Extreme Loyalty: The Airlines Turning Travel Into a Competitive Sport

Skift

11 hours ago

In a drive for loyalty and attention, high-stakes travel challenges are growing in popularity. These airline campaigns generate buzz, but they also raise thorny questions around ethics, sustainability, and long-term brand impact.
Earlier this week, JetBlue launched one of the quirkiest promotions by a U.S. airline in years: a loyalty challenge that rewards customers who visit 25 JetBlue destinations by the end of 2025 with coveted perks through 2050.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the '25 for 25' campaign offers members of its TrueBlue loyalty program a quarter-century of Mosaic 1 status – part of JetBlue's elite tier – plus up to 350,000 bonus points. Members who hit 15 destinations earn 150,000 points; 20 destinations bring an additional 200,000 points; and those who hit the full 25 unlock the status windfall.
Ed Pouthier, the carrier's VP of loyalty and personalization describes the promotion as 'a thank you to the customers who've helped us reach 25 years of incredible growth.'
While headline-making in the United States, JetBlue's campaign is just the latest in a global wave of high-concept airline marketing stunts.
Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways launched 'The Extraordinary Challenge' at the end of May. It is offering Etihad Guest members the chance to win up to 5 million miles by flying to each of the airline's 15 new destinations. The first to complete the challenge will win 5 million points; the second, 3 million; and the third, 1 million.
In marketing materials, the UAE carrier says that 5 million Etihad Guest miles 'can equate to over 500 Economy flights, or more than 70 trips in Business, or more than 40 unforgettable journeys in First.'
To qualify, participants must fly to or from all of the following destinations by May 25, 2026: Addis Ababa, Algiers, Atlanta, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Krabi, Medan, Peshawar, Phnom Penh, Prague, Sochi, Taipei, Tunis, and Warsaw. Service to some of these destinations doesn't start until later this year.
Getting Creative, But At What Cost?
'Like all companies, airline marketing campaigns have had to get creative to break through and grab people's attention, especially when the subject is somewhat mundane like new seat upholstery or new destinations,' says Scott Keyes of Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights). 'But Etihad's campaign of offering 5 million miles to one winner is perhaps the most audacious and attention-grabbing attempt I've seen for a new route announcement.'
Chelsea Curran, director of integrated PR, destinations, resorts, and experiences, at Crowe PR, offered additional behind-the-scenes insight about the latest campaigns and similar stunts.
'We've seen airlines, hotels, and hospitality brands jump on PR stunts for years designed to help them spark global attention,' she says. 'These are geared towards doing more than just going viral: They are well designed to help generate long-lasting buzz, deepen brand understanding, and engage and inspire conversations amongst travelers with the Etihad brand at the forefront.'
Another high-profile example comes from the Scandinavian carrier SAS. Last year, it ran a campaign that rewarded members of its EuroBonus loyalty program by turning them into 'points millionaires.' To be eligible for the prize, members had to fly with 15 out of 17 SkyTeam alliance airlines. The contest period took place from October 8 to December 31, 2024. Despite having less than three months to fly with 15 global airlines, 940 of the 42,700 participants were successful.
Of course, there's the bottom line to keep in mind, but these campaigns can be a relative bargain for airlines. The cost of a stunt like this to Etihad is 'trivial, of course,' says Keyes. 'They can print as many miles as they want, and even assuming a generous 1-cent-per-mile accounting cost, the prize is equivalent to $50,000, a rounding error in an airline's marketing budget."
Sustainability Questions
For all of the recent hype, is it a simple case of back to the future? The hyper-competitive period following airline deregulation in the 1980s was full of wacky campaigns.
However, unlike the 1980s, the socially conscious modern air traveler has an additional angle to consider. A major issue with this style of airline promotion is the risk that they grate against stated sustainability goals and mission statements.
Skift called in generative AI to create the best itinerary to visit each of the cities in Etihad's Extraordinary Challenge. The brief was to use flights connecting through the carrier's Abu Dhabi hub as sparingly as possible. Our prompt allowed other airlines to directly connect each destination as long as Etihad flights were used for at least one flight in or out.
According to its calculations, flying to and from each of these cities in the most efficient manner possible would add up to about 85,563 miles (137,700 km) in the air. That would generate around 30.3 tons (27.5 tonnes) of CO₂ per passenger, around twice the average annual individual carbon footprint.
Depending on how many people enter the competition, it's a challenge that could leave quite a mark. Etihad won Environmental Airline of the Year in 2023 and the airline plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Etihad declined to comment when approached by Skift for this story.
Who Pays the Price?
There's also the human factor. While it might not cost airlines much to facilitate the stunts or their prizes, it can be contestants who shoulder the cost instead.
'There's concern among some about the amount of wasted travel hours and additional emissions that [the Etihad] competition entails,' says Keyes. 'After all, there will be many people competing to win the 5 million miles, and all but three of them will see their efforts in vain."
The recent SAS and JetBlue promotions differ in that there is no limit to the number of successful participants.
However, travel that's consumption-focused and performative (staying somewhere only long enough to say you've been there, 'doing it for the 'gram') is the antithesis of sustainable travel, which prioritizes slow travel, reducing carbon footprint, and forming meaningful connections on the ground.
'Given travelers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are seeking more meaningful, slower trips versus globe-hopping on long, non-stop journeys, this stunt can feel at odds with the rising call for more sustainable and responsible travel,' Curran adds.
For its part, JetBlue told Skift: "As a primarily leisure airline, this promotion is designed to celebrate exploration, encouraging customers to connect with friends and family across our network, or visit destinations they may not have discovered yet.
"Importantly, the promotion is built around our regularly scheduled flights, not added capacity or special charters created solely for the program," a spokesperson added.
Despite the campaign still being in its first week, JetBlue reports "great enthusiasm," with more than 650 bookings already made through a dedicated promotion landing page.
The Russian Factor
An additional consideration for the Etihad competition in particular is accessibility. While the airline says the competition is 'offering anyone the chance to participate and win,' the required stop in Sochi, Russia, might deter some. This could be because of visa restrictions, safety concerns given the conflict in Ukraine, or the questionable morality of flying into a country at war to win loyalty points.
'Whether intentional or not, the fact that one of the required stops is in Russia effectively excludes most American and Western European travelers from participating,' says Keyes.
In the near term, is there a way forward for attention-grabbing airline PR stunts? Curran suggests initiatives that align more toward sustainable travel while still creating buzz.
'This might include challenges that entice travelers to show off their low-carbon travel, creating immersive experiences in local communities or slow travel itineraries that help travelers experience longer, more meaningful trips,' she notes. 'In a crowded market, we'll continue to see travel brands push boundaries and the key to ensuring these will be successful is to anchor them in purpose and your brand mission, not just promotion.'
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