Air Canada - Altitude Community

Air Canada - Altitude Community

Over the past years, several airlines – including Air France-KLM (Club China and Club Africa) and Qantas (Epiqure ) have launched branded communities around common interests of their frequent flyers. However, these communities have seen mixed results at best and mostly can be characterized by a lack of engagement among community members.

Following focus groups that found customers were looking for greater connections with fellow flyers and recognition for their many trips, Air Canada has introduced the Air Canada Altitude Community where frequent flyers can create or read lists outlining the top activities in a destination and they receive points and awards for earning “Likes” on their content.

‘Gamification’ awards include the Tastemaker Badge (awarded for receiving 1,000 likes on a list) and Shout Out Badge (awarded when members post a list to one of their social networks). Awards will also be accompanied by travel-related and bonus Aeroplan miles.

Says Ian Di Tullio, director of loyalty marketing at Air Canada, “While there are numerous travel-related recommendation sites, they tend to have a narrow focus on categories like hotels and restaurants, and typically don’t boast the insider knowledge of frequent travelers. Instead of trying to reinvent a Trip Advisor or a Yelp or anything like that, we wanted to create something really small to start that didn’t box them in to any kind of category…it’s really a “best of” in cities of their choice,” he said. “Our goal is to have 20 percent of the base sign up within the first year.”