Expedia adds free lounge access for delayed flights to its loyalty program and will credit the difference if fares drop
According to Casey Lehman, Expedia Group's vice president of loyalty, the goal is a simpler program that balances instant savings with future travel rewards. The airport lounge benefit is a pilot for now.
What's happening
According to CX Dive, the lounge benefit covers Gold members (those who have booked 15 trip elements with Expedia within a year): when an eligible member's flight is delayed by at least 90 minutes, Expedia offers free airport lounge access or an alternative such as a participating bar, restaurant or sleep pod. Under price drop protection, if the fare of an eligible booked flight drops before departure, Expedia will provide the difference as OneKeyCash to spend on future eligible travel. According to a OnePoll survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers commissioned by Expedia, nearly half of U.S. travelers have experienced a delay of 90 minutes or more.
Whose desk it lands on
The head of the loyalty program. When a member's flight is delayed, what does our program offer them in that moment, or does it only let them earn points as they spend?
Our view
The CX Brief's interpretation, not a claim made by the source.
The real innovation in Expedia's package is tying a benefit not to spending but to the moment a trip goes wrong: lounge access kicks in when a flight is delayed by at least 90 minutes. Delays are unavoidable but a major source of stress, and they are not rare either: in the survey Expedia itself commissioned, nearly half of U.S. travelers had experienced a delay that long. Lounge access is still a pilot, but the idea behind it is sound: a loyalty program is remembered most for the moments it stands by its members when things go wrong.
