Plusgrade, a leader in ancillary revenue and merchandising solutions for over 70 airline and cruise operators, today announced the release of Pay With Miles for Air Canada passengers, expanding its long-term relationship with the carrier to further leverage Plusgrade’s Premium Upgrade Solutions. This innovative payment method now allows airline passengers to submit and pay for upgrades with the miles they’ve accrued through the airline’s Aeroplan loyalty program—in addition to submitting upgrade requests using cash. This feature represents one of Plusgrade’s multiple initiatives to drive faster recovery for the airline industry.
With the added flexibility of this new currency for upgrades, airlines can now offer passengers the ability to pay the way they feel most comfortable, increasing the likelihood to request an upgrade. It also enables airlines to improve their passenger experience while leveraging their loyalty program.
"We’ve seen the power that a loyalty currency and an upgrade program combination can have on driving airline profitability through increased activity and higher yields—especially now, loyalty points act as a great currency option, while cash is scarce,” said Ken Harris, Founder and CEO of Plusgrade. "This year, we’ve made significant updates to our upgrade capabilities, and were laser-focused on giving our partners the tools they need to recover faster—and we’ve seen this feature prove to do exactly that.”
Plusgrade’s Pay with Miles Key Features:
On average, passengers spend up to 10% more when upgrading with miles
Passengers can request an upgrade no matter their current points or miles balance, as long as the appropriate balance is there at the time of upgrade
Payment is processed only once an upgrade request is accepted
Air Canada joins other leading airlines including Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Icelandair, TAP Air Portugal and Air New Zealand, as the first North American airline to launch their own Pay with Miles solution, Air Canada Bid Upgrade, to their passengers last week. “We’re excited to work with Plusgrade on our expanded AC Bid Upgrade feature,” said Mark Nasr, Vice President, Loyalty and eCommerce at Air Canada. “As we begin to rebuild traffic to more normal levels, the ability to use Aeroplan Miles for cabin upgrades reinforces our commitment to improve member experience.”
On the heels of its recent initiative, Travel Again, which provides airlines, at no cost, with the ability to offer their passengers future travel certificates that grow in value over time, Plusgrade continues to deliver ancillary revenue and merchandising technology tools to help accelerate recovery of the travel industry.
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