Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards, Best Promotion
Fido and Kitty win. Velocity Frequent Flyer introduced the ability to earn points for traveling with a cat or dog on a Virgin Australia domestic flight—a minimum of 300 points earned per pet carrier for each flight sector flown, and for up to two pet carriers per booking. Virgin Australia (then known as Virgin Blue) won a Best Award Freddie in 2009, so this is the second win in this category for the program.
Thomas Alberts, Manager, Airline Partnerships, is in attendance tonight and accepts the award for Virgin Australia Velocity. And he makes a quick exit with a smile.
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards, Best Promotion
It feels a bit like déjà vu all over again as Marriott Rewards wins again in this category. The program has been offering its popular MegaBonus promotion for several years now. In an ever-changing industry, members have grown to expect the trustworthy MegaBonus to return year after year and continue to rate this bonus as best in class.
Bob Behrens, Vice President Marriott Rewards accepts the award.
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards
Gary says that over 8 million individual voters took the time to voice their opinion by voting for their favorite programs in this year’s Freddie Awards.
And now, he says he is ready to distribute some hardware!
And the Freddies begin….!
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards
Victoria Borton, SVP, Travel Media Group is on stage and says USA Today is very excited about sponsoring the Freddies this year. And the Freddies thank USA TODAY.
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards, Uncategorized
Lynn Grubb, Head of New Client Partnerships with American Express LoyaltyEdge kicks off the evening as we finish a lovely dinner at The Freddie Awards.
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards
Gary Leff has taken the stage and is thanking the sponsors of the Freddie Awards: American Express, USA TODAY, Points, Priority Pass, Switchfly, ICLP, milepoint and teleflora. Each sponsor is receiving a special Freddie Award with a special thanks from Gary and everyone at the Freddie Awards. Thank you to our sponsors!
Points has generously provided cards with up to 10,000 points for everyone in attendance. Thank you Points!
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards
Our MC for the evening is Gary Leff of View from the Wing.
Gary’s day job is Chief Financial Officer for a university research center. He’s also a director of a nonprofit that provides networking and professional development opportunities for young people in policy, politics and journalism.
In addition to blogging about his miles and points obsession, he co-founded milepoint.com, where frequent flyers meet to share their knowledge about frequent flyer programs.
Gary serves as Chair of the Nominations Committee for the Freddie Awards and was named one of the world’s top 135 travel specialists by Condé Nast for his award booking service, BookYourAward.com.
Tonight, he will take the reign as Master of Ceremonies, entertaining the crowd, winning a few new friends and undoubtedly breaking a few hearts (not everyone can go home with a Freddie Award).
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards, Best Promotion
Avianca is known for awarding double miles with miles purchases. Last year, the offer was a close third in this category and this year, voters chose this offer as their favorite. During April, August and December, for every 1,000 miles that members purchased, LifeMiles awarded an additional 100 percent bonus miles.
Yells come from the crowd as Avianca wins!
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards, Best Customer Service
This is the fourth time SAS EuroBonus has won a Freddie Award for Best Customer Service through the years. EuroBonus holds on to the Freddie by a very thin margin above AIR FRANCE – KLM Flying Blue. EuroBonus reaches out to its members on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and is readily available on the phone and via email. Members are satisfied with how EuroBonus responds to their needs and give the program high marks for customer service.
Martin Wassborn, Director CRM and Nils Lindhe, Vice President – Loyalty, are attending the Freddie Awards tonight.They accept the award with a smile and quick exit.
Apr 24, 2014 | 2014 Freddie Awards
Travel industry executives and an assortment of travel gurus/bloggers and others have all flown in to attend the Freddie Awards. The big event starts around 6pm tonight but the Freddies are much more than an awards ceremony. The Loyalty@Freddie Awards Conference is offering the opportunity for loyalty travel professionals to hone their trade while Randy Petersen’s Travel Executive Summit adds another dimension to the event by hosting roundtable discussions, with not only the panelist asking each other questions, but the audience is also encouraged to ask questions.
