Commentary

Bing Searches Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

Taking a vacation this summer? Get searching. Bing searches convert into credits for frequent flyer, hotel or retail loyalty programs. The search engine partnered with a long list of companies that now allow consumers to redeem Bing Rewards for miles and perks.

The Bing Rewards program allows members to get points toward credits on American Airlines AAdvantage, Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, Icelandair Saga Club, IHG Rewards Club, LifeMiles, My BestBuy Rewards, SVM FuelCircle, US Airways Dividend Miles, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Members choose a preferred loyalty program after receiving the certificate. Enter the member number, along with other information to authenticate the transfer, and Bing will deposit the points into the program account. Restrictions apply, however. Some mile certificates expire six months from the date of receipt.

Travel-related searches continue to spike as summer approaches. Consumers have already begun searching for great deals, especially in Brazil, which will host the 2014 World Cup. Searches during the first three months this year for hotels in Brazil by Brits wanting to attend the tournament running June 12 to July 13, rose 628% year-on-year, per Hotels.com, part of Expedia.

Bing continues to build market share. comScore estimates approximately 19.4 billion explicit core searches in March 2014. Google led the U.S. in explicit core searches with 67.5% market share, followed by Microsoft with 18.6%, and Yahoo with 10.1%. Ask Network accounted for 2.5%: and AOL, 1.3%.

When it comes to earning points for Bing Rewards, I don't think "Powered By" counts. It does in comScore's market-share ranking. In March, Google powered 68.9% of searches on other sites, while Bing powered 27.1%.

1 comment about "Bing Searches Earn Frequent Flyer Miles".
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  1. Jonathan Hutter from Northern Light Health, April 22, 2014 at 4:01 p.m.

    Now you're talking. If your search engine is no better than parity (if that), offering frequent flyer miles is a sure way to get people to use it. I don't see Jet Blue on the plan though.

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