in between two countries with one foot in another, but they wanted to fly on a two alliance flight.
Paula: Amazing, amazing.
Paula: Great stuff.
Paula: So thank you, as I said, for the explanation of the airline alliance transition.
Paula: And when I hear you talk about the loyalty advisory group, Olivia, that’s always something I wish I could be a fly on the wall, because I’m sure there’s phenomenal conversations happening across those airlines.
Paula: So the next piece I wanted to ask you about was this award-winning campaign, and that sounds super fun.
Paula: And for anyone who was at the Loyalty and Awards Conference, I think this was just announced.
Paula: Was it in Bangkok that you won the award?
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Amazing, amazing.
Paula: So I know a little bit about it, but again, our audience probably doesn’t, Olivia.
Paula: So I’d love to understand again, given the context you’ve given us in terms of what you’ve been through, new owners, very busy, you know, technical challenges to move from one, you know, entire alliance to another.
Paula: You then launched this incredible marketing campaign for your loyalty members.
Paula: So what was the reason for the campaign?
Paula: Because again, it sounds like you were already super busy with so many other things.
Paula: So adding something quite significant in, what was the kind of intention for that destination unknown campaign?
Olivia: Yeah, so we wanted to do one, we wanted to do something different and show our members the value, the great value of the points could give to our members.
Olivia: This was also, the timing was also quite good because we, due to like the transition and change of alliance, there was a lot of worry and sometimes worry that like, people were worried what will happen to my points, what will happen to my status and so on.
Olivia: And it was good to also show that.
Olivia: And for us, oh, so also I should say that we couldn’t, one like frustration in that period was also that we couldn’t communicate everything about the alliance, which because we didn’t know and we hadn’t had all like, the agreements in place and everything signed, so we were not allowed to communicate.
Olivia: So it felt like we were in that sense, neglecting our members because we were not allowed to tell something, so that felt quite bad.
Olivia: But we still wanted to show our members that, hey, we are here, you still get great, we think about you, the points can give you great value.
Olivia: We also wanted to show our members that points are not only for like the frequent flyers, it’s for everyone.
Olivia: Everyone can get great value or bonus experience out of their points.
Olivia: So what we did was we used like mystery marketing and went out to our members and said, hey, something is going to happen.
Olivia: Are you ready for the, are you brave enough to explore the unknown or something?
Olivia: Watch out, watch out next week, something is going to happen.
Olivia: And then we said, hey, are you brave enough to use your points to go to the unknown?
Olivia: And we call it destination unknown.
Olivia: So basically, members could, we had a sign up period where members could apply to buy a bonus trip or a reward flight at the price of a European return trip.
Olivia: So just the normal price.
Olivia: But the difference was that they didn’t know where the flight would go.
Olivia: So we have the massive interest, a lot of people signing up for this.
Olivia: So we had to like randomly pick a group out of this.
Olivia: And they actually got their ticket, but the ticket said destination unknown.
Olivia: And we filled the flight with only people, 180 people only paying with points and not knowing where they were going.
Olivia: And also throughout the whole travel experience and customer journey, we maintained the mystery around it.
Olivia: So we, as I mentioned, on the ticket, also on the boarding pass and so on, and also on the board displaying all the flights, it said like unknown, flight unknown, in the gate it said unknown.
Olivia: We had also a lot of branding and stuff there.
Olivia: We also had a community so people could chat to each other before, so building up some excitement.
Olivia: We had some competition to fill out the last couple of seats as well, where people could guess.
Olivia: We had like pixel destinations and they could guess, they were supposed to guess as fast as they could to see what, as the destinations were unpixel to see what destination it was, and they could find seats.
Olivia: And then also throughout, once the day of travel came, also the whole travel was, I mean, we had a DJ at the gate, we had the flight with special catering, all the details, everything was branded Destination Unknown.
Olivia: We were at landing, also greeted by the destination, actually by the airport, and then also it ended up being in Athens, and the people knew just, it was just before landing, that people understood that it was in Athens.
Olivia: And then also there were activities throughout the trip that people hadn’t expected.
Olivia: So that was also nice.
Olivia: And you also asked, like, how could we do this in these super busy times, which is also interesting.
Olivia: We did this, like, basically on top of other things that we were gonna do, and mostly with internal resources.
Olivia: So we went and, like, tried to have people ship in.
Olivia: I think one of the biggest challenges was to keep keep the secrecy of the destination, because, you know, there’s a lot of systems and everything to just make sure it’s hidden.
Olivia: So people didn’t know, like, our CEO didn’t know where this was, where the flight was going.
Olivia: We were maybe like a handful of people knowing.
Olivia: And there were people trying to find out, but we were trying to hide it.
Olivia: So I think that it was, I mean, we managed to do this because there was a core group of some very, very dedicated, creative people that just felt a lot of passion for doing this.
Olivia: And also, I think that especially in these times, like coming from the background that we did with the pandemic and then the Chapter 11, and the focus on survival, the fact that we were doing something like this also brought a lot of energy among people in the organization.
Olivia: Because there’s a lot of people involved in this project that was chipping in in different parts.
Olivia: And what I heard from the team that was driving this was that it has never been so easy to get people engaged and involved.
Olivia: Because people really liked that it was something that was about, you know, this wow factor.
Olivia: And yeah, yeah, and it ended up really well, like at the after the flight on the way back, people were like exchanging numbers and crying and hugging each other.
Olivia: So lifelong friendships were made.
Paula: Indeed, because they did stay the weekend, Olivia, just because it was Friday to Monday, actually.
Olivia: So they did stay the weekend.
Paula: OK, so they knew they were going on a flight.
Olivia: They knew it was within a long and they got kind of indicative packing lists as well.
Olivia: So they knew kind of the temperature and so on.
Paula: OK, great.
Paula: And they knew they would need a visa.
Paula: I remember you saying that to me before.
Olivia: Yeah, they wouldn’t need a visa.
Olivia: OK, so we said it would be like we kept it within Schengen to make it easy.
Paula: Amazing, amazing.
Paula: And then I guess they paid for their own hotel.
Paula: So you would have done that separately.
Paula: And then they had all the activities together.
Olivia: Yeah, yes.
Olivia: So for the hotel, we also had like we had a big we had a block of booking, but we told them that the hotel would cost this much.
Olivia: Do you want it or not?
Olivia: And people what it is.
Olivia: So yes, but they actually paid for the hotel, but we had a good rate and then the activities and so on were on us.
Olivia: Yeah.
Paula: OK, so the mystery marketing sounds like a brilliant strategy for anybody listening.
Paula: Yeah, a lot.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Amazing.
Olivia: A lot of rings on the water and a lot of publicity.
Olivia: And people are talking about it still.
Olivia: Yeah.
Paula: Yeah, of course.
Paula: And again, I think having a plain load of people who have all earned their loyalty points through EuroBonus.
Paula: And then, of course, redeeming them with a sense of trust in the airline that you’re going to look after them and take them away together.
Paula: And again, 180 people all with that buzz going on.
Paula: I can imagine the energy.
Paula: So, yeah, I can understand how you won the award.
Paula: So so congrats on that.
Paula: I can hear you’re very proud of it.
Paula: So, yeah.
Paula: So tell us that I know there was another piece of work you’ve done as well, Olivia, just as I suppose our final topic.
Paula: We always love to ask our guests what they’re most proud of.
Paula: So tell us about the other proposition that you again have been working on more recently, which again, I know is 100% relevant for this audience and for anyone in the airline industry.
Paula: So, yeah, tell us a bit about that.
Olivia: Yeah.
Olivia: So, yeah, actually, this also was launched this year, but we had planned and worked on it a lot.
Olivia: So it was quite preferred for it.
Olivia: Something that I’m very proud of.
Olivia: I think it’s it’s initiative we call for product conscious traveler.
Olivia: So it’s about, I mean, sustainability obviously is really important.
Olivia: And we all know that we have to do things to act in a more sustainable way.
Olivia: And as a loyalty program, we have the power to nudge people a little bit in the right direction.
Olivia: And so I think it’s a little bit like, okay, you can do things, but you can do them differently.
Olivia: You can buy like milk or you can buy ecological milk.
Olivia: You can fly, but you can fly using sustainable aviation fuel.
Olivia: So a year ago, we were still, then we hadn’t launched this program.
Olivia: So a year ago, we were still a CO2, as a loyalty program, we were CO2 compensating all the travel of our members by investing in projects that in turn were supposed to decrease emissions in the long run, which sounds good.
Olivia: And it was a nice like, why not join your bonus because we’re gonna CO2 compensate your trip, but it didn’t decrease the actual emissions.
Olivia: It was investment in some project and I mean, also these, it’s a little bit tricky with a follow up as well of like, these investments.
Olivia: So we weren’t super comfortable with that one.
Olivia: I don’t, we were talking about like, should we communicate more about it?
Olivia: But I didn’t feel proud of this value proposition.
Olivia: So what we did then was instead that we thought about things that like actually make, where we can nudge our members into taking conscious steps, as we call them, in a way that actually have an impact right here and now.
Olivia: So a lot about it is focused on sustainable aviation fuel.
Olivia: And we created like, it’s kind of like a sub program within the loyalty program that we call Conscious Traveller.
Olivia: So what you do is that you, each year you can take 10 conscious steps.
Olivia: We have like a selection of different steps that you can take.
Olivia: It’s like buying a ticket with a sustainable aviation, buying sustainable aviation as an ancillary, but it’s also about like education, watching a video about sustainable aviation fuel, because we hear a lot from our customers that there’s still a knowledge gap about how this works and why it’s better, which is a barrier to buying tickets with sustainable aviation fuel.
Olivia: So you take ten steps and then you become a conscious traveler, and then you have a set of rewards.
Olivia: So both points, because we feel that points are a very efficient way of getting people to in the right direction.
Olivia: But we also hear like the educational part and so on.
Olivia: So for example, we brought some of the first conscious travelers, we brought them to visit Heart Aerospace.
Olivia: It’s a factory, they are producing an electrical aircraft, and SAS has a letter of intent to purchase some electric aircraft for them.
Olivia: So we went on a trip to look at that, which was very appreciated.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: Okay.
Paula: Super.
Paula: Okay.
Paula: So honestly, you know, we’ve talked about so much, Olivia.
Paula: So again, changing alliances, you know, launching your Conscious Traveler and then your Destination Unknown campaign, like all of that work.
Paula: Again, it’s an incredible amount you’ve achieved already in 2024.
Paula: So I’m sure you are looking forward to a little bit of a break.
Paula: But of course, 2025, I’m sure, is going to bring a lot more exciting times.
Paula: Is there anything you can tell us about what you’re thinking of for the future?
Olivia: Yes, I would say that I’m definitely not looking forward to a break because during this time, what has happened is that we had a lot of ideas and thoughts and plans and things that we wanted to do.
Olivia: And we have put them aside during the last year to focus on a transition to make sure that that one becomes, that is doable and a good experience for our customers.
Olivia: So we have a lot of things that we actually want to do.
Olivia: I think that some of the things that we want to do is to make it.
Olivia: One challenge I could say that we have had is that we have been traditionally very strong with the people that fly a lot and so on and understand that.
Olivia: I think that we also want to conceptualize and communicate in a better way so that people understand the great value that the program can bring also that don’t fly that often.
Olivia: Because even if you just fly once a year and you can do it for points, it’s really good.
Olivia: And if you also can rent your car and buy a hotel for points, which you can, that’s even better.
Olivia: So I think that to also work and also work on rewarding those first steps in the loyalty relationships.
Olivia: Yeah.
Paula: OK.
Paula: OK.
Paula: Wow.
Paula: Well, listen, there’s so much there, Olivia.
Paula: I really want to say a huge thank you for sharing all of those insights with us and the journey you’ve been on is definitely very impressive.
Paula: And as you said, lots more to come.
Paula: So I don’t have any more questions for you today.
Paula: Is there anything else that you wanted to share with our audience before we wrap up?
Olivia: I know there is, you mentioned the audience is big in the US., so maybe try out our airline and program and please come with feedback to us as well.
Olivia: I think that is a very strong, strong, powerful way to improve us.
Olivia: So please come help us improve us.
Olivia: Right now, we’re getting feedback from all our customers through our app, which is also a really great thing that we haven’t spoken about, but it’s also very award-winning.
Olivia: The app and our customers appreciate it a lot and it also built in cooperation with our customers and members.
Olivia: So please fly with us and use our app and give feedback there afterwards.
Olivia: So so that we can become even better.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: And certainly Scandinavia is on my wishlist, Olivia.
Paula: So please, God will be able to visit each other at some point.
Paula: You’re very welcome.
Paula: Sure.
Paula: Yeah, we’d love to.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: So we’ll put that on the on the vision board on the wishlist.
Paula: And please, God will be able to to talk loyalty in person at some stage.
Paula: So I just want to say thank you so much.
Paula: From our side, Olivia Wasiewski, I hope I pronounced your name correctly, head of the EuroBonus program at SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
Paula: Thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.
Olivia: Thank you, Fala.
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