Over the past five years, members of the OK Plus frequent flyer program of Czech Airlines have donated more than 1.5 million miles to a special account to benefit the Czech Paralympic Committee. The donated miles are there to be exchanged by handicapped athletes for bonus tickets – for example, to travel to the upcoming Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Czech Airlines opened the special account for the Czech Paralympic Committee in 2003.
Members of the OK Plus frequent flyer program can donate miles earned for their flights to this account.
The roughly 1.5 million miles, which are currently in the account, make available dozens of bonus tickets. The number of tickets the donated miles will be able to be exchanged for depends on the destinations chosen by the athletes. For example 20,000 miles is needed for a bonus flight from Prague to Rome, 30,000 miles is required for a flight to more distant destinations in Europe and 50,000 miles is required for a flight to North America. The bonus tickets acquired by redeeming the collected frequent flyer miles can be used for all flights operated by members of the SkyTeam Alliance network. With the latest new air carrier to join – China Southern Airlines – the SkyTeam Alliance can now offer flights to 841 destinations in a total of 162 countries. This includes Beijing, the venue for the 2008 Summer Paralympics.
„The trips to the upcoming Summer Paralympics are what the Czech Paralympic Committee has been saving its donated miles for,“ said František Janouch, the Chairman of the Czech Paralympic Committee. With the more than 1.5 million miles currently donated by members of the OK Plus frequent flyer program, 18 economy class tickets will be able to be acquired to this summer’s games. The games will take place from September 6 – 17, 2008 in the Chinese capital. However, the OK Plus charity program, supporting the Czech Paralympic Team, won’t end with the conclusion of the summer games and the number of miles donated to this cause will likely continue to grow.
OK Plus
The OK Plus loyalty program has existed for 15 years. This makes Czech Airlines one of the first air carriers in Europe to have introduced a frequent flyer award program. The OK Plus program works together with the loyalty programs of the other carriers that are members of the SkyTeam Alliance. This allows passengers to earn miles and redeem them for bonus tickets across the entire alliance network. OK Plus currently has approximately 280,000 active members and it is one of the most prestigious loyalty programs in the Czech Republic with an international presence.
