Air Asia launches BIG Freedom Flyer Program

Number of flights, not number of dollars

Most airline loyalty programs now reward your spend rather than your miles. It used to be all about the miles – your points echoing the distance you had travelled. Miles used to represent your measure of loyalty. Now it’s money – how much you spend is what gets you points. The move to revenue based rewards, has resulted in an effective devaluation of some programs, especially those of us who work at least some of their travel around specials and price.

The move to revenue based rewards, has resulted in an effective devaluation of some programs, especially for those of us who work at least some of their travel around specials and price.

Well, at least one low-cost carrier is going against that trend – at least partially. Air Asia has just overhauled its AirAsiaBIG loyalty program.

The more sectors you fly – the more they reward you. Or at least that is the claim. When you dig a bit deeper – in fact, the program rewards frequency and spend as you can see from the table below. The more you pay for a sector also factors into the amount of your reward.

They are calling the revised scheme the ‘Freedom Flyer Programme‘

This seems to have been an excuse for CEO Tony Fernandes to make some fevered claims:

“I am pleased to introduce the world’s first Freedom Flyer Programme. AirAsia is about freedom. When my partner Datuk Kamarudin and I started AirAsia, we dreamed of democratising air travel so flying would no longer be a luxury only a few could enjoy. We wanted to give everyone the freedom to fly. This new and improved loyalty programme is the latest in our continuing quest to give our guests the freedom to live the rewarding life they’ve always dreamed of.”

If you believe that, you probably voted for Trump. (Oh the trolling I will receive for that throw-away!)

You can visit the upgraded AirAsia BIG Loyalty website at airasiabig.com They also have an App. There are 4 status levels in the program – Red, Gold, Platinum and Black, each offering different benefits:

What you will earn for what status level

You can earn your loyalty points or flights operated by:
AK – AirAsia Berhad (Malaysia)   FD – Thai AirAsia Co., Ltd                          QZ – PT Indonesia AirAsia
Z2 – Philippines AirAsia Inc        I5 – AirAsia India Limited                           D7 – AirAsia X Berhad (Malaysia)
XJ – Thai AirAsia X Co., Ltd        XT – PT Indonesia AirAsia Extra