Germany’s Lufthansa airline is planning to soon let its flyers collect rewards in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and engage with Web3. Lufthansa is rolling out a new loyalty programme, that will let flyers collect reward points in the form of NFTs trading cards. From business lounge vouchers, to free miles and frequent traveler statuses, these NFT trading cards offered by Lufthansa will unlock a plethora of facilities for the travelers. The name of this new loyalty programme has been decided as ‘Uptrip’ and the NFTs that are part of this programme are based on the eco-friendly Polygon blockchain.
Lufthansa will allow eligible flyers to connect their digital wallets in order to mint, transfer, and trade these Uptrip NFT cards.
The NFT cards being offered are divided into different categories, including cities, aircrafts, as well as Specials.
“Users will be able to choose from hundreds of cards of Cities (Lisbon, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore and more), Airplanes (Airbus A320, Boeing 747, Embraer 190) and Specials (fly on New Year’s eve, cross the North Pole, etc). Since the soft launch over 20,000 users have registered and over 200,000 trading cards have been issued,” the Lufthansa Innovation Hub said in a statement on the Polygon website.
The Lufthansa Group is a major European airline company, with over 38 million members in its Miles and More reward programme. Its decision to explore Web3 could hence onboard millions to the digital assets sector.
“Web3 is in an early stage of development. Curiosity is high. But, we also encounter questions and hesitation – which is where Uptrip hits a nerve. We make it possible for people to access this new technology,” a report by Zycrypto quoted Kristian Weymar, Director of New Business Lufthansa Innovation Hub as saying.
The Uptrip app has been made available on both, Google Play Store as well as Apple’s App Store.
This however, is not the first time that a major airlines player has decided to venture into the digital assets sector. Back in May this year, Japan’s prominent Air Nippon Airways (ANA) launched its own online marketplace for the trade, sale, and purchase of NFTs themed around aeronautics.
In April last year, Emirates airline from the UAE had also jumped on the metaverse and NFT wagon.
