By Filip Kopeć
Lufthansa Innovation Hub in collaboration with Miles & More introduces a new technology to Lufthansa Group customers. Once heavily discussed blockchain technology was employed to offer a thrilling collecting experience with the Uptrip app. The now-live solution is aimed at enhancing the customer experience through gamification. Achieving certain goals set in the scheme, which might be fun on their own for certain individuals, will unlock prizes such as lounge entry or flight upgrades.
Non-Fungible Tokens: Does That Ring A Bell?
Blockchain technology was the next big thing in 2021 when Non-Fungible Tokens gained popularity. The craze ran a few steps ahead of the actual products, therefore it died down pretty quickly. Now the topic got back to the size of a niche, but some true innovators in the field kept building.
One of the key phrases when talking about NFTs is the collectibility. Big brands around the world started putting the pieces together and integrating the tokens into their loyalty programs, Starbucks being one of the first. Aviation comes in as an industry with high potential in this regard with a large audience of engaged fans.
The Lufthansa’s Take On The Matter
Now Lufthansa Group, the second biggest airline group in Europe, has introduced this technology to its audience of 160 million passengers carried annually. The group had already shown their appreciation to airline collectors with their “Around The World” amenity kits with collectible bags picturing iconic destinations of the carriers. This time, with each flight, all passengers might pick between four different cards corresponding to their flight.
Uptrip app (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Filip Kopec)
Where Is The Blockchain Component?
Admittedly, the functionality of trading the cards on the blockchain is not live yet. The app allows you to sign up for a notification once the Marketplace is available. For those interested, this is said to be organized through a proprietary trading platform set up on the Polygon blockchain.
It is not public yet what kind of collections the customers would need to gather to win specific prizes. The trading component might come in handy to build the right collection for the right prize. It is worth noticing that all the cards that are collected by the user himself are marked.
Honorable Mentions
It was over two years ago, in April 2021, when airBaltic introduced company company-branded NFT collection as the first airline in the world. The City Collection was set to commemorate selected Latvian cities together with part of the airline’s fleet. With the second collection of the carrier – The PlaniesNFT – airBaltic set the second step in innovating the aviation industry by implementing the tokens into its loyalty program in 2022. Now the carrier has just published the Roadmap for the years 2023-2026 of operating the joint loyalty program.
PlaniesNFT (Photo: airBaltic)
Another carrier to follow was the Etihad. A slightly different approach with unique airplane liveries to be collected. Although it was the first to integrate the collection with the loyalty program, the integration simply grants the buyer a Silver tier loyalty status. In 2023 the carrier followed through with a new livery added to the collection – The Mission Impossible livery – and further integration with the loyalty scheme. Notably, it has also switched from the Ethereum main blockchain to Polygon.
Etihad digital collectibles (Photo: Etihad)
A passionate aviation enthusiast that started off his career as an aerospace engineer, but found his true calling on the commercial side of the airline business. Now as a finance guy among avgeeks and an avgeek among finance guys, he has experience working in the Revenue Divisions of three airlines. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, but admittedly sometimes is more about the journey than the destination.
