Flybe's new credit card 'best in class'
23 January 2008
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, recently launched its Spend & Fly credit card on which cardholders need only charge 1p within the first 12 months to qualify for one free return flight anywhere on Flybe’s 162-route network, the most generous benefit of any of the low cost carrier sector cards currently available.Not only this, but the Flybe credit card is also the only one low cost card of its type that concurrently accrues frequent flier points as part of Flybe’s loyalty programme, Rewards4all. There is no other credit card that collects points faster towards free flights throughout Europe for the simple reason that Flybe points are not weighted as they are with other low cost carrier cards.
Flybe cardholders receive points at the same rate whether they are using it for general High Street purchases or buying Flybe flights. With Flybe, there is no discrimination. With other low cost carrier cards, consumers receive less points when using the card for High Street purchases – no contest! When spending on the UK High Street, users of Flybe’s card need charge only £4 000 to qualify for a free return flight which knocks spots off the equivalent £6 000 spend required by the Easyjet’s credit card.
Features like this make Flybe’s Spend & Fly card the undoubted Best in Class and card of choice for budget-conscious consumers who also love to travel.
Here’s how Flybe’s card compares:
1. Flybe offers the most generous sign up benefit
Flybe: spend 1p on credit card within 12 months and get a free return flight on any Flybe route
Easyjet*: spend £250 on card within 3 months and get a free flight up to a value of £40
Ryanair spend £250 on card within 3 months and get a free return flight
2. Flybe attracts the most generous ongoing spend benefits (calculations based solely on flight purchases on card, based on average yields stated on airline websites)
With Flybe, passengers receive Rewards4All points when they purchase a Flybe flight (1 point for every £250 spent), plus they also attract standard Rewards4All points for each sector they fly (1 point for an Economy single sector and 2 points for an Economy Plus single sector)
Combining the two means that an average customer purchasing Economy flights will only need to purchase 13 single sectors (or 7 return flights) with their credit card in order to receive one free UK return flight or 20 single sectors (10 returns) for a European flight
If customers are purchasing Economy Plus sectors then the number of flights taken will be halved so 7 single sectors (4 returns) for a UK flight, or 10 sectors for a European flight (5 returns).
With Easyjet, customers only earn 1-2-3 points on flight purchases so they need to buy over 40 sectors in order to accumulate enough points to qualify for a free return flight.
With Ryanair, passengers have generous spend thresholds but very tight windows in which to make that spend. There is a 6-month window to spend £1500 in order to qualify for a free flight.
Says Mike Rutter, Chief Commercial Officer, Flybe: “The Flybe MasterCard is our latest product innovation which directly benefits our customers, adds value to the company as a whole and defines our intention to continue pioneering industry innovation we have in other areas. No other airline can rival us in terms of both sign up benefits and the generosity of our ongoing spend programme. These factors, combined with our frequent flyer rewards, are together proving a very strong differentiator with real consumer benefits in what is a crowded market.
“We are constantly looking for ways to grow the Flybe brand and directly respond to customer needs. Our new credit card does exactly this by adding value to our existing customer service offering and setting us apart from other low cost carriers.”