Hippocampe : Air France treats its Ultra-VIPs as an insult to loyal customers

Most airlines or hotel chains have one goal: how to make loyal customers even more loyal and captive. As a result, there is a race for higher, more prestigious status.

Moreover, Air France has created the Flying Blue Ultimate status, above the Platinum status, which gives access to exclusive advantages.

What is the Hippocampe status

Hippocampe (Searhorse in english) status (HIPP for short) gives you access to all the benefits of Ultimate status, but, and this is the big difference, to all La Première services wherever they are available.

HIPP” customers will have access to Limousine transfers regardless of their class of travel – Source : airfrance.fr

This means a systematic escort from check-in to boarding, access to the First lounges including the famous La Première lounge at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and its Limousine escort services to the aircraft.

Even the La Première lounge will be open to “HIPP” customers, a lounge that was supposed to remain exclusive…

This is really unfair for the real loyal customers (the Ultimate) who spend money but also a lot of time in flight and who cannot access La Première services.

Ultimate customers will continue to enjoy the great gastronomy of the *Business* lounges, here in 2E – Hall K

Who has access to the Hippocampe status

Hippocampe is a discretionary status, awarded by Air France’s senior management to “chairmen or CEOs of the CAC40 companies generating significant revenue for Air France or to opinion leaders”.

Extract from a memo distributed to cabin crew about Hippocampe customers

Basically, the CAC40 bosses, who surely have other things to do than imposing Air France on their travel policy (and will probably travel in First most of the time) and the instagram starlets (whose influence of the lounge P on their audience is doubtful) will have this status. Ridiculous!

It’s basically a new Club 2000 (of which there are 14,000 members I recall), but better. In fact, this is the old Club 2000, where upgrades to First were common.

What does the competition do?

It’s hard to say what the competition is doing, but in any case, both British Airways and Lufthansa offer access to the First lounge for their most loyal customers.

At British Airways, the best of the best in *First* lounges is offered to the most loyal customers, those who accumulate more than 5,000 Tier Points per year (the equivalent of an Ultimate at 900 UXP)

But at least they are offered the best. The best should not be reserved for customers who do not travel, whether they have influence (which remains to be proven) or not.

Lufthansa Miles & More’s HON Circle provides access to its *First* lounges… And this status is not discretionary

Bottom line

Another new status, which is added to the long list already present at Air France, and which still shows the disdain of the airline towards its best customers… Pathetic!