The traveling public received a rare glimpse into the elite service that airlines and hotels offer their very best customers in the movie 'Up in the Air', starring George Clooney.

Airlines market extensively their frequent flyer and other loyalty programs, of course. The top echelon of these programs, however, is invitation only - and not publicly marketed by the companies.

"Secret Society"

"We don't discuss the specifics of it,'' Dawn Turner, the global promotion manager at American Airlines, said. (via the New York Times). "The program is secret…It keeps the mystique going."

The Clooney character used American Airlines' Concierge Key. Another such service is United Airlines' Global Services. What do such high-end services provide that the regular loyalty rewards programs don't? Global Services members can check in at a private lobby at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and then escorted to the head of the security line is one example.

"We track these people, and we look to fix their problems first if things go wrong," said Graham Atkinson, the head of United's loyalty programs. ''It's a secret society of people who belong to this club, which only those on the inside really know about, and even then they don't know how they got into it,'' said Robin Urbanski, a United spokeswoman. (via the Times)

Free Marketing

Since the release of the Paramount Pictures film, though, word has spread about the existence of these programs - much to the delight of American Airlines and Hilton Hotels, which didn’t pay any placement fees to Paramount but is reaping the benefit of their very favorable portrayal, writes MediaBuyerPlanner.

Paramount saved money in the filming, however, as the studio did not have to pay a location fee for filming in a terminal or a plane rental fee for shooting the scenes inside airplanes. Hilton Hotels also waived location fees.

Marketing Campaign
The two companies are investing in their own marketing campaigns for the flick however. American Airlines offered a jet for a press junket in November, while the Beverly Hilton held the premiere party after the film premiered on Nov. 30. Paramount and American Airlines also helped fund the party.

Also in a first, Hilton is also promoting the film on more than a million keycards, which have, until now, never featured anything but Hilton’s own logo. American Airlines' director of advertising and promotions, Billy Fanez, says the airline went to great lengths to ensure that the creative credibility of the film remained intact, writes AdAge.

"There’s gotta be that balance so that you don’t over-commercialize the opportunity to be associated with a film, because it’s a piece of art," he said. "We want to promote it naturally with the products and not force it, because the audience is too smart not to notice."