GLO Weekly: Global Loyalty News - December 12, 2025 (Week 50)
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GLOGLO Featured:
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As a senior leader within Visa, Andy Chalcroft has been at the forefront of shaping the company’s loyalty strategy, collaborating with financial institutions, merchants and technology providers across multiple markets. His expertise in driving customer engagement through payments innovation will add valuable perspective to GLO’s growing community of global loyalty leaders.
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GLO Featured. Tony Piedade: A quick reflection on the big moves in the airline loyalty in 2025. From “frequent flyer” to “frequent spender” • Dynamic pricing & the quiet devaluation of miles • Loyalty programs have become huge businesses • Points are moving from “dream trips” to everyday value • Experiments with subscriptions, passes…. and some failures • Qantas, Alaska & others: tweaking the formula • Ecosystems, AI & startups: the next wave • So… is airline loyalty still worth it? • The big picture.
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Airlines, Alliances & Airports:
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Thai Airways Reboots Royal Orchid Plus with Smart, Data-Driven Loyalty Upgrade Thai Airways is rolling out a major digital upgrade of its Royal Orchid Plus loyalty programme as part of its wider push to become a data-driven, customer-centric airline. Powered by IBS Software’s iLoyal platform, the transformation will enable real-time personalisation, automated engagement, and seamless reward experiences across flights, retail, banking, hospitality, and lifestyle partners.
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Air India partners with Maldivian The interline partnership enables guests of both carriers to seamlessly travel on a single itinerary that combine Air India and Maldivian flights, ensuring convenient connections and coordinated baggage handling.
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Qatar Airways Launches on Fortnite, Opening a Virtual Gateway to Doha for Millions Qatar Airways is launching QVerse Island in Fortnite, letting millions explore Doha landmarks, experience its Qsuite cabin, and complete interactive missions guided by its AI avatar Sama. As the first airline on Fortnite, the move targets Gen-Z through immersive digital tourism, with a launch “golden ticket” hunt offering real flight rewards. (Image: Qatar Airways)
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Turkish Airlines and South African Airways will launch a new codeshare partnership from 1 March 2026, expanding connectivity between Africa, Türkiye and key global markets. The agreement adds TK codes on major SAA African routes and SA codes on selected Turkish Airlines flights to Europe and İstanbul, boosting tourism and trade. (Image: Turkish Airways)
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Winners announced during the ceremony held at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2025. An additional 100,000 miles awarded to the first 10 participants to complete the challenge, as well as special recognition prizes to exceptional participants who went the extra mile. Challenge remains open for new and existing Etihad Guest members to sign up and complete the Extraordinary Milestones and earn up to 125,000 bonus miles, with over 11 mn miles still in the prize pot. (Image: Etihad)
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Korean Air and Hanjin Group airlines — including Asiana, Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul — will roll out Starlink-powered high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi across their fleets, marking the first Starlink adoption by a South Korean airline group. Installations begin in 2026, with full fleet completion targeted by 2027. (Image: Hanjin Group).
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Emirates Unwraps Christmas Magic at 40,000 Feet This December, Emirates is sprinkling seasonal magic across every customer’s journey, inviting passengers to embrace the warmth, wonder, and whimsy of Christmas from departure to destination. As the airline prepares for more than 2.3 million departures and 2.5 million arrivals in the coming weekends, those flying with Emirates can expect generous touches of festive flair, from winter-inspired menus in global lounges to treasured traditions served at 40,000 feet. (Image: Emirates)
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Riyadh Air and IBM Unveil World’s First AI-Native Airline, Redefining the Future of Aviation Riyadh Air and IBM have launched the world’s first AI-native airline, built entirely on artificial intelligence with no legacy systems. The AI-driven model unifies operations, employee workflows and guest experiences, enabling real-time decision making, personalised service and greater efficiency as the airline prepares for commercial launch in 2026. (Image: PR Newswire)
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Melbourne Airport will become the first to deploy Amadeus Seamless Bag Drop S7 Air and Hybrid units, installing over 70 next-generation self-service bag drops. Serving 35 million passengers annually, the upgrade will boost capacity, reduce queues, improve accessibility, and allow both fully automated and staffed bag drop options. (Image: Amadeus)
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Emirates Takes NBA Fever to New Heights with Special Inflight Menu for Emirates NBA Cup Emirates is celebrating the Emirates NBA Cup with a limited-time NBA-themed inflight experience on flights to the U.S. and Canada until 16 December 2025. Passengers across all cabins can enjoy special game-day inspired menus, themed cabins, signature NBA cocktails, and live match screenings on Sport 24. The experience is available on select routes across 12 U.S. cities, as well as Toronto and Montreal. (Image: Emirates)
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Virgin Atlantic Unveils AI Concierge to Transform the Way Travelers Plan and Book Virgin Atlantic has launched an AI-powered digital Concierge across its airline and holidays websites, giving customers a 24/7 personalised travel assistant. Built with OpenAI and Tomoro, it offers real-time flight and holiday recommendations, supports Flying Club queries, and delivers seamless, voice, text or touch-based trip planning. (Image Virgin Atlantic).
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Etihad Airways and Condor announce strategic partnership and new Abu Dhabi routes Condor to Launch Daily Abu Dhabi Flights from Frankfurt and Berlin from Summer 2026 • New strategic partnership includes a wide-ranging codeshare agreement • Etihad Guest members to earn and redeem miles on Condor-operated services
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Hotels & Hospitality:
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1 Hotels Mission Membership™: a Transformative Loyalty Program 1 Hotels is reimagining loyalty with a purpose-driven program that offers personalization while making a meaningful impact on the planet.
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Cruises:
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Oceania Cruises® Reveals Two All-New Culinary Concepts Debuting Aboard Oceania Sonata™ Oceania Cruises will debut two new dining venues aboard Oceania Sonata in 2027: the ultra-exclusive La Table par Maîtres Cuisiniers de France for 18 guests, and Nikkei Kitchen, celebrating Peruvian-Japanese fusion. The chef-led concepts mark a major step in the brand’s next-generation culinary evolution. (Image: Oceania Cruises)
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Loyalty Technology, Solutions & Consulting:
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Comarch Named a Strong Performer in Loyalty Platforms Evaluation by Independent Research Firm Comarch has been recognised as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Loyalty Platforms, Q4 2025. The report, authored by John Pedini, evaluated the most significant providers in the industry to help professionals select the right partner for their needs.
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Reports, Research, Insights & Opinions:
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Triple Whale Reports Record BFCM Engagement as Brands Turn to AI to Drive Smarter Growth Triple Whale’s data illustrates how brands had to do more with less this year, adapting to a retail landscape strained by rising ad costs, inflationary pressure, and higher consumer expectations. Facing slower growth and higher acquisition costs, brands turned to AI-powered insights to make faster, smarter decisions in real time.
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Despite significant investment in digital tools, many organizations remain trapped in disconnected channel strategies that limit visibility and weaken customer engagement. The newly published Omnichannel Playbook from Info-Tech Research Group provides a comprehensive, research-backed framework that shows how aligning data, governance, and technology enables marketing leaders to rebuild trust, strengthen loyalty, and deliver seamless customer journeys across every touchpoint.
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Disrupting Travel’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot: John Choate Reclaims Value for Consumers In this episode of Disruption Interruption, John Choate joins host Karla Jo Helms to expose the “value blindness” plaguing the travel industry. He reveals how Apogee Travel disrupts the OTA duopoly by converting hidden hotel commissions into guaranteed donations for charities, proving that philanthropy is the new loyalty.
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Globant’s “Tech Trends” breaks down the 5 Forces that Will Power Enterprise Transformation in 2026 Agentic AI: From Hype to Hard Value: Agentic AI is moving beyond passive assistants and becoming autonomous systems that drive measurable ROI. For example, in retail, Globant Enterprise AI 2.3 and the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) enable agents to recommend products, personalize offers, and complete secure transactions through natural conversation. By integrating POS, CRM, inventory, and trend data, these agents turn every interaction into conversion, insight, and long-term loyalty.
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Amadeus report: Travel Trends 2026 Amadeus’ Travel Trends 2026 reveals six forces reshaping travel: pet-first journeys, AI-powered “Travel Mixology,” ultra-long-range narrow-body jets enabling new non-stop routes, pop culture-driven tourism, hyper-personalized “Pick ’n’ Stays” hotels, and Innovation Tourism focused on future tech destinations. Together, they signal a faster, smarter, and more customized travel era. (Image: Amadeus)
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Jobs & Careers:
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Vueling is hiring: Loyalty & Planning specialist (Spain) Location: Spain. Click inside to apply
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