Airlines and hotels reach out to their top spenders

Let’s just say that no one is likely to earn airline or hotel elite status this year. But major airlines and hotels don’t want to lose their highest-spending customers. So they are giving them an extra year to accumulate the points that result in free upgrades, breakfasts, club access and other perks. Airlines really had no choice, said Jamie Larounis, an industry analyst for Upgraded Points. He said taking status away from a loyal clientele who are not allowed to fly and earn miles because of travel bans “would alienate customers who might defect to the competition.” And as the airlines and hotels evaluate the economic landscape, they may find they need to do more to maintain their loyal customer bases. Helane Becker, who analyzes the airline industry as a managing director for the financial services company Cowen, recently revised her outlook from a U-shaped recovery to “more L-shaped, with a long tail,” or prolonged. She now predicts that it will take years for the number of passengers to return to 2019 levels. Airlines don’t publicize the numbers of frequent fliers or status-holders, but they are “enormously important” to airlines, according to Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of the online industry newsletter Skift Airline Weekly. Story has more.<br/>