The miles & points, airline, and hotel “hobby,” attracts interest from all kinds of people. We each have our preferences, from favorite hotel brands, to favorite airlines, to favorite loyalty programs.
Everyone is entitled to have their choice, and it’s good that we aren’t all on the same page, or else we’d all be competing for exactly the same thing. When people share why they’re loyal to a particular loyalty program, I can typically see where they’re coming from, even if I have different preferences, or arrive at different conclusions.
With that out of the way, I wanted to devote a post to what I consider to be the most simultaneously mysterious and fascinating part of our community — those who are fanatically devoted to certain airlines and hotels (whether it’s the company as such, the loyalty program, or both), and think they can do absolutely no wrong.
Honestly, I’m not trying to be shady, or to make fun of them, but rather I just want to express my appreciation for the extent to which they’re able to captivate my attention. I’m also curious if anyone can help me understand why they’re so dedicated to their “cause.”
The various “flavors” of extreme travel loyalists
Whether you’re in the blogosphere, or FlyerTalk, or a Facebook group, every so often you’ll come across a person who is so loyal to a particular brand that you can’t help but be amazed that they aren’t on the company’s payroll.
Let me be clear — I’m not talking about someone who is maybe a bit more loyal to a brand than they objectively should be, because a loyalty program is doing a good job with influencing behavior. That’s totally normal, and it means the loyalty program is working. Rather, I’m talking about the tiny percentage of people who seem to think that the company they prefer or are loyal to is perfect in every way, and can do no wrong.
This comes in all kinds of forms, with some people being delightfully friendly, and others being condescending pricks. Everyone can draw their own conclusions. But the thing that’s consistent is that they’re loyal without exception. Let me give a few examples, without naming names (and for each of these, I can think of multiple people who fit the description):
- There are some people who intentionally spend tens of thousands of dollars per year flying what’s perhaps America’s most mediocre airline, yet rave every single time about how amazing it was, and how it’s the world’s finest airline, and they have no interest in flying any other airline ever
- There are some people who think there’s one hotel loyalty program that’s way better than the rest in every single way, and dismiss anyone who has a different experience; they may even bend the published terms of a loyalty program to suit their narrative
- There are some people who try to argue that every single thing that a particular airline or hotel does is correct, without exception; said airline or hotel group has never done anything wrong, ever
For what it’s worth, I’m largely not even talking about some of our more prolific commenters here…
I can’t make sense of the logic, but I love them
My (perhaps unpopular) take is that I think the travel industry overall — and particularly the airline industry — doesn’t get enough credit from consumers. It’s amazing how safely and efficiently we can travel across the globe, and what a good value it is.
Sure, there might be some surly employees, and sometimes communication may not be great, and sometimes a bag may get lost. But when you step back and think of our entire aviation ecosystem, it’s pretty damn impressive.
It’s even more impressive when you consider what a horrible industry this is financially. During the best of times, airlines have a profit margin of maybe 1-10%, while during mediocre or tough times, it’s a bloodbath. Despite that, there are a lot of passionate people who make the industry function, and they have my utmost respect.
All that being said, I think believing that any one brand is just amazing and head and shoulders above the rest is… baseless? For one, these are almost entirely publicly traded companies, with the objective of maximizing shareholder value. If you really think that everything any particular publicly traded company does is correct, then… well, we experience the world very differently.
I guess the other thing I wonder is what motivates people to be such public advocates exclusively for one brand, all while not being on the company’s payroll, and in many cases putting down people who disagree with them. If they genuinely feel so strongly about it… well, why?
I remember meeting a certain loyalty program executive many years ago, and one of our first topics of conversation was a certain “super fan” (to put it diplomatically) who always appears in the comments on any post about said program. This person was as confused and fascinated as I was.
Bottom line
While loyalty programs are designed to make people act irrationally, some people take that to the extreme in terms of how they feel about “their” airline or hotel. The people who fit in this category interest me greatly. I’d genuinely love to understand what makes them so passionate about one particular airline or hotel group or program.
But I suspect that my curiosity may not be satisfied here, because I feel like most of the people who fit into this category don’t actually view themselves the same way that most of us do, but rather think they’re simply the enlightened ones?
Anyone want to chime in?
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