Discovery Bank app now geared for flight bookings

Johannesburg, 31 January 2023 — Discovery Bank today announced a significant enhancement to its Vitality Travel offering: the ability for clients to find and book discounted flights – domestically and internationally – directly in the Discovery Bank app.

CEO of Discovery Bank, Hylton Kallner, says, “In essence, you can now find and book flights in minutes – turning travel planning into a smooth and simply brilliant experience – one that I would argue is the best available in speed, choice, and value. The app also seamlessly incorporates all of the discounts and rewards which our clients receive when they fly on our partner airlines, making it the most affordable way to book flights.”

With a renewed appetite for travelling, global spend has increased to pre-Covid levels. Just over December, Discovery clients, booking on the Vitality Travel platform, filled over 67 thousand flights across 70 flight routes in South Africa, and over 12 thousand flights across 700 flight routes around the world. For these travellers, flights came at a R73 million discount, which is an average saving of over R800 on every flight booking.

The Vitality Travel Platform, a first-of-its-kind travel platform that offers flights, accommodation, and car hire bookings at great discounts in one place, has been extremely successful and Vitality clients have booked 430 000 flights with a retail value of over R1,1 billion since the launch of the web platform just 11 months ago.

“Since the start, we envisioned a single travel platform that is fully integrated with the Discovery Bank app, and we have now introduced the first phase with in-app local and international flight bookings. Booking flights from the Discovery Bank app also comes with an exciting new feature of immediate credit limit increases for greater convenience when paying. It truly adds another layer of convenience and benefits to the Discovery Bank app and elevates it as a mobile-first experience across banking, saving, travelling, and paying for health and other lifestyle services.”

The latest version of the Discovery Bank app allows clients to find a flight in just a few taps and gives access to brilliant travel features. Clients can now:

• Browse all local and international flights
• Select, filter and sort search results by airline, cabin class, fare type, stops, and times
• See discounts automatically applied on all partner airlines
• Pay seamlessly from Discovery Bank cards, accounts, or with Discovery Miles
• Manage traveller identification information
• View and share travel itineraries that automatically update in real-time.

Coupled with the hassle-free Discovery Bank Priority Fast Track and premium lounge access, Vitality Travel makes travelling easier to book, convenient and more affordable. Comparison data confirms that Vitality Travel offers the best discounts in South Africa across the widest range of airline partners, compared with other major bank offerings. With a percentage discount based on a tiered status, Vitality Travel discounts become even more valuable as prices increase.

“When we introduced the Vitality Travel Platform, the industry was still feeling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. But we knew the valuable role travel has played in improving and rewarding healthy client behaviour. We are excited about future developments of Vitality Travel, which operates off the Discovery Bank operating system. We’re not only giving clients the best travel-discount rewards but have set out to deliver the best travel experiences from start to finish – and this is a major step forward to achieving this goal.”

Discovery Bank clients get 10-75% upfront discount on all local flights, as well as on international Emirates, British Airways and Qantas flights by booking on Vitality Travel. Vitality Travel is now available in the Discovery Bank app so you can book your flights securely and seamlessly on your smartphone in minutes.

ENDS