The changing loyalty landscape: CEOs of Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic weigh in

When flights become harder to book with miles, will travellers still want to earn them?

Posted: June 2, 2025 - 4:05 pm

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POINT HACKS EXCLUSIVE | The world of frequent flyer points never stops changing. Barely a week goes by without a major airline tweaking something in the loyalty space. For instance, Emirates’ recent decision to withhold First Class reward seats from its own Skywards members except for Silver members and above – with barely two days’ notice. But how much can airlines really do before members disengage?

As it stands, frequent flyer programs can be more profitable than the airlines behind them. By selling miles – an intangible asset without a constant value, which the airline ultimately controls – there’s more cash to be made by ‘printing points’ than taxiing to the tarmac. The challenge behind it all is getting the banks to buy those miles – which means, customers still have to want them.

It’s fair to say, it’s certainly harder now to travel in style than it has been in the past. Not impossible, but certainly, harder. Take Virgin Atlantic as an example. Flights in premium cabins are relatively easy to book through its own frequent flyer program. But try spending Virgin Australia Velocity Points, or miles from another partner, and it’s quite a challenge. As for Air France, partners generally can’t reserve reward seats in First Class. While these can be booked through the carrier’s own Flying Blue program, they’re withheld only for members with Platinum status and above.

As for Delta, it’s rare to find a reward flight in long-haul Business Class (Delta One) bookable using partner points. Instead, you’ll generally need Delta SkyMiles – and the redemption rates can be eye wateringly high. As more restrictions and caveats become the norm, what does that really mean for loyalty?

To find out, I catch up with the CEOs of Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic. We’re all in Delhi for the invitation-only 2025 IATA AGM.

Delta’s view on loyalty

Notably, Delta’s SkyMiles program is based on dynamic redemption. This means that the number of miles needed to book a flight can change from day to day. But that has a knock-on effect. With reward seat pricing tied to commercial ticket cost, the airline seldom releases traditional reward seats in premium cabins to partners.

For many people, much of the joy of spending points is that you don’t have to spend big. Reserving the best seats for those who spend more on paid tickets runs counter to that. Over time, will this change the loyalty landscape and reduce the desirability of Delta SkyMiles? Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian weighs in.

“Loyalty is a really important element of our commercial value that we create as partners together, but also with our customers,” says Bastian. “As you mentioned, premium is the category that we’ve seen over the last decade that has been growing the fastest. And I think it took a step forward during COVID. The other side of COVID is growing at an even faster pace than it had been previously.”

“That loyalty is something that we’ll continue to make available to our very best partners as well as our customers in the States.” That’s a hint that we shouldn’t expect it to get easier to book Delta One flights using miles!

“One of the key elements that we have is a partnership with American Express. We generate a lot of value for them. We are actually behind their most important credit card that they offer in their entire franchise, the Delta credit card.” Delta claims that annual spending on its Delta co-brand credit cards amounts to almost 1% of US GDP.

“The underlying premise is that customers want to travel with brands and airlines that they have great relationship with, and find great value in.” In other words, Delta sees its most engaged customers on the mileage front as those who regularly fly Delta anyway. And that is what helps drive demand for Delta SkyMiles.

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Air France-KLM keeps the focus on credit cards

There’s been a lot of heat in recent weeks with Emirates moving to withhold First Class reward seat bookings, except for travellers with Skywards Silver status and above. But over at Air France, the airline has been holding First Class rewards exclusively for high-flyers with Platinum status or higher. And, for that matter, withholding First Class reward seats from partner frequent flyer programs entirely.

For context, both Air France and Emirates are partners with Qantas Frequent Flyer. While Qantas members can still book Emirates First Class using points after the latest restrictions, reward seats in Air France First Class have never been available to Qantas members.

CEO of Air France-KLM, Benjamin Smith, shares what’s next for Flying Blue. “The US North America loyalty environment is the most developed. Europe is a little bit further behind,” Smith admits. “We at Air France-KLM just recently signed an exclusive deal with American Express to strengthen our relationships with our most loyal premium customers and it’s going quite well.”

“It’s early days and we have great examples of what’s been taking place in the United States. We’re hopeful that we can replicate that.” For context, the United States market is primarily based on dynamic redemption. That is, greater availability to spend miles to fly, but more miles needed as most travellers are ‘buying’ a ticket using their miles. Time will tell whether this opens any doors to flying Air France First Class using miles.

Virgin Atlantic looks to SkyTeam for loyalty

Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club program has recently undergone an overhaul. Rather than fixed redemption rates with a guaranteed number of reward seats per flight, Flying Club members can now book every seat using points. But under that same basis of dynamic pricing, where the points cost can climb dramatically at busy times.

For Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, SkyTeam is providing a much greater opportunity for members on the loyalty front. “If I can add, one of the things that sets us apart is the fact that between our joint venture … it was reciprocal earn and burn with status (recognition) of course enhanced by Sky Team.”

“That ability to really recognise our guests and our fans across the networks … connectivity across the Atlantic and of course into India is the determining factor.” More broadly, “I think people appreciate that it’s not just airlines that are coming together. It’s cultures; it’s the way of thinking about the guest experience. I think that is really where customers start to think about (travel) in a different way. Not just in terms of value proposition on miles or points.”