mfelice

Dear flyers,

This is my first post so please forgive any blunder.

About a month ago, I decided to join A3 M&B to make my slow and steady way to *G (was very close to it with TAM Fidelidade until they changed to OW). Today, I've been credited roughly 5,000 miles from flights, which on top of the bonus 1,000 for opening the account, make enough to become M&B Blue/*A Silver (4,000 until 24/11/2014).

But this is only in theory, I'm afraid, since I haven't been upgraded to Blue. This makes me think A3 is applying their new qualifying rules from now, maybe in order to avoid false illusions in achieving a new status that will be downgraded on 25/11/2014 (at least for Blue/*A Silver members, since apparently those with *G will keep it for a while).

Also, there's nowhere I can find my status on the account. My summary shows "Miles Required For Upgrade: 0" and "Card print" shows a white card. Am I being ripped off? I'm being terribly unlucky with FF programs!

Any hints are appreciated.

Snacky

As I got very curious based upon your rather gloomy report here, I logged in to check what my account says, but it looks completely normal to me, as in no changes, neither to the "Until"- row (says sometime in 2015), nor in the "Miles required for upgrade"-row, which displays the same amount left to qualify for Gold. I'll check back tomorrow to see if changes as you describe are in the process of being rolled out by M&B to accounts in general.

But, I honestly think there must be some sort of glitch in your account, that could make something like what you describe show up in there. In addition, your card upgrade to blue might not show up at the same time as your miles in your account.

My suggestion: Wait and see, at least until tomorrow or a few days more.


Snacky

airoli

Please keep us posted on this. A good friend of mine is in a very similar situation to the OP, would have enough miles for Blue/*A Silver in about a month from now and I wonder if she will still be issued a *A Silver card valid for a year.

Air Rarotonga

Aehm... Sorry, even if it is your first post...
But do you seriously think if you - as you state - credited today some miles on M&B that the status will change within seconds???

Be realistic and wait up to 7 days before your start to complaining about...!

blex

I've been upgrade to Blue (A3*S) a couple of months ago but I will probably be downgraded soon. Still, the website states:

Miles Required For Upgrade: 13776
Until: 26.06.2015

It seems rather unfair that they change the rules in the middle of my way to *G... I sent an email to Miles&Bonus yesterday but still no reply.

Snacky

Yeah, that's what I already told him/her. I'm sure he/she got the message. There's seriously no need to slap someone in the face like that, because of a slight degree of naivety in his/her very first post. Have some manners. The OP even began the post with a courteous "Dear flyers", so there's a good reason to be helpful, not borderline spiteful. That's what this forum is all about, the experts helping eachother and the occasional noob ...


Snacky

lipoff

Indeed it takes A3 a day or two to change your account status to Blue and Gold even after the miles have posted to your account. I was a little surprised by this too, since there is no deep reason for this with modern IT, but that's how it is. The new rules won't go into effect until November 24th.

Snacky

I just went back into my account and checked, and I can see it took them 4 days (over a weekend) to update my account with the "card upgrade" entry, after I had flown my qualifying flight. My account shows no signs of suspicious changes resembling what OP first reported.


Snacky

mfelice

Hello again,

I've checked my account again and I can gladly confirm my status has been upgraded to Blue and the "miles required for upgrade" are showing what they should, so false alarm.

I'm sorry if my question has upset anyone. @Air Rarotonga: I had retroclaimed the miles in question many days before, so when they were finally credited I expected to see the status update reflected. Working in IT myself, I expect the correct status to show automatically every time based on your current balance.

Anyway, my understanding of this situation is that with a current balance of 6,000 miles, I will automatically lose *A Silver status when the new rules come into effect, unless I meet the requalification requirements or upgrade to Gold before 24-Nov. That would mean my newly acquired Blue status is only valid for a couple of months.

According to their FAQ:

What will happen to my existing tier?

The current Basic Tier members as well as the Blue Tier members will be granted the Blue New Miles+Bonus Tier. The new Silver Tier will be granted to the Blue members that have accrued more than 8,000 Tier Miles (including at least 2 flights with Aegean or Olympic Air) or 16,000 Tier Miles in total, within the past 12 months from the new Miles+Bonus launch date (24/11/2014). Current Gold members will be automatically transferred to the Gold Tier, regardless of their past flight activity.

Sure, we'll have to wait and see but I think it's clear that current Blue members will need to requalify to keep their status while Gold members will keep it automatically.

Thank you all for your replies.

airoli

Thanks or the update mfelice.
This is the heart of my question. I wonder if you will now still be issued a "Blue Tier *A Silver" card valid for 12 months (i.e. 09/2015), and will simply not be getting a new "Silver Tier" card valid until 11/2015? Or will you get a Blue Card valid until 11/2014 only? Or no card at all?

I have read the bit of FAQ you quoted but I am not sure how to interpret it.