When It Comes to Loyalty, Porter Has Yet to Get Off the Ground
Posted by 76design on May 31st, 2007
When it comes to Porter, I’m all about the love. I’ve flown the trendy carrier over a dozen times now. I’ve blogged about what a great job they’ve done on the entire Porter package. I’ve gushed to all my friends. So, is it wrong of me to want to feel a little Porter love in return?
On a flight back home to Ottawa on Friday night it struck me that although Porter does a lot of things very well, what they don’t do well is customer loyalty programs. And I’m not talking about a run of the mill points program either. I mean a smart, creative loyalty program that fits with their brand, and more importantly, their audience.
Porter has the luxury of a fairly tightly defined target audience: urban jet set business people. This audience doesn’t work the 9 to 5, they in fact never really “leave” the office thanks to cell phones and BlackBerrys, etc. They work hard but they’re also demanding. They like efficiency and they appreciate the details. They’re also fairly aesthetically astute and I suspect quite a bit of the attraction to Porter extends beyond the convenience factor to the fact that the airline’s aesthetics are, well, slick.
So, what could the Porter loyalty program look like? Well lets start with building a relationship with their travelers online. Currently, although one can sign in, there isn’t much benefit to it other than forms that autofill. But what if I had my own Porter page where I can set my travel preferences (window seat at the front, please!) and make suggestions (time to change that music track and a great song would be…) or even opt in to a “find a seat mate” for some potential networking opportunities (NOTE: Airtroductions.com matches singles to other singles traveling on the same flight – change the context and imagine this concept for potential new business introductions.)
As a next step, what about giving the kids some swag and using this as a marketing opportunity for Porter outside of the airport. I’m thinking Porter branded:
- BlackBerry cases
- passport covers
- luggage tags
- a receipt holder/tracker (for business expenses)
- a cell phone charm for the fashionistas amongst us
Top it off with an invitation only annual event for the more frequent travelers amongst us done in Porter style with mega networking potential and well, I do believe Porter would have themselves a pretty nifty loyalty program befitting of the airline and its passengers. I know it might just give me some incentive to choose Porter particularly as they begin to expand their destinations and therefore their competitive environment.
May 31st, 2007 » 7:14 pm
Yes they do need to develop this, but the airline is still in its infancy. Customer loyalty is definitely important, but what about the services they offer?
Right now Porter flies to all of, what, 3 cities?
Porter is planning on expanding to a number of additional Canadian cities, and even short haul US destinations (which is why they chose the fleet of aircrafts that they currently use).
My guess is that once those issues have been fine lined, the frequent flier program will appear, swing its doors wide open, and welcome an audience even larger and broader than the one you outlined in your post.
May 31st, 2007 » 9:48 pm
I hate Porter Airlines. Having those great big planes taking off and landing along Toronto’s entire waterfront is one of the worst things to happen to the city in a long time. They seem almost non-stop, hovering along over Ashbridge’s Bay on Thursday nights while I’m down there playing volleyball.
Porter’s planes are more intrusive than any other plane I’ve ever seen coming or going from the island airport. I wish that airport would go away forever.
Most times of the day it really isn’t all that much trouble to come and go from Pearson. What Toronto really needs is a high speed transit connection to Pearson and not Porter Airlines at the island airport.
June 2nd, 2007 » 3:01 pm
Shaun – Thanks for your comment. It’ll be interesting to see if the audience expands that much. From what I can tell expansion plans are lofty (Windsor, North Bay…). I’d be surprised if they end up acheiving that level of expansion. I believe the plan prioritizes expansion into key business centres and if it were me I’d maintain that focus on the business traveller. They do it well, why mess with it. And this expansion is precisely why I’d get the loyalty off the ground now. Their competitive environment will expand with the number of destinations they serve. If designed well, the program should help insulate them against this increased competitive pressure.
Rick – Sorry you feel this way.
October 26th, 2007 » 7:37 pm
Go ahead – enjoy a flight that is being subsidized by Canadian (your) tax money to fund a private company, and pollutes an entire waterfront with constant air traffic creating excessive noise and pollution. The planes are also polluting Lake Ontario with their exhaust.
An inner city airport is an exceptionally bad idea environmentally- every expert would agree that short haul flights are very destructive in terms of carbon emissions per passenger. So- get Porter to give you lots of swag in terms of your customer loyalty- and know that those who live under and around the airport are suffering from the pollution your flight is generating, and their taxes are buying your flight.