What: Airlines are adopting retail-style loyalty mechanics — gamified rewards, no-purchase engagement, and partner-driven monetisation — to keep customers connected between trips.

Why it is important: Airlines are proving that gamification and partner-driven rewards can turn loyalty into a revenue line in its own right, reinforcing the case for department stores to treat loyalty as a business rather than a cost centre.

Airlines are increasingly borrowing from retail's loyalty playbook, creating reasons for customers to engage with their brands outside active travel. TUI's new Smiles Rewards Club guarantees a monthly win without requiring a booking, while British Airways' Avios currency now draws more than 80% of its revenue from external partners such as Amex and JPMorgan Chase, rather than from flying itself. Virgin Atlantic frames the shift as building lasting relationships through experiences loyal members could not otherwise buy.

Personalisation and reduced friction are central to this shift. British Airways has replaced boarding passes with Face ID on some routes and now allows passport scanning instead of manual checks, while both airlines stress that data should surface relevant offers rather than drive engagement for its own sake. Jet2's myJet2Perks and Riyadh Air's Sfeer scheme extend the same logic without a formal points currency, offering discounts and non-expiring rewards regardless of whether a trip is booked.

The push is partly generational: OAG research shows only 65% of Gen Z travellers are enrolled in an airline loyalty scheme, against 89% of Baby Boomers, yet Gen Z redeems rewards more often while staying loyal to fewer providers, booking across multiple airlines on price or route.

IADS Notes:  Loyalty programmes across department stores and multi-brand retailers have been moving in a similar direction over the past several months. Reporting from Forbes in February 2026 found that nearly a third of Sephora's 46 million loyalty members now engage through gamified shopping mechanics, a precedent for the guaranteed-win, no-purchase-required model TUI has since applied in travel. Fashion Network noted in April 2026 that M&S had overhauled its Sparks scheme around spendable cash rewards, AI-driven personalisation and partner-based bonuses, including one tied to Virgin Atlantic bookings, closely mirroring the airline-retail crossover now emerging in loyalty economics. Fashion United reported in January 2026 that Harvey Nichols had restructured its own loyalty tiers as part of a wider brand repositioning, tying rewards innovation directly to broader transformation efforts. And Retail Dive covered, in June 2026, the linking of J.C. Penney's and Aéropostale's loyalty programmes under the Catalyst Brands portfolio, a coalition-style structure comparable to the cross-brand points transfers airlines run with retail and financial partners.

Miles better: the new business of airline loyalty