ottiehund

I found this 15 year old card attached to an old bag in the loft today. It is a design that was largely kept similar for quite a few years, I think right up until the makeover a couple of years ago.

[IMG][/IMG]

It would be interesting to see what other cards/designs are still out there.

I also see a few cards on an old "Shaping Future Loyalty" thread but also note that thread starts by stating the Airpoints scheme started in 2005 - My card above is dated 2001 and it wasn't my first, so I am thinking maybe 2005 was when Air NZ 'reinvented' the scheme from mileage to the Airpoints Dollars that we have now.

dadig

I think 2005 was with the introduction of status points, back then you could get Gold Status with a fraction of "Airpoint dollars"

Supplementary question - I still see people with "old" Gold tags, are they for nostalgia as they do not necessary have the level anymore?

ottiehund

In the early days I think different status/levels were based on actual mileage flown. I flew a lot of miles through the 90's and 00's and never hit elite, but then again am not sure when elite was introduced as another level.

What one person considers a lot of miles might not be much to someone else Of course. On average I would fly trans Tasman monthly, around Asia 3 or 4 trips a year, to US UK and Europe once a year, all J thanks to a good employer policy, flying with NZ where possible but also a share of QF with some SQ and CX and the odd others thrown in. Also domestic flights probably 2 weekly inter island, some in J but most in Y. It would be interesting to work out what that travel would get me today. I am just on achieving silver at the moment with mostly leisure travel but have 2 trips booked that should see me back at gold later in the year (after the best part of 10 years) thanks to cc top ups .

Re the old tags, maybe nostalgia, or maybe like my case putting an old bag away and not using it, then grabbing it out again for some reason. The old tags will have no standing with the airline any more but may be useful for identifying the owner should they be lost if the airpoints number is still active. Having said that I always make a practise to have luggage named inside and out and try to keep bag tags current.

justakiwi

The old tags I have are much sturdier - 2 layers with an eyelet. The new ones are too flimsy to bother with.

justakiwi

NZbutterfly

Since I've been doubling them up they haven't broken. Just the tape to keep them together breaks and needs replacing.

mmonster

I wish NZ to reintroduce personalised baggage tags for Gold and Elite.... CX even do that to marcopolo.. the cost to print on cards are very cheap these days as compared to the older credit card style cards....

sbiddle

Using the bag tags is pretty pointless anyway except for regular Fastbag users.

On my bigger bags I check in I still use my QF Gold bungee cord NFC tags. While I have no QF status now they're brilliant bag tags that will unlikely ever break.

ottiehund

I didn't realise the 'status' cards were not personalised any more, are they now like Koru tags where you can write in your details, or not even that?

Trumpkin

Yes, no personalization at all.

oranjemakker

And they are hard to write on!

Some small things like this would make such a difference at such low cost to the airline.

Another gripe I have that basically every other airline offers its top tier is waiving the nickel and diming fees. A couple of months ago I had to buy a last minute business class one way to Asia (think about 3-4k) and I had to pay $50 booking fee. So stupid and cheap