Flying Blue: From Grounded to Soaring

Project Overview

Client:
Air France/KLM Flying Blue & Isobar Paris

Industry:
Aviation & Loyalty

Overview:

During the global pandemic, air travel stalled. Revenue declined sharply, and traditional loyalty mechanics lost relevance.

Challenge:

Expand the Flying Blue loyalty ecosystem beyond flights — quickly — to sustain engagement and generate revenue in a grounded market.

Approach

Strategic Focus

  • Extend loyalty value through non-travel partnerships
  • Reduce friction in earning and redemption
  • Accelerate time-to-market under global constraints

We conducted stakeholder interviews across business units and adapted all research and testing to remote methodologies. Competitive analysis of global loyalty programmes identified four levers: personalisation, seamless integration, strong partnerships, and data-driven optimisation.

To move at pace, we combined Google’s Material Design system with Flying Blue’s evolving rebrand. Leveraging established design patterns allowed us to deliver quickly without sacrificing quality.

Execution

  • Defined requirements through cross-time-zone workshops (France, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand)
  • Translated business objectives into structured user stories
  • Iterated rapidly through regular stakeholder reviews
  • Designed for mobile and desktop depending on behavioural context

Key product improvements included:

  • Seamless digital wallet integration
  • Simplified redemption flows
  • Expanded partner network (retail, mobility, finance)
  • Faster access to loyalty credentials via mobile

Results & Impact

  • 61% increase in homepage conversions to e-commerce platform
  • 3x increase in Miles&Points customers
  • 11% increase in reward ticket usage

Showcase

Air France/KLM - Flying Blue screens

Client Testimonials

Frank de Boer
Frank de Boer
“A digital expert with an huge amount of knowledge/experience and a relentless willingness to create the best possible solution. Rich has the ability to translate high level business demands into clear, high quality, and consistent design proposals. A true sparring partner who guides you through the process. Not being afraid to ask the difficult questions. However always proposing a possible solution.”
Director Customer Loyalty Air France KLM, Frank De Boer
Giordana Mendola
Giordana Mendola
“I have been working with Rich for 14 months together during a project related to re-designing of the new Flyingblue.com website part of Air France KLM. We hired Rich as lead designer to the team and it has been a great journey together: we learned so much and deliverables are currently in development or have been already launched! Rich has been of great value to this project. As a professional but also as a true person. Rich is flexible, easy to talk with and really an awesome, experienced design lead to work with. I would recommend everybody to work with Rich.”
Product Manager Flying Blue Digital Touchpoints, Giordana Mendola