Virgin Australia scored a point against the competition by piggy-backing on a massive announcement by Qantas about changes to its frequent flyer program.
The airline, in an apparent reference to the Qantas announcement, put up a billboard at Sydney Airport spruiking its own frequent flyer rewards: "Huge news. Nothing's changed."
The billboard pointed out that Virgin's own Velocity frequent flyer program had: Best reward seat availability ... 2013-2019 Freddie Awards.
Virgin says its point-collecting program is the "best value" airline loyalty program in Australia.
Qantas had put a big effort into promoting an announcement about its frequent flyer program, promising more seats available to be bought with points.
A frequent critciism of frequent flyer programs is that rewards seats are hard to find at times when people want to travel.
The downside of the Qantas anouncement is that seats at the front of the plane -- Premium Econonomy, Business and First Class -- will take more points to redeem.
The sale of frequent flyer points to brands wanting to use them to attract and retain customers is a profitable business for the airlines.
Qantas in february posted a record half profit from its loyalty program, up 4% to $175 million.
In the same six months to December, Virgin's Velocity grew 5% to $59 million,
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