United Airlines this week launched its MileagePlus Digital Media Store, providing members of its MileagePlus frequent flier program the opportunity to use miles for music tracks, albums and movies as well as hotel stays, car rentals, “once-in-a-lifetime experiences” and merchandise.
United has more than 70 million total members in the program, 15 million of which are considered active members, said Krishnan Saranathan, managing director of United MileagePlus. “There was a strong demand from our members to be able to redeem their points for other things in addition to flights. Some of our members are business travelers who get on plane nearly every week. The last thing that they want to do is to get on another plane.”
Other people fly so infrequently that they never build up enough miles to use for air travel, according to Stephen Humphreys, CEO of Choose Digital, the creator of the new digital media loyalty platform underlying United’s Digital Media Store. “According to the Incentive Marketing Association, only 32 percent of frequent fliers use their miles for flights.”
Though some airlines encourage redemption for magazine subscriptions and some other non-airline products and services, these programs still need nearly $25 worth of points for any redemption, Humphreys adds. “With use of mileage for digital downloads, we can go all the way down to $1 [for redemptions]. Loyalty programs are growing and so is the demand for digital media. United is positioning itself with something that has great synergies with travel.”
“Digital downloading is a growth area,” Saranathan agreed. “A lot of people when they are traveling are listening to their mobile devices on the plane or renting movies at hotels. We think this program fits our members’ profiles well and gives them what they need.”
The Digital Media Store features a full catalog of music, including popular songs from the past and present in a wide range of genres, such as pop, rock, country, jazz and classical. A selection of movies is currently available, and TV shows and additional movies become available later this year. In addition, MileagePlus also plans to feature exclusives on the site. The first exclusive is a bonus remix of “Dance Again” with purchase of “Dance Again …The Hits,” the recently released Jennifer Lopez greatest hits album.
MileagePlus members visit digitalmediastore.mileageplus.com to log in and browse the site’s music and movie sections. Similar to other digital media sites, the MileagePlus site enables members to point and click to preview music and view movie trailers, and purchase and download items. Purchases are played on computers, tablets and smart phones.
Members earn award miles by flying United, United Express, Copa Airlines or Star Alliance airlines and other airline partners, and by purchasing products or services from a wide variety of partners worldwide. Members use award miles for travel, hotel stays and car rental, in addition to everyday purchases and activities.
According to the 3rd annual Switchfly Reward Seat Availability Survey presented by IdeaWorksCompany, United has the most award seat availability among U.S. global airlines. This year, United launched MileagePlus Headliners, a program enabling members to bid on a variety of experiences using miles, including theater and sporting event tickets, and once-in-a-lifetime trips. The MileagePlus Unpublished Hotel Awards program began in the spring, which allows members to enjoy hotel stays for fewer miles by waiting to learn the hotel name after booking.
“We think the more miles one of our members accumulates, the more they will want to redeem them,” Saranathan said. “Hopefully, this will enable us to grow our member base.”