tl;dr – Will this low-cost carrier loyalty program stick around?
easyJet recently announced it’ll launch a formal loyalty program in 2027. The British ultra-low-cost airline based in the UK’s Luton Airport operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries.
Details about the loyalty program aren’t fully known yet, but easyJet made the announcement in its mid-year investor relations report:
“We continue to benefit from a loyal customer base, with 71% of bookings coming from returning customers, including a growing number of easyJet Plus subscription members. To complement this, we will be launching a new loyalty programme in FY27. We will host a seminar on the new rewards proposition early next year, which will leverage the strength of our brand and further enhance our differentiated customer offering.”
easyJet Mid Year Investor Relations report
Amid the news, some suggest that a tie-up with Virgin Atlantic would make sense, following the playbook of carriers like United and JetBlue across the Atlantic. Some thoughts from LinkedIn user Nick Anastasides:
To date, we’ve seen mixed, though-possibly-more-fairly-labeled-as-uninspiring results from some of Europe’s leading low-cost carriers in recent years. Ryanair infamously torpedoed its loyalty program shortly after launching it, as the ‘getting was too good’. Lol. WizzAir has never launched a formal loyalty program. You actually don’t need to look to the US market to find a successful example of a budget carrier tie-up, though. Vueling Club would probably qualify as a successful example here. The Vueling Club program has a tie-up with Avios, allowing fliers to earn and redeem Avios—the shared rewards currency of airlines like Iberia, Qatar, Finnair, and, of course, British Airways. Members also earn tier points to unlock exclusive perks like priority boarding, Fast Track, and free seat selection.
We’ll revisit this once more details about the program are known.
