Classic Airlines

Classic Airlines: A Classic Clash

Bethany Battistone

University of Phoenix

Classic Airlines, the fifth largest airline in the country operates in over 240 cities using 375 jets with the assistance of over 32,000 employees. Classic is experiencing a 19% decrease in memberships in their frequent flyer program while seeing a 21% decrease in flights booked by members of the frequent flyer program offered. Classic Airlines is marketing the airline flight services they offer as well as the frequent flyer rewards program.

The corporate culture of Classic seems to be an us against them atmosphere in which CEO, Amanda Miller, and CFO Catherine Simpson are only concerned with the board mandated 15% cost reduction over the next 18 months while maintaining the locked in fuel pricing obtained. Renee Epson, Senior VP of Customer Service, and Kevin Boyle, Chief Marketing Officer feel the desire to focus on the customer relationship in an effort to revitalize the frequent flyer program.

The Classic Rewards project team is focused on customer value while realizing the wants and needs of Classic’s frequent flyer members in an effort to “achieve profitable growth by expanding customer share, building customer loyalty, and capturing customer lifetime value.” (Kotler & Keller, 40) The team has been offered an opportunity to enter into a logistics alliance with several other airlines in order to form a marketing alliance that would link all aspects of the customer relationship including a state of the art frequent flyer rewards program. The team has been presented with the pros and cons of the alliance and now was the job of selling Amanda and Catherine on the program. Amanda has consistently been against alliances in the past claiming Classic can win the battle without reducing airfare prices and without the assistance of other airlines. “Companies need to give creative thought to finding partners that might complement their strengths and offset their weaknesses....