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Show Notes

Iñaki Uriz is co-founder and CEO of Caravelo, the platform powering airline flight subscription and last minute distressed inventory products for carriers including Wizz Air and JetSmart. He joined host Alex Brooker to explain why subscriptions invert the logic of loyalty programmes. Rather than making passengers prove commitment over time, airlines take a financial commitment upfront and reward it immediately, even front loading silver or gold status for higher tiers. On the economics, Iñaki explains that for every $100 of subscription revenue, $30 to $50 is money the airline would not otherwise have captured, driven by three forces: breakage (subscribers use only 70 to 80% of packaged flights), new demand created by the subscription itself, and total market share capture, because a subscriber stops searching competitors entirely. Monthly churn runs at 3 to 4%, meaning roughly two thirds of subscribers renew for a second year at zero acquisition cost. He also covers the second wallet effect: because the subscription is prepaid, a $50 ancillary upsell at booking time feels like $50, not $200, lifting attachment rates on planned trips. Two distinct products serve two problems: the flight subscription helps an airline chase market share on a route, while the last minute pass monetises distressed inventory inside a short booking window to flatten seasonal demand. Corporate travel is Caravelo's stated next growth vector, giving a 300 person firm the kind of exclusive, prepackaged deal that previously only a Bank of America could negotiate with a major carrier. Iñaki closes by arguing that as AI fare comparison agents get better at scanning every public price against travel policy, a private subscription deal sitting entirely outside searchable inventory becomes the one relationship based moat an agent can never reach.