Travel providers are interested in acquiring their competitors’ best customers, but elite status has a lock-in effect. You might want to defect from United to American or from Delta to Alaska, but it’s pretty tough to do that and start from scratch with a new airline. You’re well treated as an elite, and it’s rough out there flying without any status

So airlines came up first with status matches (you have elite status with a competitor, we will give you that status on our airline to make it easier to move your business over) and then status challenges (we’ll let you earn the status in an expedited way but do want you to prove you’re moving some business over, and get in the habit of flying our airline).

And now there are paid status match offers.

• The airline outsources the matching process, which gets things done more quickly (and ensures customer requests are handled promptly – very important when you have a valuable customer hot to bring over their business)
  
• The company handling the match does this all the time, they know the tricks, so this reduces fraud (and thus unnecessary expense)
  
• And customers actually paying for the match are more serious about taking advantage of the new status

Status matches done right are magic – reaching the right customer, at the right time, with the right offer. When your competitor is sticking it to their members, it’s almost loyalty malpractice not to go out aggressively with an offer to their best customers.

Air France KLM seems to have done quite well status matching against British Airways as BA scrambles to retain customers in the face of taking an ax to its elite program.

*over 4,000 British Airways customers had a status match approved (we know what percentage of those came from the HfP article we ran – it was a lot)

*95% of matches were to Flying Blue Gold status or higher, allowing the matcher to enjoy lounge access (amongst other benefits) when flying with Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic and other SkyTeam partners

*these 4,000 matchers had booked 17,500 flights on Air France KLM by the end of August (it isn’t clear how many flights the cohort also booked on other SkyTeam airlines)

*60% of matched customers have booked at least one Air France KLM flight so far

*60% of the revenue generated from these 17,500 flights was from bookings in premium cabins

When Delta announced plans to torch SkyMiles elite status two years ago (before backing off) several programs swooped in. We saw a feeding frenzy on Southwest as it walked away from its brand promise. The grass isn’t always greener. The best offers don’t end with the match.

Give new elites a great experience. When United Airlines and Continental integrated their systems, things went badly. American Airlines was smart. They’d never opened up a status match to Executive Platinum broadly before, but 1K members were welcomed in. And American then sent matched United 1Ks Admirals Club lounge passes. And they sent free wifi passes, because United didn’t yet have wifi. That was smart.

New elites should also be given an incentive to try the product and stick with it. Welcome them. Educate them about the program they’re switching to. Offer them promotions, especially if they haven’t yet engaged at the expected level. And make sure there’s an easy path to keep the status they’ve been given.

Once you’ve vetted someone as a qualified prspect to become one of your best customers, it’s worth tailoring offers to win that business over the long term like an annuity. Make sure the match is seamless, the communication is clear and prompt, and the follow up is compelling. Don’t stop at just opening up a match and calling it good!