Freddie Awards crown TAP Portugal and Accor
After a one-year hiatus, due to pandemic, the Freddie Awards are back. The award, which originated in the late 1980s has [...]
Virgin Atlantic
Tap Air Portugal
Marriott
Recommended by TFC
After a one-year hiatus due to pandemic, The Freddie Awards are back. The award, created in the late 1980s has the distinction of being the first, and the most famous, award given by members of major loyalty programs.
Various aspects of both airlines and hotel chains are then voted on each year, and are assigned on three different zones: America, Europe & Africa and Asia & Oceania. The European winners of the 2022 edition were Tap Portugal and Accor. The Portuguese carrier made en-plein by winning in all five categories. While the Accor Live Limitless loyalty program triumphed in four out of five.
TAP's triumph
Program of the Year - TAP Air Portugal - Miles&Go
Best Elite Program - TAP Air Portugal - Miles&Go
Best promotion - TAP Air Portugal - Miles&Go - Black Friday
Best customer service - TAP Air Portugal - Miles&Go
Improved capacity for redemption - TAP Air Portugal - Miles&Go
AWARD 210 - Virgin Atlantic - Flying Club
The 210 award is given to the best program voted for by less than 10% of voters. A way not to cut out from the awards emerging programs or carriers with lower enrollment numbers than the best-known programs.
I honestly would never vote TAP if I had to choose the best European loyalty program, it is probably the result of the many status match campaigns done, the constant offers and the partnership with Emirates, which allows one to see benefits recognized when flying with the Dubai carrier. Instead, I agree with the choice of the Flying Club of Virgin which I find an excellent program capable of give great satisfaction.
Accor All stops Marriott's dominance
In the U.S. rankings, Marriott Bonvoy made a killing on awards, while in Europe and Africa it had to settle for only one win out of five categories.
Program of the Year - Accor - ALL Accor Live Limitless
Best Elite Program - Accor - ALL Accor Live Limitless
Best promotion - Marriott Hotels - Marriott Bonvoy - Better Two-gether
Best customer service - Accor - ALL Accor Live Limitless
Improved redemption ability - Accor - ALL Accor Live Limitless
AWARD 210 - GHA - GHA Discovery
Accor Live Limitless is a program we should give more attention to, we also wrote about it recently At the launch of the partnership with Flying Blue. It pays for the fact that it has little appeal in the Italian market and that it has no partnerships that can allow you to accumulate points except by staying in the French chain's hotels. Even this ranking leaves me with some doubts; in the area of promotions Hilton Honors is certainly much more generous than Bonvoy.
The ranking in the U.S.
Among hotels, as mentioned, there was a string of Marriott Bonvoy. More closely fought was the battle among airline loyalty programs with 4 different winners in the 5 categories.
Program of the Year - Southwest Airlines - Rapid Rewards
Best Elite Program - American Airlines - AAdvantage
Best promotion - Avianca - LifeMiles - Bonus of 175% on miles purchased
Best customer service - Southwest Airlines - Rapid Rewards
Improved capacity for redemption - Air Canada - Aeroplan
Needless to say, in this case I find the ranking much more reliable Than the European one. Southwest's customer service is great so like the loyalty program. And it is right that they were rewarded.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back