Airline Frequent Fliers Enjoy the Perks of Free Breast Implants
In an effort to attract customers and be contemporary in their rewards for frequent fliers, Finnish airline Finnair has partnered with a Helsinki hospital to offer breast implants, facelifts, and hair replacement surgeries as a art of their customer loyalty programs.
With the use of special deals and giveaways rampant in the competitive plastic surgery market, Finnair joins an every growing group of businesses who peddle plastic surgery as if it was just another over the counter remedy.
In a world competing for the attention of the consumer, Finnair has found a way pique people’s interest in their airline and get some free publicity just by offering the creative ways to use frequent flyer miles. Though frequent flyers can still exchange their miles for upgrades, free hotel rooms, or consumer products, the diversity of their customers requires diversity in their reward offers in order to keep people in the air. Finnair has capitalized on the recent interest in cosmetic surgery in the hope that it will attract a new group of flyers by offering the cosmetic procedures as part of the Finnair Plus Loyalty Service. A free breast augmentation can be earned with 3.18 million points, roughly 120 round trip business class flights between Helsinki and New York. The program was created by Finnair together with the Nordstroem Hospital in Helsinki. Mikko Tuomainen, the director of loyalty programs for the arline said: “The idea was to incorporate partners and services from all walks of life.” The airline would like to expand the program so that it is not limited to just cosmetic procedures and includes other types of health care as well.
Though flyers still primarily use their points for the traditional offerings of free flights and hotel rooms, the trend toward plastic surgery rewards is a very real one. It stirs interest in the airline and creates a casual feeling toward the procedures so that they are no longer seen as serious medical surgeries with risks and rates of failure. Though the 4,640,000 flyer miles required to get a free facelift might be enough to send some customers to Finnair, the publicity of the offer itself is definitely enough to get people talking.

