Loyalty Register glossary
Soft landing
A tier policy that drops members who miss requalification by only one level, or gives them a grace period, instead of sending them back to base.
In a loyalty program, a soft landing is a policy for elite members who do not requalify: instead of returning them to the base level, the program drops them by one tier, or lets them keep their tier for a grace period. A member who held the top tier but had a quiet year lands in the second tier rather than losing all status at once. (In economics the same phrase means a slowdown that avoids a recession; this entry covers the loyalty meaning.)
Updated · By Loyalty Register Editorial TeamRelated terms
How does a soft landing work?
At the end of the qualification period, the program checks each member’s activity against the thresholds. Under a hard reset, the member is placed in whatever tier their activity earned, which may be base. Under a soft landing, the program limits how far they can fall, most often to one tier below their current one. Air Serbia’s Elevate program, for example, says a member who does not keep a tier moves down one tier instead of going straight back to its starting tier, Blue.
Is a soft landing a permanent rule?
Not always. Some programs write it into their published rules. Others announce it year by year, sometimes only in an FAQ, and can change or withdraw it. Large hotel and airline programs have both introduced and ended soft landings over the years, and some replaced them with paid options to extend status. If you offer one, say clearly whether it is a standing rule or a one-time decision.
Why do programs use soft landings?
A member who loses everything after one quiet year, perhaps because of a job change, illness or reduced travel, may feel the program has forgotten years of loyalty and leave. Dropping one tier keeps a relationship and some benefits in place, which makes it more likely the member returns to their earlier level. It also avoids a large group of former elite members falling to base in the same month.
What does it cost, and what should you track?
More members keep benefits than their activity alone would justify, so benefit costs are higher than under a hard reset. If many members land in the same tier, it becomes crowded, which adds to tier inflation. Limit repeated use: one soft landing in a row is common, several in a row means the tier no longer requires anything. Then track what happens next: how many landed members requalify within a year, how many keep falling and how their spend compares with members who were reset. Those numbers show whether the policy keeps valuable customers or only delays a downgrade.