The Kiwi company offered online guides to airport lounges and Dragonpass provided access to lounges including Auckland\u2019s Strata Lounge.<\/p>\n
It said the new partnerships would deliver LoungePair\u2019s lounge passes to Freely and AFF members through their respective rewards and loyalty programmes.<\/p>\n
And it said the Dragonpass agreement would strengthen lounge coverage across Asia.<\/p>\n
LoungePair chief executive Daniel Kinnoch said travellers for a long time depended \u201con luck or loyalty\u201d to access lounges.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is to remove the barriers to premium travel experiences and give every traveller, whether flying for business or leisure, the ability to start their journey or wait for a connection in comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n
LoungePair partnered with lounge operators and others to offer flexible day passes.<\/p>\n
It said those passes provided access to many travellers, not just those with high-tier frequent flyer or credit card benefits.<\/p>\n
It said the Freely partnership would offer lounge benefits to more than 200,000 Australian travellers through a new Travel Rewards programme.<\/p>\n
Freely members received tiered lounge benefits based on their memberships.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreely customers usually start their journey looking for travel insurance. By working with LoungePair, they can now add improved airport experiences too,\u201d Kinnoch said.<\/p>\n
He said this would make for a more streamlined process.<\/p>\n
LoungePair said the alliance with Australian Frequent Flyer<\/a> would give AFF Platinum members a complimentary LoungePair+ membership.<\/p>\n Those Platinum members would get a free lounge pass and access to rewards, such as lounge satisfaction guarantees and refunds on unused passes.<\/p>\n AFF gold members would get discounted LoungePair+ access and additional lounge credits.<\/p>\n LoungePair said the new deals would provide access to the Dragonpass global lounge network.<\/p>\n It said this would be especially useful to people travelling through Asia and mainland China.<\/p>\n \u201cSecuring Freely and AFF demonstrates our ability to provide travel perks to businesses that need to reward their customers,\u201d Kinnoch said.<\/p>\n LoungePair is headquartered in Auckland\u2019s Eden Terrace and incorporated in Delaware.<\/p>\n Airline data company OAG in a report last year said some loyalty programmes were under pressure from generational trends.<\/p>\n OAG said older travellers were more likely to enrol in loyalty schemes than younger peers were.<\/p>\n To entice sign-ups for airline credit cards, 63% of travellers OAG surveyed wanted free checked baggage, 56% wanted sign-up bonuses, and 43% wanted access to airport lounges.<\/p>\n Qantas earlier this year made changes to its loyalty programme<\/a>, introducing Status Fast Track.<\/p>\n It said Status Fast Track enabled members to climb faster up tiers, gaining entry to hundreds of lounges worldwide.<\/p>\n Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar<\/a> last month told the Herald the airline was reviewing its loyalty programme\u2019s tiers and benefits.<\/p>\n He said as part of that, the airline will be launching a new tier above Gold Elite.<\/p>\n He said that tier might have a soft launch before Christmas, and a full launch next year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Qantas is rebuilding its Auckland lounge<\/a> and Air New Zealand is nearly doubling the size of its Auckland lounge<\/a>.<\/p>\n