Full Video: Expedia, JetBlue at Skift Aviation Forum 2022

25.08.2023 - 14:34 / skift.com / Selene Brophy / Seth Borko

The dynamics of ancillary travel product distribution for airlines is continuously changing. Brand loyal customers are the order of the day. Yet in symbiotic ecosystems where airlines use online travel giants like Expedia to tailor their travel packages, competition for loyal customers is unavoidable.

Julie Kyse, vice president of global air partnerships for Expedia Group and Andres Barry, president of JetBlue products joined Seth Borko, senior research analyst at Skift, to discussed the push and pull of distribution within the sector at the 2022 Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas-Fort Worth.

JetBlue remains intent on bolstering its direct connection to customers and extending its supplier partnerships, instead of just relying on Expedia for non-air supply to packages to sell to its customers.

Kyse acknowledged that there are customers who have a natural affinity for the airline, and stated that Expedia is able to add value to help grow direct loyalty, as JetBlue tailors its distribution model.

In the discussion, Barry outlined the importance of loyalty, using the value proposition of its Mosaic status as an example for its most invested customers to have access to “a mix of cash and points” when booking JetBlue travel products.

Kyse was candid about Expedia’s approach to credit cards and loyalty programs and whether it meant competition between the two.

“Last year we announced that we were going to create a unified loyalty program across all of our consumer brands. So that will give consumers the opportunity to earn rewards points if they’re buying a vacation rental on Vrbo or if they’re renting a car on Expedia, no matter what product they purchase from us,” Kyse said.

“They’re not competing because they’re complimentary. You can earn both. In fact, our current advertising campaign is all about earning your airline miles and your rewards points with Expedia brands.”

Watch their full on-stage interview as they unpack the dynamics of distribution and the ecosystem of loyalty programs or read the transcript below. 

Seth Borko: Hello. Hello everybody. Welcome back. Hope you’ve enjoyed your break, and you’re ready for some good aviation distribution content that we’re going to be talking about today. We’re really lucky to be joined by Julie and Andres. Thank you both for being here.

Julie Kyse: Thanks for having us.

Andres Barry: Thank you for having us.

Borko: And I’ll just remind the audience that we can take some questions, so if you want to submit them in the app, if we have time, we’ll include them.

So, I want to just start with some baseline setting and we’ve got Julie from Expedia, we’ve got Andres from JetBlue, we’ve got a supplier and an OTA on the same panel. It’s very exciting.

Julie, you