Millionaires become through frequent flying points

Millionaires become through frequent flying points

Who would have thought that it was so easy to become a millionaire? When the European airline SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) changed flight alliance at the end of 2024, she staged a great spectacle and created "millionaires" among the frequent flyers.

The change of alliance

Flight alliance are very popular with frequent flyers, as they can fly on “Codeshare” flights with any airline of the group and collect points and miles in the program of their preferred airline. A change of alliance can mean a significant change for travelers with permanently established flight patterns.

"We had told our customers for 27 years: 'Fly with this airline because it is the best' - our customers were used to booking United for domestic flights in the USA," explains Aron Backström, VP for product and customer loyalty at SAS. "These habits are deeply rooted. Now we have a new partner network - of high quality, but less known to Scandinavian customers and not part of the booking habits of our members. Therefore we wanted to implement something exciting to encourage customers to try out our new partners."

The Eurobonus millionaire program

The team developed a challenge: members of the Eurobonus area program, which flew between October 8 and December 31 with 15 different Skyteam airlines, would receive a million eurobonus points-which corresponds to a equivalent of around $ 10,000 for future flights.

Almost 50,000 of the eight million members of the Eurobonus program registered for the challenge. Around 7,000 of them were new members who joined the participation. Around 900 members made it to the end and became millionaires. Among them was a member from Norway who had joined the Eurobonus program 33 years ago when it was launched, and a mother-daughter couple who wanted to spend valuable time together.

The participants in portrait

among the frequent flyers who took part in the challenge were about 30 % women - a considerable gender equality compared to the real conditions. One of the participants was Nara Lee, a 36-year-old travel Youtuber from Chuncheon, South Korea. It was her first step into the world of much flying.

"I didn't really know much about flight alliance," she says. "This experience showed me how they work." Although she hadn't heard from SAS before, she was immediately thrilled when she found out about the challenge - in the middle of the qualification period, mid -November.

"I was a nail artist for 15 years, but since childhood it has always been my dream to travel the world," she says. "Last year I started to finally travel abroad. But since I don't speak English well, I usually only joined group trips."

"One day I came across a video about the SAS challenge on YouTube, and my heart began to race. Although I had no experience with booking international flights and did not speak English, I was determined to accept this challenge. I wanted to collect a million miles and realize my childhood dream."

an unusual way to the millionaire

Another unconventional participant was Barry Collins, 44 years old, from Eastbourne, Great Britain. He has been a passionate collector of flight points for a decade, which he has collected through regular purchases to use them for "free" flights.

As Collins about the challenge on the frequent flyer website Head for Points read, it was "just the thing at the right time". He had just given up his business and spent a lot of time at home. His wife encouraged him to travel alone and advised him: "You just have to make a detour into the Andes or something." Although Collins had already visited backpacker goals in his youth, he didn't want to take part in a group trip.

With the support of his wife, he realized that the challenge would give him a feeling of success - and something he could do alone. "It scratched my inner need," he says today.

personal knowledge and challenges

What did the two travelers learn from their adventures? First of all, how to sleep on the plane. Collins used a specially shaped trtl travel pillow and combined it with a sleeping mask; He recommends either headphones or earplugs. "The best tip for sleeping on the plane is easy to be exhausted," jokes Lee. "If the economy class is too uncomfortable to sleep in it, it probably means that you are not yet tired enough."

Both parts took the opportunity to experience numerous cultural shocks that brought their trips with them.

When Collins entered Dschidda, his expectations of Saudi Arabia were disappointed. "All spoke perfect English, there were signs in Arabic and English, and the airport was great," he says.

The two also noticed that they had to adjust their plans quickly when something went wrong. Collins had to take a detour from Seoul to Guangzhou to get another plane - Kenya Airways -; Lee was stranded during a heavy storm and had to plan her flights independently.

the costs and the benefits

When the two composed their total editions, they had "deserved" thousands of dollars to airline points, which they can now convert into flights. Collins spent a total of £ 4.784.54 (around $ 6.185.13), the majority (£ 3.947.88 or $ 5.103.55) for flights. Lee spent around 5,000,000 South Korean WON (around $ 3.800) for flights and 1,000,000,000 ($ 760) for food and accommodation.

Had the daring steps been worth it? Certainly for SAS, because this challenge has increased the brand awareness considerably. Participants such as Lee, who had not been interested in frequent flyer programs before, are now confessing fans. She plans to prefer everyone in the Skyteam over the other.

"The best stories arise when you do something crazy," says Collins. "You can look back on the experiences with pink glasses, although in the meantime you have wondered whether you are going crazy."