SIA goes full throttle with Alibaba tie-up, launches mileage points sharing with Fliggy

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Alibaba Group have entered a partnership covering flight ticket sales, loyalty programmes, marketing initiatives, cloud services, payments and logistics.

The tie-up represents an extension of a partnership between SIA and Alibaba Group’s affiliate, Alipay, which was introduced as a payment option on SIA’s website in 2013. In 2016, an official SIA flagship store was also launched on what was then known as Alitrip (later rebranded Fliggy), Alibaba’s travel service platform, for direct purchase of SIA flight tickets by consumers in China.

There are over 600 million monthly active mobile users on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces alone, and SIA and Alibaba Group expect to gain actionable customer insights through the new deal, the partners said in a joint statement.

The extended partnership will kick in later this year, when KrisFlyer and Fliggy introduce two-way points conversion, allowing members to enjoy membership perks from both loyalty programmes. SIA and Fliggy also intend to explore further opportunities to sync their respective loyalty programmes and to drive cross-promotion of membership services.

In addition, eligible Fliggy members at certain loyalty programme tiers will be able to earn KrisFlyer Elite Silver or Gold status. Accompanying privileges could include tier bonuses on miles flown, priority reservation waitlist, seat selection privileges and priority baggage handling. Fliggy members who achieve KrisFlyer Elite Gold status can also receive benefits from the entire Star Alliance network, the world’s largest airline alliance.

SIA and Alipay will also work on extending Alipay acceptance beyond flight purchases to also cover in-flight products and services, airport services, retail merchandise and ancillary touchpoints.

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