background
IAG Loyalty is a loyalty program that is part of the International Airlines Group and includes British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. Manages the Avios ‘currency’, which allows members to accumulate and redeem points with a variety of travel and lifestyle partners.
Avios is a critical component of IAG Loyalty, driving customer engagement, retention, and revenue. Therefore, it recognized the need to expand the Avios experience by creating a unique digital wallet as part of a strategic initiative to promote and strengthen their customer loyalty.
The existing Avios management system was often fragmented, requiring users to navigate multiple platforms and interfaces across various IAG airlines and partnerships in order to track, manage, and redeem their Avios. Consequently, there was a need to improve transparency and accessibility of Avios balances and transaction history.
challenge
The primary goal of this project was to design and develop the Avios Wallet that would provide a unified and streamlined experience for managing Avios. To give users greater control over their Avios, allowing them to see their total Avios points in a single balance and tracking all the transactions.
The way Avios is structured within the IAG was where I found the most difficult challenge. Although Avios is the shared ‘currency’, each airline maintains its own loyalty programme (Executive Club, AerClub, Iberia Plus and Vueling Club). These programmes operate independently, resulting in separate websites and separate redemption systems, allowing each airline to manage its specific programme rules, fees, partnerships with different offers, and earning opportunities.
Although, from the user experience perspective, it might not make sense to have the same page for each airline company instead of a single page on Avios.com. This was mainly a structure limitation due to these programmes being operated independently.
Therefore, part of the project was not only to analyse, identify, and align user needs to a common ground, but also to create the Avios Wallet for each OpCo while respecting each company design identity.
A case study is being put together. Stay tuned!
