This weekend an email was sent to all of SAA’s Voyager members asking them to vote in the international Freddies Awards which recognise outstanding frequent travel programmes worldwide. Winners are chosen after voting by their members.
And all would have been fine if SAA had simply asked its Voyager members to vote if indeed they thought Voyager was a good programme.
But, with a touch of arrogance that is quite spectacularly mind-boggling, Voyager is offering 500 Voyager Bonus Miles to all members who take the trouble to vote.
All of which will mean that thousands of members who would normally not bother to vote and even many of those who thought Voyager was the worst programme in the world will put in their vote simply to earn those extra air miles.
This is marketing gone mad.
Even more worrying is the thought that if indeed SAA sees nothing wrong with effectively “buying” votes, then does this practice also apply to all those awards it seems to win?
This seems to make a lot of sense all of a sudden because it has always been a mystery to me how SAA can win so many international awards when almost without exception every overseas visitor I speak to, not to mention friends and colleagues here in South Africa, never has a good word to say about their SAA experience.
Bringing up the subject of air travel at dinner parties or business meetings inevitably ends up with a litany of SAA horror stories. So, one cannot help but believe that if it sees no problem bribing Voyager members to vote for it, then it also would not have a problem buying its awards.
That Voyager should even be nominated for an international award is laughable because surely no brand in South Africa receives as many complaints as Voyager? So, how on earth can it seriously imagine that it will win any sort of award?
Sure, I assume those people with Platinum and Gold Voyager Cards get great service. But, it’s the majority of ordinary folk who painstakingly accumulate points who are the most frustrated. Not being able to get through to Voyager by phone in the first place and secondly finding that all the Voyager seats have been taken up by companies or Premium Card holders.
And if you don’t believe that, try using your Voyager miles to get a free flight to Australia. Even Voyager admits that is impossible.
