Latest news with #FFPs
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Business Standard
11-08-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Tapping the frequent flyers: How Jet Airways set the standard in 1994
With Indians constantly on the move, hotel chains are deploying a common strategy: tap into the growing number of frequent air travellers,' said a story in this newspaper (Business Standard, July 28, 2025). The concept of frequent-flyer programme (FFP) was pioneered by American Airlines with its AAdvantage Frequent Flyer programme, launched in May 1981. In India, we had Air India jumping on the bandwagon in 1994. As far as I am concerned, it was Jet Airways that set the standard. While most FFPs focused on providing free miles to be redeemed for future travel, Jet Airways did a lot more. It offered, in addition to mileage points, generous upgrade vouchers to its FFP programme members (Platinum tier); the airline also allowed flight changes without any extra fees — a feature I think about whenever I am made to pay an extra ₹1,700 to get on to an Indigo flight that departs 90 minutes earlier. My first exposure to the linkage between air travel and hotel bookings was around the year 1998. I was flying from Mumbai to Kochi and as soon as my flight landed, I got an SMS alert on my mobile phone about a special offer from a Kochi hotel (this was before mobile internet became a part of our common currency). I was piqued and later found that BPL Mobile was partnering with hotels in various cities to alert them about potential customers. All brands want to get a larger share of your wallet. Be it an airline or a hotel, or even a candy company. Recently in California, I discovered that the brand See's Candies ran a very interesting loyalty programme. Often loyalty programmes give you a straight 2 per cent or 3 per cent discount in the form of points. See's Candies offered a lot more. But the brand wanted you to work hard for it. The programme was administered through a loyalty card. The card had seven months indicated (May to November). When you bought candies worth $40 or more, you got a gold sticker on your card. If you bought $40 worth or more for three months, you got a $20 reward; if you did this for seven months, you got a $50 reward (a whopping 18 per cent reward). Interestingly, the programme takes a break during the peak candy-buying season of December/January. See's Candies is one of the gems that Warren Buffett spotted and invested in in 1972. Warren Buffett's investment in See's Candies has delivered great returns: since acquiring the company for about $25 million, See's Candies has generated over $2 billion in pre-tax earnings for Berkshire Hathaway. Outperforming the broader indices. I suppose the company is so successful because it is constantly trying to widen and deepen its customer base. Airlines have been at the forefront of tapping the frequent flyers potential. But they also come under scrutiny for exploiting customers in uniquely different ways. I was given a window to this in an article that I read recently (Economist, July 26, 2025). The article says that some American airlines charge customers differential prices depending on the number of tickets they buy. Analysing 19,000 prices across 3,200 routes (in the US), it was found that the price you are offered may not be the same if you booked one or two tickets. A single traveller paid anything in the range of 5 per cent to 19 per cent more (depending on the sector). While Delta did not practise the variable pricing strategy, the article says that American Airlines and United were seen to charge more. However, this practice was abandoned after travel writers got wind of this. The worst thing happened. All airlines just hiked their two-ticket charges. Hotels and airlines are perfectly positioned to work on each other's frequent-user lists. Travellers will be nudged by airlines to book at a hotel where the airline has a tie-up. In a reciprocal way, hotels will push airlines that are with them. In that sense, Air India and Taj Hotels could enjoy a vibrant partnership. But just pushing FFPs and offering discounts may not get you more profits (check out my article 'What is the price of loyalty', published in Business Standard on October 25, 2018). It is important to tailor your FFP and hotel loyalty programmes to ensure greater stickiness and interest in using additional value-added services. This way the customer will get something extra, and the travel sector, hotels and airlines (may be taxi companies, tour guides, etc.) will benefit more by reducing their cost of customer acquisition. Win Win Win.
GMA Network
19-07-2025
- Climate
- GMA Network
DSWD: At least 4M worth of assistance given to families affected by Crising, Habagat
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Saturday said at least P4.1 million worth of humanitarian aid was given to families affected by Severe Tropical Storm Crising and the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat). At a news forum in Quezon City, DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said that as of 6 a.m. Saturday, more than 68,000 families or 215,000 individuals in Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon), MIMAROPA, 5 (Bicol Region), 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas), and 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) had been affected by the storm, with around 5,400 families staying in evacuation centers. Dumlao said that the DSWD has more than P2.9 billion in standby funds and stockpiles, composed of Quick Response Funds (QRF) and approximately 3 million family food packs prepositioned strategically across the country. 'Patuloy pa rin po 'yung production ng ating mga FFPs (family food packs) sa National Resource Operations Center (NROC) at sa Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC). Kung kaya nga po kung kinakailangan mag-replenish tayo ng mga stockpiles natin sa ating mga regional warehouses and in the last miles, agad po natin magagawa 'yan sapagkat tuloy-tuloy 'yung ating production sa ating mga major hubs,' she said. (Our production of FFPs continues at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) and the Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC). If we need to replenish our stockpiles in our regional warehouses and in the last miles, we can immediately do it because our production in our major hubs is ongoing. The DSWD official said that their Buong Bansa Handa program enabled rapid augmentation of resources through agreements with local government units and private organizations to use their warehouses for relief prepositioning. She added that with the mechanized packing system in DSWD's National Resource Operations Center in Pasay and Visayas Disaster Resource Center in Cebu, the production of FFPs increased from 5,000–10,000 manually packed boxes to 50,000 daily combined output. Each box of FFP has a barcode with a manufacturing date, expiry date, and designated area of destination, which prevents spoilage and ensures proper tracking, the DSWD said. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
28-06-2025
- General
- GMA Network
DSWD: Reselling of disaster relief packs against the law
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) warned against the repackaging and reselling of relief items for disaster response, such as ready-to-eat food (RTEF) boxes. DSWD-National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB) Officer-In-Charge and Special Assistant to the Secretary (SAS) Leo Quintilla said that the RTEFs and family food packs (FFPs) are reserved for victims of calamities and emergencies. 'Ito ang mga bawal: pagbenta at pagbili, bawal ang pag repack, pagpalit na laman—hindi pwedeng palitan ang laman. Violation ito sa RA 10121… These are distributed free of charge by the DSWD or through local government units (LGUs) to ensure that basic needs are met in times of crisis," Quantilla said in a radio interview. (These are what's not allowed: reselling and purchasing, repacking isn't allowed, replacing the items—you cannot replace what is in the box. This is a violation of RA 10121… These are distributed free of charge by the DSWD or through local government units (LGUs) to ensure that basic needs are met in times of crisis.) "Pwede kang kasuhan kapag nilabag mo ang mga ito,' she added. (You may face charges if you violate any of these.) Other acts prohibited by RA10121 are as follows: Misdelivering goods or aid to persons other than the rightful recipient Accepting, possessing, using or disposing goods or aid without being the rightful recipient Misrepresenting the source of goods or aid by covering, replacing or defacing labels to appear as if it came from another agency or person Repacking goods or aid to containers with different markings from another agency or person DSWD also shared that each RTEF box included the following: Five cans of tuna paella One can of chicken pastil One can of giniling Two packs of arroz caldo Three packs of champorado Two protein biscuits One complementary food for infants 'What is important also is nandito na sa box yung content o anong laman. Alam ng tao anong laman, dapat pagbukas ng tao ay ito ang mga laman ng RTEF box,' she said. (What is important also is that the content is already listed on the box. The people know what is inside, so when they open the RTEF box, it should be there.)——Jiselle Anne Casucian/ VAL, GMA Integrated News
