djtsukasa

Per DanDeals:

http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/52315

"Aegean purchased fellow Greek airline Olympic Air last year, and proves once again that mergers are never good for consumers.
For the last several years the Aegean program has been an easy way to get Star Alliance gold status.
Once you flew 20,000 miles and got gold status, the terms and conditions stated it wouldn’t expire as long as you took one Star Alliance flight every 3 years. Plus Aegean Star Alliance gold status got you and a guest free access to domestic United lounges, something that even top-tier United status does not do.
But the Aegean and Olympic programs are being combined and their terms will be changing. From now on you will need to re-qualify for gold status every year. I called Aegean (+302106261000) up a few times (thanks Google) and all the reps confirm that major changes are coming though they are coy about what exactly they are.
Some people have Aegean gold cards that expire in 2016 or 2017 but they wouldn’t say what will happen to them or if the status will end sooner than that. They just say that emails will go out next month detailing the changes. But one rep confirmed that from now on you’ll need either 4 Aegean/Olympic flights+12,000 miles or 24,000 miles per year to earn gold status.
As discounted economy fares on airlines like United only earn half credit in the Aegean program, it effectively kills the program for most. Though United first class fares do get triple miles in the Aegean program, so perhaps there will be some use for some folks. United domestic first class does not give lounge access, but flying it with Aegean Gold does of course.
I’ll make an update to this post when the full details come out."

Thoughts? Can't say this wasn't expected.

jason8612

Rumors are just rumors. We will see what happens.
Even with 24K miles/year that's still a very low *G qualification amount.

Jma12

12k on A3/OA is also very low to re-qualify, not too worry about that.

jason8612

Assuming you can take A3 flights. For people based in Europe that's not too hard. But for the USA based ones it can be tricky.

lowjhg

Im not too fussed or flustered about this surprisingly. Given that I've moved most of my flying over to OW this just means i would just have 1 less shiny card in my wallet when the time comes.

Jma12

Hopefully, they'll allow co-share A3 flights also. I gues we'll just have to wait and see until the end of next month.

tycosiao

I hope they have to honour those with cards issued till end of 2015/2016..

Well.

I credited 1 SQ flight to A3 this year so fingers crossed...

djtsukasa

Hopefully just a rumor, but Dan said he called and agents confirmed. Makes sense though, current requirements weren't really sustainable.. if you're in Europe it's still cake for for us in the U.S it may require some creative planning.

MultiFlyer

24k ist still ridiculous low.
Why would anybody need *G if you can't reach this low amount a year?

NWIFlyer

It's definitely not a piece of cake for people in Europe - in fact, it's much harder unless you're a Greek resident and have the opportunity for plenty of A3/OA flights - and maybe that's how it should be. Most European airlines only give 50% earning in discounted Y (and not so discounted, for that matter). Very few people fly Business Class within Europe, so most will have to fly over 40k miles to re-qual - nearly as much as all the NA FFP's, but without the bonus miles and slower earning for redemptions.

US citizens, on the other hand, can earn 300% on a relatively cheap First Class return and will soon hit 24k.

1353513636

You don't really NEED it per se but it certainly makes the travel experience much more enjoyable even for an infrequent flyer.

Would A3 honor the current terms and conditions for those who are already A3*G or would they make them qualify again like everyone else?

Air Rarotonga

^

I hope they introduce a minimum of A3/OA operated flights to qualify and requalify for status. Then they could eliminate all those customers that never flew A3 and only use *G benefits with their A3 card and on the top let credit the miles on a different FFP...

Air Rarotonga

Infrequent flyers joining frequent flyer programs... What an antagonism...

NWIFlyer

I think it depends on what level it's set at, particularly if there's no higher miles option with no A3/OA. BA, for example, sets a 4 flight minimum but has an absolutely enormous network compared to A3 and that spreads worldwide - so there is ample opportunity to meet the requirement.

Last year, all my 70k of *A miles went to A3, but I didn't do any flights on A3 metal because I had no reason to go to Greece - but doubtless the FFP still made good money out of me. The year before was about 60k miles and two A3 flights.

I agree that A3 should seek to make it harder to freeload, but they have to make sure the programme is still attractive enough for someone like me who is being honest (for want of a better term) to want to continue to credit and make the airline money.

There is always another option - just enforce the rule that says your membership can be revoked if you use the benefits without crediting the flight to A3. There's been comments before about how A3 would look after people who regularly credited better than those who did not. Perhaps they might use that clause to effectively terminate some people’s *G status before their cards expire. Whichever way it pans out, now would be a good time to give those who have actively supported the programme, and particularly those who have flown the metal, a better deal in return. That might go a long way to retaining the loyalty A3 has already built up.

jerryhung

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............

I don't mind crediting all *A flights to A3, so long as I can keep my *G perks
It's so handy for travelling with family nowadays