Voter Profile

Legend
Freddie Awards focus on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined not by how many votes a program receives but by the overall merits of each program as reflected in "Value Voting." Value Voting asks the voter to assign a number between one and 10 to the program he or she votes for - 10 representing the highest member value. The popular vote is still important; however to be eligible to win a Freddie Award, a program must receive at least one percent of the votes received in the category.

History and Facts
For 17 years, frequent travelers have made their picks for the best frequent traveler programs via the Freddie Awards. Introduced by InsideFlyer magazine publisher Randy Petersen in 1988, the Freddies allow members to rank programs from their point of view. The awards have grown in stature and importance and are the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the industry.

The Freddies were inspired by Sir Freddie Laker, who in 1978 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth ll for his contribution to commercial aviation and the British economy. Known for his pioneering marketing ideas within the travel industry, Laker founded Britain's first all-jet air carrier, Laker Airways Limited. He also founded the "SKYTRAIN" service, which revolutionized the airline industry by offering no-reservation, low-cost air service.

In 1995 the option to vote online was introduced and now all voting is done via the Internet. This year's co-sponsors of the Freddies are Nextel, Points.com, Executive Travel/SkyGuide, SmarterLiving.com, USATODAY.com, Awards for Mortgages and Real Estate and InsideFlyer. These partnerships allow not only the readers of InsideFlyer magazine, but all travelers, the opportunity to choose the best programs that airlines, hotels and credit card companies have to offer.

This year, over 315,000 voters participated. To ensure accuracy, votes were subject to no less that five audits using a variety of technology (68 different types of reports were referenced). We used only ballots that had been confirmed by those voting. A total of 61,334 ballots could not be confirmed, 52,639 from the Americas, 5.140 from the Europe, Middle East and Africa area and 3,555 from the Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia area.

Demographics:
Of those that voted, 34,583 generously took a few minutes to complete a profile. Here are some of the highlights:

• 74% redeemed more than one award in the past year
• 25% redeemed four or more awards in the past year
• 14% took 30 or more trips in the past year
• 50% carry two or more credit cards that earn either miles or points
• 71% are elite members of at least one program
• 38% are elite members of two or more programs
• 63% are male
• 37% are female
• 52% consider themselves business travelers
• 48% consider themselves leisure travelers
• 48% have individual incomes over $80,000
• 75% are college graduates
• 39% have completed some postgraduate work

• Took an average of 14.9 domestic trips in the past year
• Took an average of 3.3 international trips in the past year
• Belongs to 3.2 airline programs
• Belongs to 2.8 hotel programs
• Earned an average of 274,764 total frequent flyer miles or points in the past year
• Is 54 years old

• Votes were cast from 156 regions/countries
• 29% of voters had voted in previous Freddie Awards
• Voters for the Americas Freddies: 237,274
• Voters for the Europe, Middle East, Africa Freddies: 45,378
• Voters for the Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia Freddies: 35,836
• Total votes cast: 318,488 accounting for 4,263,023 individual choices
• 100% of the votes were cast via the Internet
• 61,334 ballots were eliminated from voting (did not confirm vote via follow-up email)
• Ballots were subject to five audits before results were finalized

The Awards Ceremony
This year, the Freddie Awards were held at the Grand Hyatt New York in the Manhattan Ballroom where over 225 guests of the industry, media and program members gathered. We'd like to extend a very sincere thanks to the folks at the Hyatt Gold Passport program who provided expert assistance in working out all the ceremony details at the hotel. We could not have asked for better treatment and the service provided by Hyatt was outstanding in every respect.

The Hyatt Gold Passport management team also deserves special recognition for their generous contributions and hospitality, all of which helped to make this year's Freddie Awards ceremony a very special event.

Notes
The average voter seems to be getting older; last year the average age of the voter was 50, this year 54. Word is getting around; last year we had voters from 132 regions/countries of the world, this year 156. Most of the new voters were from the Middle East, India and Asia. The average "bank balance" of miles and points was up just slightly, probably owing to members still being cautious about the future of some airlines and using miles and points as a hedge. One of the biggest changes was the average number of airline programs that members hold membership in. Last year the number was 4.9, this year it was 3.3. This rapid drop is probably due to the continuing alliance of airlines and frequent flyer programs around the world. Members no longer need to belong to several frequent flyer programs to gain the benefit of building miles into a single frequent flyer account. The business/leisure traveler mix is holding steady at 52/48 percent. Today, everyone has miles and this is reflected in the makeup of members voting in the Freddies.