Mega Event 2025
| Date: | 20-21 May, Dublin |
| Location: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Delegates: | 500+ |
Lead Sponsor
Loyalty Programs, and especially co-branded credit card revenues, as well as Ancillary incomes, are many airline and travel companies’ top profit centers. Mega Event 2025 is the place to gain the best practices and contacts related to these areas. The theme for 2025’s conference is: Revenue, Retail and Results.
Mega Event 2025 was held concurrently with Airline Information’s Airline & Travel Payments Summit 2025 (ATPS) and the Loyalty Security Alliance Spring Conference 2025.
Presentations will be shared shortly
With so much going on for airlines, hotels and travel companies in loyalty, ancillary and co-brands there is lots to debate and discuss! Everyone is chasing increasing revenues and retailing is a key part to achieve that – but, who is doing it well and what are the associated results? From NDC to One Order, it is a fast changing environment and here are just a few of the areas that we covered:
- AI, Machine Learning and Big Data – what are they and who is actually using them to deliver results now?
- Personalisation – the holy grail for modern retailing but, beyond seat and meal choices is it all talk?
- Dynamic Pricing and Bundling – both cash and redemption prices are more and more subject to using big data, but will the regulators come calling?
- Modern Offer and Order Management – is NDC working and what hope is there for One Order? Can the retailing platforms being offered by numerous vendors actually deliver and do they move beyond the PSS?
- Retailing Platforms – much has been promised with the likes of NDC but do the new GDS platforms like SabreMosaic do as they promise?
- Loyalty and Ancillary meets Payments – loyalty points are an alternative payment method, embedded app payments to make purchasing upgrades, bags and seats are just two areas where getting your payment strategy is meeting Loyalty and Ancillaries. Delegates at Mega 2025 will get a chance to gain an insight into these critical areas both on the Mega Agenda and by being able to choose to attend session at the Airline and Travel Payment Summit (ATPS) running alongside Mega 2025
Sponsors of combined Dublin Conferences
Venue
The venue for this event is the conference centre at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport in Santry Park in Dublin.
Special Price of €239 (includes taxes and breakfast)
Venue for Mega & ATPS 2025:
Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport
Northwood Park, Santry Demesne, Dublin, D09 KN66, Ireland
Phone: +35318628888
Agenda
Day 1
20 May 2025
12:30pm – 2:00pm
Registration
2:00pm – 2:15pm
Welcome and Opening Remarks from the Conference Chairs
– Michael Smith, Board Advisor, Ai Connects
– Mustafa Ozalcin, Founder, UKasii
– William Pershke, VP Airline Consulting, Elavon
– Mark Lenahan, Consultant Director, Lenahan Consulting
– Sol Zia, Executive Director, Calgary Hotel Association
– Erik Knoester, Senior Travel Risk Consultant , Visa
2:15pm – 3:00pm
ChatGPT, AI, Machine Learning And Big Data | Everything you need to know for airlines & travel
We’ve all heard of them. We all know a bit about them, but what beyond the hype are they? Everything you wanted to know, explained in a relevant way!
– Kevin O’Shaughnessy, CEO, CityHook
3:00pm – 3:30pm
Airlines in The Cloud – transforming travel amid uncertainty
– Tedd Evers, Global Partner Leader Travel & Hospitality, Amazon Web Services
>Download Presentation Here
3:30pm – 4:10pm
Coffee Break Sponsored by Diners Club International
4:10pm – 5:00pm
The Famous Airline Information Lions’ Den | Product Pitching Competition
Back by popular demand the Lions’ Den new products and service pitching contest returns to Mega 2025 and ATPS. The session is for innovative start-ups (or brand new products from established players) who pitch for 5 minutes each. Then take 5 minutes of questions from our experienced judges. Judges will choose which they believe is the best product, while the audience will choose the most entertaining pitch.
This is a paid for pitching session and it is a popular option selling out in previous years.
If you have a product that you would like to pitch, please email MSmith@AiConnects.us or speaking@AiConnects.us for more details.
Ringmaster and Lions (Judges)
– Phoebe Tan, VP Financial Services & Insurance, IAG Loyalty
– Jason Clampet, Chief Product Officer & Co-founder, Skift
– Michael Pool, VP Global Credit Cards, Marriott
– Amanda Campbell, Director, Sparkling Communications
Pitchers
– Sherpa
– Obsidian
– Brainpay
….only one pitching slot left!
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Welcome Reception in Association with Travel Massive
Day 2
21 May 2025
8:30am – 9:00am
Welcome Coffee
09:00am – 09:30am
Case Study: Using AI to maximise ancillary revenue
– Eduardo Rivas, Data Chapter Lead – eBusiness, LATAM Airlines
– Joaquin Perez, Senior Data Scientist, LATAM Airlines
9:30am – 10:00am
Who’s getting it right in airline retail and ancillary revenue?
– Jay Sorensen, President, IdeasWorksCompany
>Download Presentation Here
10:00am – 10:30am
Dynamic Bundling: Crafting Irresistible Offers to Maximise Ancillary Revenue
– Andrea Caulfied-Smith, MD Global Business Travel, Advantage Travel Partnership
– Aleks Kaczmarek, VP Loyalty, CarTrawler in conversation with
– Sol Zia, Executive Director, Calgary Hotel Association
10:30am – 11:10am
Coffee Break
11.10am – 11:40am
Innovation Session: How United is driving uptake and spend across its co-brand portfolio
– Bob Daly, Managing Director Global Cobrand, United Airlines in conversation with
– Jay Sorensen, President, IdeaWorksCompany
11:40am – 12:00pm
Modern Airline Retailing – using AI and Dynamic pricing to drive your core proposition
– Ruairi O’Driscoll, Head of Data Science, Protect Group
– Nick Ashton, Global Lead, Protect Group
>Download Presentation Here
12:00pm – 12:30pm
A Loyalty Call to Action: Trends in program member attitudes & behaviours
– Rob Daniel, EVP, Bond Brand Loyalty
12:30pm – 2:00pm
Lunch
Loyalty Track
Ancillary Track
2:00pm – 2:30pm
Status Matching: A loyalty driver or ancillary revenue stream?
– Phil Gunter, Co-founder and CCO, Loyalty Status Co
>Download Presentation Here
How Payments can drive Loyalty & Ancillary Sales
– Varun Dhupar, Product Manager, Juspay
– Basant Tahiliani, Head of Digitial Marketplaces, Indigo Airlines
>Download Presentation Here
2:30pm – 3:00pm
How to prove the ROI of your Loyalty Program
– Len Llaguno, Founder & Managing Partner, Kyros
>Download Presentation Here
A novel approach to promoting co-brands and micro-redemptions
– Steve Mathwig, Senior Manager Loyalty Program Engagement, Best Western Hotels
– George Wilson, SVP Business Development, SKUx
3:00pm – 3:40pm
Loyalty Panel: Are programs innovating to drive loyalty and repeat business? Or is it just about the program revenues?
Moderator:
– Sol Zia, Executive Director, Calgary Hotel Association
Panellists:
– Chris Daugherty, Director of Loyalty & Co-Brand, Spirit Airlines
– Sinead Archer, Commercial Director, Head for Points
– Oliver Ross, Head of Loyalty & CRM, KM Malta Airline
Panel Session: The State of Airline Retailing: From NDC, One Order which airlines and travel companies are getting results?
Moderator
– Mark Lenahan, Consultant Director, Lenahan Consulting
Panellists
– Ann Cederhall, Consultant, LeapShift
– Veronica Hull, Head of Transformation, Vueling
>Download Presentation Here
3:40pm – 4:20pm
Coffee Break Sponsored by Access Development
4:20pm – 5:00pm
Closing Panel: Conference Roundup and Key Lessons
– Michael Smith, Board Advisor, Ai Connects
– William Pershke, VP Airline Consulting, Elavon
– Sol Zia, Executive Director, Calgary Hotel Association
– Mark Lenahan, Consultant Director, Lenahan Consulting
– Erik Knoester, Senior Travel Risk Consultant , Visa
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Coffee Break Sponsored by Diners Club International
Companies that have registered for the Dublin event 2025:
Note: Companies will be added as they register!
3Toro Consulting
Accertify Inc.
Access Development
actuary.aero
Advantage Travel Partnership
Aegean Airlines
Aer Lingus
Aerticket GmbH
Agent Flights Limited
Air Caraïbes
Air Europa
Air France KLM
Air India
Airportr
Amazon Web Services
AMEX GBT
APEXX Global
ARC
Arkose Labs
Arrivia Travel
Atlantic Airways
Bankhawk
Belvera Partners
Best Western Hotels
BICS
Boeing Ireland
Bond
Booking.com
brainpay.de
British Airways
Calgary Hotel Association
Caravelo
Caribbean Airlines
Cathay Pacific
CELITECH
CellPoint Digital
CITYHOOK
Continuum Commerce
Coras
Delta Airlines
Discover
DoiT
Dublin City Tourism Unit
Duffel
EBANX
ECTAA – The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations
Edgar, Dunn & Company
Elavon/US Bank
Engage People Inc
Enterprise Mobility
Etihad Airways
Etraveli group
Euroairlines
evervault
Expedia Group
Experian
Fexco
Fingeprint
Fyorin
Gigak Holdings
Groopeze
Hands In
Head for Points
Hertz
Hilton
Hopper
IAG Loyalty
Icelandair
ID Dataweb
IdeaWorksCompany
Indigo Airline
Jet2.com & Jet2holidays
JM Consulting
JP Morgan
Juspay
Justt Fintech
Kerry Airport
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
KM Malta Airlines
Korapay
KYROS
lastminute.com
LATAM Airlines
Leeway
LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LOT
Loyalty Partner Solutions
Loyalty Status Co
Lufthansa Systems
Marriott International
Mastercard
Merit Incentives
Modulr
Monavate.
MONEX FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED
MyNetWatchman
Norse Atlantic
Nuvei
Obsidian
Odynn
Paybyrd
Payments Taking Off
PCI Proxy by Planet
Pegasus Airlines
Pipl
Planitas
Plusgrade
POINTS
Porter Airlines
Protect Group
Qatar Airways
Retail inMotion
Riverty
Ryanair
S7 Airlines
Sabre
Sherpa: Easy travel visas
Shift4
Sift
Signifyd
Skift
SKUx
SkyTeam
Smartnumbers
Sparkling Communication
Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines
StatusMatch.com
Stein Secure
Swiss
TAROM
Telesign
Tenable
The 30 Group
The 30 Group
THINKINK Communications
Transmit Security
Travel FraudGuard
Travel in Motion AG
Travelport
Travelstart
Travolution
TreviPay
Tribe Payments
Trustly
Turkish Airlines
TWAI
UATP
UKasii
United Airlines
Up in the Air
Upgrade
US Bank (Elavon)
VELA Payments
Visa
Volotea
Vueling Airlines
WEX
Widerøe
Worldline
Worldpay
Ypsilon.net
Mega 2025 Hot Topics
- Maximizing the relationships between Loyalty Programs and Ancillary Departments to drive revenues
- Loyalty Fraud: Staying ahead of rising ATOs and Mileage Brokering
- What’s the Next Big Source of Ancillary Revenue?
- Merchandising Miles & Points: where does Loyalty fit into NDC & ONE Order
- Leveraging Loyalty Status to Drive Ancillary Revenues
- Applying Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to Drive Ancillary Sales
- Innovations in Co-Brand: latest best practices for more card-driven Ancillary Revenues
- Using Loyalty Data for Merchandising and Ancillary Revenue Generation
Upcoming Events
- October 21, 10am
- 28 October, New York City
- 28-29 October, NYC, US
- Wednesday, 10th of December
- 24-25 February, London
