Skift Take
International brands are clamoring to build loyalty with Chinese travelers. Just recently, American and Singapore airlines launched partnerships with Fliggy, a Chinese booking engine, to share loyalty perks across platforms.
It's been years since frequent flyers in the United States were treated with any value by domestic air carriers — after all, who needs loyalty when the products are so similar? In China though, that story is completely different. With a middle class quickly discovering the value of domestic and international vacations, the travel industry is booming, and brands are racing to stake their claims.
For airlines, that means finding creative ways to identify and lock in potential clients. Fliggy, Alibaba's online marketplace, has come up with a platform to do this. This month Singapore Airlines launched a partnership with the platform to give elite users of Fliggy similar tiers of status with the airline. Amer