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The early Lufthansa bonus-programme A long time before Lufthansa launched its "Miles & More" bonus-program the airline tried to reward frequent-travelers a different way: These regular customers received special attention and treatment on the ground and in the air. In addition the participants earned miles which they could redeem in little metal airplane models depending on the mileage-status. My informationen about this early Lufthansa loyalty-programme is based on correspondence with a former participant. Any other source that may help to improve this state of knowledge would be much appreciated. |
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The logbook - precondition for participation
The bonus-programme was started around 1969 - although this date is not verified. Frequent-travellers were presented a little logbook with leather binding. These logbooks were necessary to take part in the bonus-programme as they were a sort of status-certificate including the personal data of the customers - similar to the plastic-cards used nowadays in the categories "Miles & More", "Frequent Traveller", "Senator" or "HON Circle." An interesting feature of the binding is the use of the "box-design" by graphics-designer Otl Aicher who was in charge of developing a new corporate identity for Lufthansa in the late 1960s. This design-feature can be found on many tickets, timetables and route-maps published at the time. The new "Lufthansa"-titles were also designed by Aicher. This visual appearance has been in use with Lufthansa practically unchanged since the late 1960s. To the left: Three Lufthansa logbooks from the late 1960s. |
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Participation limited to a regular clientele Unlike today's bonus-programme "Miles & More" participation was limited to a very small regular clientele: Business-people, diplomats and jet set-celebrities were practically the only passengers who were able to reach the required kilometers (at that time you didn't earn miles but the metric counterpart). The number of kilometers you had to reach before qualifying for the bonus-programme is unknown - but I assume that passengers were only given log-books after achieving a certain flight-status. The copy pictured here is log-book #1420 - so the former owner must have been an early member of Lufthansa's bonus-programme. The relatively small box for the log-book-number is an indication that the airline did not expect more than some ten thousand participants. Also the greetings by the Lufthansa Board of Directors with (printed) signatures ("with the compliments of the Board of Directors") is an indication for the elitist approach to the bonus-programme of the late 1960s. The log-books were released in German and in English - depending on the nationality of the passengers. The participants were required to note the flown kilometres into the books (see below). Schematic maps with kilometer-data for various routes could be used as a reference when filling in the tables. The basic unit was always "kilometer" and not "miles", so passengers from non-metric countries probably always had to do some calculating in order to convert their mileage. To the left: Personal data on page 1 of the log-book. The previous owner now lives in the United States. |
| Earn miles - collect airplane models From today's perspective it seems quite ridiculous that an airline should reward frequent-flyers with little metal airplane-models for their loyalty. Looking back the main goal was on a different level: Lufthansa wanted to emphasize that all participating passengers belonged to a special clientele. Interestingly there must have been some sort of agreement with other airlines, because the log-book states that kilometers could also be earned on non-Lufthansa flights with partners like Pan Am, Swissair or JAT. Models were presented as soon as passengers had flown a minimum of 100.000 kilometers. For a long time these models were solely replicas of the Boeing 727 - an aircraft-type which was operated by Lufthansa under the brand-name "Europa Jet" from 1964 until 1992. According to the log-book three categories were available:
To the right: The "Europa Jet" was the only model that was available in Lufthansa's early bonus-programme although Lufthansa had already begun operating an even more modern aircraft at that time: The Boeing 747. |
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| Above: Two 727-bonus-models - the model to the right in copper for 100.000 kilometers, the model to the left in silver for 250.000 kilometers flown with Lufthansa. Length: 15,5 cm. Wing-span: 12,5 cm. The manufacturer is unknown, but "Made in Germany" is printed beneath the stands. |
| Recording kilometers Strangely enough participating frequent-travelers had to record the flown kilometers themselves. Various tables in the log-books hat to be filled in - for example the date of travel, the aircraft-type (!), the flight-number, the departure airport, the destination, the distance in kilometers and the ticket-number. The latter was probably important to verify a passenger's flight. In the log-book pictured here the ticket-numbers are missing - still the previous owner states he was awarded a metal "Europa Jet" anyway. Earning kilometers aboard flights of pool-airlines As can be seen in the log-book kilometers could also be earned on flights with pool-airlines like Pan Am, JAT oder Swissair. In the divided Germany of those days flights to West-Berlin were operated only by Pan Am, Air France and British (European) Airways - so these airlines must have been pool-partners of Lufthansa in any case. What we see here is definetely a predecessor of today's "Star Alliance". To the right: Filled in tables that show the previous owner's flights in winter 1973/1974. |
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Schematic maps for the determination of kilometers
In order to keep passengers from asking crew-members about the distance of the flight, the log-books had schematic maps that helped to determine the flown kilometers. The picture to the left shows a world map with Frankfurt, Lufthansa's main hub, in the center. Printed below are domestic routes and important European destinations with the respective kilometer-data. Because long-haul flights often had several stopovers, the distance of flights was mostly available in segments. It seems passengers had to calculate the flown kilometers themselves - depending on the destination and the number of stopovers. For a flight from Frankfurt to Bombay, for example, following sections had to be added: Frankfurt-Munich-Istanbul-Beirut-Tehran-Bombay. The maps were styled by German designer Otl Aicher who - as already mentioned above - had been hired by Lufthansa to re-arrange the airline's design in the late 1960s. He characterized the "Lufthansa"-titles and the round crane-logo which are still in use today. On the maps Aicher disregarded real distances and proportions to achieve a simple depiction of geographical facts. To the left: Schematic route-maps designed by Otl Aicher. |
| The end of the early bonus-programme Unfortunately I don't have any information how long Lufthansa's first bonus-programme lasted. In the late 1970s/early 1980s Lufthansa also issued models of the long-haul McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the medium-haul Airbus A300 as bonus-presents - that's why I assume that it was continued for at least 10 to 15 years. I doubt it remained until the new "Miles & More" bonus-programme was introduced in 1993. If you have any information, please contact me via e-mail. I'm grateful for any help! |
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