There used to be an elegance about flying. Easy first class upgrades for business travelers, ice cream sundaes on coast-to-coast flights, and those linen napkins that attached to your shirt collar.
No more. Today, less legroom, unrefundable tickets and even less room in the restroom.
With the price of gas back on the rise, airlines are looking for every revenue opportunity. Today’s news is that United is paying attendants $100 per credit card acquired in flight, as both Fox News and the LA Times report.
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Skiftrecently reported that United is mandating the promotion of the airline’s credit cards on every flight, both domestic and international, by flight crews.
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Citing “leaked internal documents,” the outlet said starting Sept. 1 staffers will receive new training on the offerings, for which United is doubling their bonus — the airline will pay flight attendants $100 stipends, up from the current $50, for successfully signing up new customers/
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As noted by SF Gate, United and Chase recently rolled out a new United Explorer Card, hoping to attract consumers with sign-up bonuses of between 40,000 to 60,000 miles after reaching select spending targets.
You can’t just leave the apps in the seats. These are credit card applications!
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The Chicago-based airline is requiring its flight attendants beginning Sept. 1 to pitch passengers on every domestic and international flight to sign up for a co-branded credit card to boost revenue.
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“We are introducing a new training program for our co-branded credit card that is especially designed for flight attendants, as this work group has the most engagement with our customers,” a representative said. “Our inflight crew are effective ambassadors, who can best communicate to our customers in the moment the benefits of the United Explorer card.”
The reasoning is simple.
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The nation’s biggest carriers collected $24.6 billion last year from all revenue outside of airfares, including the revenue from the sales of loyalty reward points to credit card companies.
Handing completed credit card applications to airline employees. Not what I’d call secure data.
There are better ways to acquire, as we discuss in this recent research.
For now, I will just cherish memories of easy upgrades and refundable tickets.
Overview by Brian Riley, Director, Credit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group