Lufthansa Group, the second largest airline fleet in Europe, simply introduced its NFT-infused loyalty program. It’s going to enable passengers to scan their boarding cross within the Uptrip cellular app and alternate it for NFT buying and selling playing cards to unlock airline miles, enterprise vouchers, and different journey rewards.
Powered by Polygon’s proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain protocol, the brand new program is the brainchild of Lufthansa’s digital innovation unit, Lufthansa Innovation Hub, and its frequent flyer program, Miles & Extra.
Since its comfortable launch in spring 2023, Uptrip has skilled 20,000+ registered customers with over 200,000 NFT buying and selling playing cards issued.
In accordance with the August 31 announcement, Uptrip is now getting ready to maneuver into its second part – the launch of a market, which is anticipated to be launched later this 12 months. The app is presently out there to obtain from Apple’s App Retailer and the Google Play Retailer.
Is that this a sustainable mechanism?
Kristian Weymar, who heads up new enterprise at Lufthansa Innovation Hub, believes that Uptrip “hits a nerve” in relation to these new Web3-infused applied sciences.
“[Its] in an early stage of development,” he mentioned, noting that whereas “curiosity is high,” the European airline big is also going through questions and hesitations in regards to the know-how.
“We make it possible for people to access this new technology,” he added.
Christopher Siegloch, Head of Program Improvement at Miles & Extra, mentioned that Uptrip’s gamification parts introduce passengers to those applied sciences – particularly NFTs, in a “fun way.” He teased that they’re presently testing a brand new function within the Miles & Extra ecosystem.
However does this mechanism even have long-term viability?
The largest problem we proceed to see throughout these “new and innovative” functions of NFT applied sciences is knowing the “why” behind these integrations. With the first goal of onboarding as many shoppers into this subsequent wave of interactive on-line experiences, many main manufacturers have missed the mark in enhancing an already established ecosystem by asking shoppers/customers to “do something new” that requires extra work and understanding as to what these applied sciences are.
Briefly, shoppers proper now don’t want to fret in regards to the underlying know-how that’s powering their experiences – all they care about is familiarity and whether or not or not the services or products does what they want it to do. Typically, they don’t care about the way it works.
This 12 months proved to be a tough 12 months for Europe’s main airways. Nonetheless, the German-based airline group ranks second beneath Ryanair, which carried probably the most vacationers in Europe in 2021 at 72.4 million compared to Lufthansa at 46.9 million.
Etihad Airways and “Horizon Club”
Earlier this month, United Arab Emirates’ flagship airline service, Etihad Airways, additionally introduced its enlargement of its loyalty and rewards packages by teasing a brand new 300-edition enlargement to its Polygon-based EY-ZERO1 NFT assortment. This enables vacationers the power to “stake” or lock their digital property in alternate for airline miles.
Dubbed “Horizon Club,” the brand new loyalty program will debut in September, introducing its “staking-for-miles” function that can enable vacationers to “lock” their NFTs and earn Etihad Visitor Miles in return, which may subsequently be redeemed for flights, seat upgrades, and different unique advantages.
NFL Rivals
One other good instance we’ve seen up to now was this month’s launch of “NFL Rivals,” the first-ever licensed recreation from the NFL, the NFL Gamers Affiliation (NFLPA), and Legendary Video games. Whereas the sport does incorporate Web3 know-how, it’s not noticeable to gamers and doesn’t burden them with having to grasp or interact with the complexities of blockchain know-how.
Editor’s notice: This text was written by an nft now workers member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.
