KLM customers can now enjoy easier rewards when travelling to over 400 destinations worldwide with the new Flying Dutchman Loyalty program
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced today its worldwide launch of the new upgraded Flying Dutchman loyalty (FD) program boasting added value to members with a new innovative approach. The new Flying Dutchman Loyalty program will offer members one of the fastest ways to earn free travel and other enticing premium benefits and services including upgrades, leisure packages, car rentals, business lounge access in more than 400 destinations around the world using any combination of the KLM or partner airline routes.
This year the FD program celebrates its tenth anniversary and the launch of its revamped offering, with a number of key changes to one of the most popular loyalty programs around. The main changes to the program have been customer-centric and include the move from a point to Miles system, which constitutes an easier reward system, where a flyer earns Flying Dutchman miles for all actual miles flown. The second major change concerns the introduction of a four-tier membership level system: Blue Plus, Silver Elite, Gold Elite and Platinum Elite, each of which has a clear set of privileges.
“The new Loyalty program represents a simpler, more flexible, transparent and most importantly a more rewarding scheme for our customers,” said Vincent Knoops, General Manager, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. “With the new program, our customers both in the Middle East region and around the world can now redeem miles earned rather than points with greater simplicity and will be notified on a regular basis on the status of their membership level for the next year.”
With the new FD program, travellers on either KLM or one of the airlines’ partners will benefit from both earning and spending FD Miles in a much easier way, where awards are based on a region-to-region structure. For every mile travelled, one Award mile and one Level mile is earned. Members move up through the membership-levels as they earn more Level Miles. Award miles entitle travellers to free flights and additional rewards such as upgrades, leisure packages, car rentals and KLM shopping vouchers.
All Elite members will enjoy the benefits of free access to KLM Business Lounges all over the world, enhanced baggage allowances, priority check-in and preferred seating and boarding. Elite members are also entitled to earn extra Award Miles on every flight in addition to the actual miles flown: Silver Elite (50% bonus), Gold Elite (100% bonus) and Platinum Elite (125% bonus).
“We at KLM understand the importance and the value of Loyalty programs to any frequent traveller. We look at our Loyalty program, the Flying Dutchman, as an investment in our customers and a means to bring added value to our frequent flyers in an increasingly competitive airline industry,” added Knoops.
KLM flies from 9 departure points in the Gulf & Levant, giving the traveller in this region the added convenience to benefit fully from the rewards that can be gained through the FD program.
The new FD program is also more aligned with Northwest Airlines’ WorldPerksÒ, providing travellers greater opportunities to earn more miles whilst travelling to more than 400 destinations around the world.
Members flying to Africa with Kenya Airways, a close partner of KLM, can also earn points, since their loyalty program is totally aligned with KLM and is also known as the Flying Dutchman.
Editors note:
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the oldest scheduled airline in the world still operating under its original name. Measured by international revenue ton-kilometer, KLM ranks 6th among the 250-plus International Air Transport Association (IATA) carriers. KLM and its partners serve over 400 cities in 78 countries on six continents. In its core activities of passenger and cargo transport, KLM has established itself as one of the market's leading carriers. In fiscal 2002/2001 KLM carried more than 16.1 million passengers and 502,000 tons of cargo and provided engineering and maintenance services to more than 35 airlines.
For further information, please contact Youssef Eddini at +31 (0)20 649 4545 or visit the Flying Dutchman site at www.klm.com. (Photos of the new FD-cards can be downloaded from www.presslink.nl/klm)
Press Contact:
Sawsan Ghanem – Symbiosis Public Relations
Tel: (9714) 391 8061 Fax: (9714) 391 8062
E-mail: symbosis@emirates.net.ae
© Press Release 2002
