Lufthansa to offer NFT rewards program

Lufthansa and partner Uptrip announced the expansion of the German air carrier’s NFT trading card program on Thursday.

Now, all Lufthansa passengers can receive a Polygon-based NFT by simply scanning their boarding pass in the Uptrip app. That NFT can then be stored in their crypto wallet of choice. 

However, these NFTs aren’t just collectibles, Lufthansa told customers in a press release. If a frequent flyer gets their hands on enough of them to form a complete NFT collection, they can be redeemed for “airport lounge access, flight upgrades, or for status and award miles.”

Christopher Siegloch, an executive at Lufthansa’s frequent flyer program, said that he was delighted to see so much interest in the NFT offering. The program had a soft launch in the spring, and has seen 20,000 registered users and over 200,000 NFTs issued.

“Gamification elements introduce participants to Web3 technologies such as NFTs in a fun way. Furthermore, we have managed to transfer the enthusiasm for collecting that people know from trading card booklets into a digital space,” Siegloch said in a statement. 

Uptrip plans to get its own NFT marketplace up and running sometime during the second half of this year. There are also talks of expanding available rewards, though there was no elaboration on what sort of benefits could be included in the future. 

NFTs are beginning to have a much more general application in the ticketing world and with rewards programs. 

Starbucks runs one of the largest rewards programs in the world, and has been building out its Web3 side of that business since last September.

Another airline, Argentina’s Flybondi, already offers NFT tickets for its flights via the Algorand blockchain.

---

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

• The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
• 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
• Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
• Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
• The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
• Lightspeed: All things Solana.
• Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.