Air France courts young travellers with 30% loyalty discount

Air France will introduce loyalty cards offering 30% discounts on domestic routes to passengers aged 12 to 24 as it seeks to lure young travellers away from trains, long-distance buses and low-cost carriers. The cards will sell for E49 and run for a year, Air France President Frederic Gagey said Friday. They’ll be valid for bookings with Air France and regional arm Hop!, though not at discount unit Transavia. Air France faces a crunch in the domestic travel market as EasyJet and Ryanair add flights and train services get quicker. While state rail operator SNCF has been offering youth discounts for decades, they’re not yet widely available with airlines. “There’s a huge opportunity for us in targeting consumers who don’t currently fly, both in terms of filling our planes and building loyalty at an early age,” said Lionel Guerin, who heads Hop!. The regional unit, formed via a merger of three domestic carriers, should be profitable by 2017, he said.<br/>