Social Media and Marketing

Travelocity has formed an alliance with Maritz Loyalty Marketing, allowing loyalty programme members to redeem points for the purchase of flights with no blackout dates or restrictions.

Published: 29 Oct 2008

Travelocity has formed an alliance with Maritz Loyalty Marketing, allowing loyalty programme members to redeem points for the purchase of flights with no blackout dates or restrictions.

The online travel company stated that the alliance comes at a time when it's becoming more challenging to redeem frequent flier awards.

Jeffrey Glueck, chief marketing officer, Travelocity, said, "We're seeing some carriers place restrictions on seat availability, impose booking charges and raise the mileage required for upgrades or free tickets. This programme will help our clients' customers overcome some of these obstacles."

The Maritz-Travelocity solution allows customers to login to a specific loyalty programme site and search for flights using Travelocity's exclusive search features. The flights are also offered at Travelocity's low prices. Customers can choose flights and pay for them online using their loyalty programme currency, such as point or miles, in one seamless process.

Additional elements of the site include:

- Fare Notes (Travelers are given more valuable flight-related information including airport delays, aircraft type, special onboard amenities, etc.);

- Multiple Airports (Travelers can select multiple nearby airports to search and receive up to nine different departing and returning combinations to help identify the best price and flight options to meet their needs);

- +/- 1 to 3 Days Search Feature (Customers can search up to three days before and/or after the requested departure and arrival dates);

- Flexible Dates (Search for the lowest fare across a range of travel dates by using this search feature);

- Alternate Dates (The engine automatically searches and finds fares for nearby date combinations when lower prices are available on those dates);

- Nearby Airports (The engine automatically searches and finds fares for nearby airports when lower prices are available);

- Seat Maps (Customers can view available seats before booking a flight, giving them the option to view their preferred seat location or even to choose another flight based on their seat preferences).