Benchmarking Europe’s Low-Cost Subsidiaries: How Much of the Parent’s Programme Reaches Them?

The Loyalty Shift: Season 2, Edition 8

The Caravelo Loyalty Scorecard measures what a loyalty programme is worth to the person holding the card. Fifteen sub-dimensions, scored 0 to 5, grouped under the three pillars of the Relational Anchor: Access, Control and Convenience. The pillar scores average into one Anchor Score. The methodology piece is here.

Europe’s three biggest airline groups each own a low-cost airline. Lufthansa Group has Eurowings, Air France-KLM has Transavia and IAG has Vueling. When we scored the groups’ loyalty programmes last month, the benefits got thinner, or disappeared altogether, on exactly those three airlines. So this edition looks at it from the other side. Not what the parent promises, but what a passenger on a 40-euro fare actually gets, from the parent’s programme and from whatever the airline runs for itself.

Three airlines inherited the loyalty programmes of Europe’s big three airline groups. None of them inherited the part that keeps a passenger coming back.

The three airlines we assessed

• Eurowings has no programme of its own. It closed its club in 2022 and now runs Miles & More as Lufthansa Group hands it down, with a free myEurowings account and a few flexibility add-ons on top.
• Transavia has no programme of its own either. Flying Blue is the programme, and Transavia is really two airlines. The French one has recognised Platinum and Ultimate members since March 2026. The Dutch one does not recognise status yet. We score Transavia as one brand because that is how Air France-KLM sells it.
• Vueling is the only one that built something. Vueling Club relaunched in February 2026 with four tiers earning Avios, and two co-branded cards that give you the two middle tiers straight away.

The Low-Cost Subsidiaries Scorecard: Three Airlines, One Shape

Each airline’s scores draw a triangle. A big, even triangle means a strong relationship. A short side shows where the passenger gets least.

• Eurowings draws the biggest triangle. Control and Convenience are level, Access is the short side.
• Transavia draws the smallest triangle, with the lowest score on all three sides.
• Vueling has the same Access score as Eurowings, a lower Control score and the best Convenience score of the three.

Let’s take them one by one.

Eurowings: Borrowed and Not Yet Linked

Eurowings runs a full-service loyalty programme on low-cost fares, and most of its benefits sit on the SMART fare rather than the cheapest one. On Eurowings, a Senator on BASIC and a Senator on SMART get two different sets of benefits.

On Access, the status tiers do the work, and very few Eurowings flyers will reach them by flying Eurowings alone. For those who do, the programme is generous. Every tier gets priority check-in, Fast Lane security and a miles bonus on any fare. Senator and HON Circle add priority boarding, a cabin bag on the cheapest fare, lounge access where BIZclass is sold and, since March, a free extra-legroom seat on SMART fares. Frequent Traveller, the first tier, gets the lounge only on SMART and no priority boarding (a 3 out of 5 on Priority and Early Access). Below status, little is kept aside for members. Reward seats depend on what is available on the day you book, and nothing is promised when a flight is full (a 2 out of 5 on Exclusive Inventory, a 1 out of 5 on Guaranteed Availability).

On Control, Eurowings has the best score in this edition, and it comes from a choice its parent did not make. Miles & More scored 2.6 on Control last month. The same programme on Eurowings scores 3.0, because Eurowings kept the fixed pricing Lufthansa gave up.

• It kept a fixed award chart when Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian moved to prices that change with demand, so a member knows what a reward costs before they start saving. What it does not sell is a fare hold, which Lufthansa, SWISS and Brussels Airlines all do (a 3 out of 5 on Price Predictability).
• Flex Light buys one date change for 15 euros against a standard fee of 80, and logged-in members get it free on SMART and BIZclass. It is one change only, and there is nothing on BASIC (a 3 out of 5 on Flexibility and Cancellation).
• FlyAhead lets a passenger with no checked bag take an earlier flight the same day for free, as long as they ask at the check-in desk. It is not in the app (a 3 out of 5 on Real-time Flexibility).

The fees are public and so is the award chart, which is more than most low-cost carriers offer (a 3 out of 5 on Pricing Clarity). Status members get their bag and seat included, but there is no upgrade into BIZclass (a 3 out of 5 on Ancillary Control and Upgrades).

On Convenience, the group’s size helps everywhere except at the login. Eurowings Holidays, hotels, cars, rail and Payback all earn miles in the booking flow (a 4 out of 5 on Cross-Journey Integration), and the app is one of the better rated in the industry, at 4.7 on iOS (a 4 out of 5 on Digital User Experience).

Then the member tries to use the programme. Lufthansa Group opened eurowings.com to its Travel ID login in March 2026 and said that the two accounts “remain separate accounts and are not automatically linked”. So a Senator books a 40-euro fare online, then phones the call centre to add the extra-legroom seat the programme already gives them (a 2 out of 5 on Booking Simplicity). The app sends flight updates, but Eurowings has not claimed its Trustpilot profile, so complaints there go unanswered (a 2 out of 5 on Proactive Communication).

Eurowings draws the biggest triangle on the board, strong on Control and short on Access (Anchor 2.7). A Well-Built Commodity that borrowed a complete programme and has not yet connected it to its own accounts.

Transavia: One Programme, Two Airlines

A Transavia passenger in Amsterdam and one in Paris hold the same Flying Blue card and earn and spend Miles the same way. Beyond that, what the card buys them depends on which side of the border they fly from.

On Access, the French side moved first. Since March 2026, when Transavia France took over the domestic routes Air France gave up at Orly, Platinum and Ultimate members get a dedicated phone line, priority bag drop, fast-track security and lounge access on French domestic flights. Transavia’s own benefits page says these apply on flights operated by Transavia France. Silver and Gold get nothing. On the Dutch side, the help page still says Transavia “is not a member of the Skyteam and therefore does not offer the Flying Blue Elite advantages” (a 2 out of 5 on Priority and Early Access).

Miles work as a discount rather than a key. They can buy any seat on either airline at a price that follows the cash fare, so nothing is set aside for members (a 2 out of 5 on Exclusive Inventory). Flying Blue’s paid subscriptions do not apply on Transavia. Flying Blue Family, which pools Miles across up to eight people for free, does (a 2 out of 5 on Volume and Frequency Enablement). As with the other two, no seat is promised when a flight is full (a 1 out of 5 on Guaranteed Availability).

On Control, Transavia sells the simplest flexibility product in the edition and has the least consistent pricing around it.

• Flex costs 10 euros per person per flight and lets you change dates as often as you like for free. Without it, a change costs 55 to 70 euros in the Netherlands and 60 to 99 in France, which on a cheap fare is more than the ticket (a 3 out of 5 on Flexibility and Cancellation).
• The Miles a flight earns are fixed by fare and tier, and that is the only price a passenger can count on in advance. There is no fare hold, no award chart, and the Miles price of a seat follows the cash fare (a 2 out of 5 on Price Predictability).
• A free switch to an earlier or later flight on the day of travel exists, but only for the Max fare and for Ultimate members, so most passengers never see it (a 2 out of 5 on Real-time Flexibility).

The status gap counts against Pricing Clarity, and so does the fact that the fees you see depend on which Transavia website you use (a 2 out of 5 on Pricing Clarity). The add-ons, at least, are clearly priced. Max includes a cabin bag, a hold bag, any seat, fast track, priority boarding and the new Orly lounge, so a passenger who wants everything can buy it in one go. With one cabin there is no upgrade to sell (a 3 out of 5 on Ancillary Control and Upgrades).

On Convenience, one app serves both airlines, and it is well rated on both stores (a 4 out of 5 on Digital User Experience). Paying with Miles is a single switch before you search, though the two websites do not always show the same thing (a 3 out of 5 on Booking Simplicity). There are hotel and car partners but no rail (a 3 out of 5 on Cross-Journey Integration). Neither Trustpilot profile is claimed, so complaints go unanswered (a 2 out of 5 on Proactive Communication).

Everything that reached Transavia this year reached Transavia France, for the business passengers it took over from Air France at Orly. The Dutch side has not had the same update yet.

Transavia draws the smallest triangle on the board, with the shortest Access side of the three (Anchor 2.3). A Well-Built Commodity in two halves, where the parent’s card counts on one airline and not yet on the other.

Vueling: The Only One That Built Its Own

Vueling Club relaunched in February 2026 with four tiers, Basic, Smart, Plus and Premium, all earning Avios. It is the only programme in this edition that belongs to the airline running it.

On Access, the new tiers deliver on the spot what Eurowings needs a phone call for. Plus brings Group 1 boarding, priority check-in desks and a dedicated phone line. Premium adds Group 0, Fast Track, a free seat, a cabin bag and an upgrade offer by email before departure. No tier includes a lounge (a 3 out of 5 on Priority and Early Access).

The thresholds are the catch. Tier points are euros spent before tax, so Plus takes 2,000 euros a year and Premium 4,000. On a 22-euro fare, Premium is about 180 flights away. Basic earns no Avios on flights, which makes the two CaixaBank cards, with Smart or Plus included, the easier route in (a 2 out of 5 on Volume and Frequency Enablement). Members get “exclusive offers”, little else is kept aside for them, and no seat is promised (a 2 out of 5 on Exclusive Inventory, a 1 out of 5 on Guaranteed Availability).

On Control, Vueling sells one thing neither rival does, a fare hold.

• A price lock holds a fare for 24 hours for between 2 and 10 euros per passenger. It takes the pressure out of booking, and nobody else in this edition sells one (a 3 out of 5 on Price Predictability).
• Changes cost 50 to 70 euros plus the fare difference, a Flex Pack from 10 euros removes the fee, and Premium members can change as often as they like (a 3 out of 5 on Flexibility and Cancellation).
• An earlier flight the same day is free for Plus members and 40 euros in the app for everyone else, the most usable same-day option of the three (a 3 out of 5 on Real-time Flexibility).

What holds Control back is how the fees are shown. Spain’s consumer ministry fined Vueling 39.2 million euros in 2024 over cabin-bag and seat charges, and the fine is suspended while Vueling appeals. Vueling’s fares page also still shows the earn rates it replaced in February next to a club page with the new ones (a 2 out of 5 on both Pricing Clarity and Ancillary Control and Upgrades).

On Convenience, owning the programme pays off. The Avios discount appears on the payment screen once you log in, and a wallet links the Iberia Club balance to the Vueling one, so Avios earned anywhere in IAG are easy to spend here (a 3 out of 5 on Booking Simplicity). The app is well rated on both stores, and the same-day switch and the tier card live only there (a 4 out of 5 on Digital User Experience). Partners run from Vueling Holidays and Cabify to fuel and electricity, the widest spread of the three even without rail (a 4 out of 5 on Cross-Journey Integration). Trustpilot is as low as the other two, with one difference. Vueling answers 97 percent of the negative reviews, usually within a day. Answering is not the same as anticipating (a 2 out of 5 on Proactive Communication).

Vueling has the same Access score as Eurowings, a lower Control score and the best Convenience score of the three (Anchor 2.6). A Well-Built Commodity that built the best club on the board and finished a tenth of a point behind the airline that borrowed one.

What the Subsidiaries Tell Us

Eurowings finishes first with a programme it does not own. Vueling finishes second with the only programme that is its own. Transavia finishes last, with the parent’s programme reaching one of its two airlines.

Underneath the ranking they look more alike than different. Access is the weakest pillar for all three, as it was for every low-cost carrier this series has scored except Wizz Air and VietJet, and nobody scores above 1 on Guaranteed Availability. The group programmes stop short of their low-cost airlines, and the airlines have not yet built anything of their own in that space. No pass, no guarantee, no subscription, no member-only fare that lasts longer than a sale.

It can be done. Wizz Air, with no parent to borrow from, reached 3.0 on Access with memberships costing less than a checked bag. None of these three gets past 2.0, even with Europe’s three largest airline groups behind them. The part that keeps a passenger coming back was never the part that got handed down.

The first of the three to offer its passengers a guarantee, its own or its parent’s, will be the first to close that gap.

Next, the scorecard goes back to the United States, to the low-cost airlines that never had a parent programme to lean on.