Passengers who have failed to collect any of their Airmiles over the past two years may have their accounts closed by the organisation.
The loyalty program, which has eight million customers in the UK, has distributed 1.7 million letters to customers threatening to end their affiliation if they do not use their existing miles or fail to assemble any new ones.
This move has been criticised by some in the travel industry, particularly as many consumers are struggling financially as a result of the recession.
Graham Donoghue, managing director at TravelSupermarket, suggested that Airmiles is not sending a “great message” out to its customers.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “It’s like one of the big supermarkets taking away your loyalty points just because you have not shopped there for a while”.
However, Airmiles has simply claimed that it is “reawakening people” to the “fantastic benefits” the company offers and that this action has always been warned on its terms and conditions.
