HON Circle: how it all began
A dedicated terminal, fantastic benefits and exclusive service: HON Circle is more than just a frequent flyer status. But how did it come about? The HON Circle story is one of pioneering decisions, unexpected twists and turns and the desire to offer our most loyal frequent flyers an extraordinary travel experience.
Putting members first
What do our most frequent flyers want?
From the outset, we wanted to make sure HON Circle would offer features that frequent flyers truly value when travelling. That’s why we involved our most loyal frequent flyers in its development, consulting them on the benefits and amenities they’d most like to see, the things that would make a real difference to them. Their answers gave us valuable insights, helping us to ensure HON Circle status would do justice to our most discerning customers’ wishes.
The name: much deliberation and a spontaneous decision
Launching a new status is one thing, finding the right name is quite another. We spent over a year considering more than 1,000 suggestions. “Ambassador” and “Sovereign” were initially the favourites, but it was only when our then CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber suggested the name “HON”, originally an in-house term for very special VIP customers, that the decision was made. The word “Circle” was added to emphasise the group’s exclusive nature. HON Circle was thus officially adopted and soon became synonymous with exclusivity.
In 2002, with the HON Circle launch imminent, Wolfgang Mayrhuber suddenly announced his innovative idea while studying the plans:
“We need a real wow effect for our customers – a dedicated terminal.”
Until then, no one had even considered exclusivity on such a scale. It meant a two-year delay to the HON Circle launch, and exciting new challenges for some of the team, who became “construction experts” as plans for the Lufthansa First Class terminal (FCT) in Frankfurt progressed.
Three questions for colleagues who were there from the start
Silke Wünkhaus, Mirjam Seibel and Christina Krause experienced the birth of HON Circle first hand. We spoke to them about their experiences.
What was the biggest challenge during HON Circle’s creation?
Silke: “Definitely the decision to create the First Class terminal. A brilliant idea, but suddenly colleagues from the programme development team had to take on additional responsibilities, and that was a real challenge. It was all worth it in the end though.”
Were there particular moments that made you all smile?
Christina: “Yes, of course. Our HON Circle baggage tags, for example. At first, they were so sought-after that they were being counterfeited in Bangkok and sold online. A real status symbol.”
What do you hope the future will hold for HON Circle?
Mirjam: “That it continues to stand for exclusivity, and that our customers enjoy every moment of their travels.”
