Lufthansa Group, the second largest airline fleet in Europe, simply introduced its NFT-infused loyalty program. It can permit passengers to scan their boarding move 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 tender launch in spring 2023, Uptrip has skilled 20,000+ registered customers with over 200,000 NFT buying and selling playing cards issued.
In keeping 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 yr. The app is at the moment 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” relating to these new Web3-infused applied sciences.
“[Its] in an early stage of growth,” he mentioned, noting that whereas “curiosity is excessive,” the European airline big is also going through questions and hesitations in regards to the expertise.
“We make it doable for individuals to entry this new expertise,” he added.
Christopher Siegloch, Head of Program Growth at Miles & Extra, mentioned that Uptrip’s gamification parts introduce passengers to those applied sciences – particularly NFTs, in a “enjoyable method.” He teased that they’re at the moment testing a brand new characteristic 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 modern” functions of NFT applied sciences is knowing the “why” behind these integrations. With the first goal of onboarding as many customers into this subsequent wave of interactive on-line experiences, many main manufacturers have missed the mark in enhancing an already established ecosystem by asking customers/customers to “do one thing new” that requires further work and understanding as to what these applied sciences are.
Briefly, customers proper now don’t want to fret in regards to the underlying expertise 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. Usually, they don’t care about the way it works.
This yr proved to be a troublesome yr for Europe’s main airways. Nonetheless, the German-based airline group ranks second below Ryanair, which carried essentially the most vacationers in Europe in 2021 at 72.4 million compared to Lufthansa at 46.9 million.
Etihad Airways and “Horizon Membership”
Earlier this month, United Arab Emirates’ flagship airline service, Etihad Airways, additionally introduced its growth of its loyalty and rewards packages by teasing a brand new 300-edition growth to its Polygon-based EY-ZERO1 NFT assortment. This permits vacationers the flexibility to “stake” or lock their digital property in alternate for airline miles.
Dubbed “Horizon Membership,” the brand new loyalty program will debut in September, introducing its “staking-for-miles” characteristic that can permit 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 expertise, it’s not noticeable to gamers and doesn’t burden them with having to grasp or have interaction with the complexities of blockchain expertise.
Editor’s observe: This text was written by an nft now workers member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.
