What a Freedom of Information request tells us about abuse of LNER’s loyalty scheme

In December we ran a review of LNER Perks, the loyalty scheme run by East Coast rail franchise holder LNER.

It’s not a hugely exciting loyalty scheme – basically 2% cashback on your spending – but there is a carrot for signing up. New members get a £5 voucher to spend on their next LNER Advance ticket booking.

It was mentioned in the comments that this seemed open to abuse. A Freedom of Information Request shows that this would not be a good idea …..

LNER is under Government control and is therefore required to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All responses to such requests are made public.

In late 2023, someone asked LNER about abuse of its loyalty scheme.

You can read the full response here. In summary:

• LNER has “identified 85 cases involving individuals who have created multiple accounts under the LNER Perks scheme”

• 4,100 accounts have been flagged as duplicates – this is believed to be a major underestimate but the resources are not available for a more detailed examination of the membership base

• no-one has yet been prosecuted for having multiple accounts, but

• “LNER has recovered the correct fares that were initially evaded” with administration fees charged on top

• £20,500 has been recovered to date

If you thought that schemes simply sat back whilst small scale fraud took place, you are wrong.

You can read the full response by LNER here.

A big hat-tip to TooPoorToBeHere for flagging this in the comments to our original article on LNER Perks.

PS. As you can see from the image above, LNER has brought back the old InterCity livery for its 225 fleet!