Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus - How long will A3 require 20K for GOLD?

I am curious as to how long it will take A3 to make their requirements consistent with the rest of Star?

I am curious as to how long it will take A3 to make their requirements consistent with the rest of Star?

Never? Turkish, and Asiana haven't felt any pressure to change yet, and they've been members of *A for a while.

The 20k miles requirement fits well with the regional customers of A3, but not those of intercontinental partners that A3 has.

If A3 starts losing money on their FFP, then they might try something like a metal requirement, but I doubt the mileage requirement will increase.

That said, don't count on that - get A3*G while you can!

I hope so too. Right now, it is either Agean, Asiana or Turkish. I have not decided but Agean looks really tempting for us.

Aegean's domestic and international flights yield 200 and 500 miles for the lowest fare category. So for someone in Greece that travels domestically making Gold means he has to do 100 segments! I am not seeing the limits changing soon..

Remember Greece is such a small country (but so beautiful at the same time).. :)

I am curious as to how long it will take A3 to make their requirements consistent with the rest of Star?

If you're making comments like this on line, and I'm certain A3 people are monitoring FT, you can be sure that they will be increasing the low requirements very soon.

If you're making comments like this on line, and I'm certain A3 people are monitoring FT, you can be sure that they will be increasing the low requirements very soon.

GB my comments are not going to influence them unless they are really dumb and consider FT as the Holy Grail when making strategic corporate decisions!! :rolleyes:

GB my comments are not going to influence them unless they are really dumb and consider FT as the Holy Grail when making strategic corporate decisions!! :rolleyes:

Well said! ^

If you're making comments like this on line, and I'm certain A3 people are monitoring FT, you can be sure that they will be increasing the low requirements very soon.
^ ^ ^

Personally I'm holding out hope that they've costed things and are happy that as long as people credit their flights to A3 (and they thus obtain revenue from *A partners) that this will pay for the cost of *G benefits. Realistically apart from lounge access I'm not even sure if they'll have to make a payment to partners for the others??

Alan
(COI - sad to see BD go, aiming to get A3*G in one return trip in October, want the current setup and thresholds to still be in place then! - very happy to credit all trips to A3 when I want to make use of my A3*G benefits)

Personally I'm holding out hope that they've costed things and are happy that as long as people credit their flights to A3 (and they thus obtain revenue from *A partners) that this will pay for the cost of *G benefits. Realistically apart from lounge access I'm not even sure if they'll have to make a payment to partners for the others??

Alan
(COI - sad to see BD go, aiming to get A3*G in one return trip in October, want the current setup and thresholds to still be in place then! - very happy to credit all trips to A3 when I want to make use of my A3*G benefits)Well said. I'm likely to switch to A3 if DC does not offer us a way back into Star Alliance. If A3 is going to be kind enough to help me out on this, my policy will be to credit all my flights in *A to them as a matter of decent behaviour if A3 helps me out by making it possible for me to join them.

Well said. I'm likely to switch to A3 if DC does not offer us a way back into Star Alliance. If A3 is going to be kind enough to help me out on this, my policy will be to credit all my flights in *A to them as a matter of decent behaviour if A3 helps me out by making it possible for me to join them.

This could be good business for A3 . They should offer a ''challenge'' to DC members that they must take one C class return flight within 3 months to be status matched from BMI DC. Also the rule that a member must credit at least 2 C class flights in a 12 months period would be fair enough for them to require.

There never seems to be any appetite for a intra-alliance challenge so I can't really see them going down that route. I certainly wouldn't like it to be a requirement to travel on A3 metal - quite happy with the existing requirements! :D

As and when this might happen, it wouldn't be an intra-alliance challenge. ;)

LOL well I guess it would be a non-existent airline to *A challenge ;)

I am curious as to how long it will take A3 to make their requirements consistent with the rest of Star?

In fact, most people with A3 cards trying to get *A Gold will never actually get into an Aegean flight, right? They are travelling in other *A carriers and looking for the shortest route to *A Gold (there is no minimum requirement of flights in Aegean)… how can that make sense to them from a business point of view? (i.e. giving the privileveges of *A Gold, but not really selling to this customers)

In fact, most people with A3 cards trying to get *A Gold will never actually get into an Aegean flight, right? They are travelling in other *A carriers and looking for the shortest route to *A Gold (there is no minimum requirement of flights in Aegean)… how can that make sense to them from a business point of view? (i.e. giving the privileveges of *A Gold, but not really selling to this customers)My understanding (and I may well be wrong in this) is that when flights are credited to A3 the other airlines have to 'buy' those miles off A3 - they therefore receive money from the airlines that the customer is flying on when the trip is credited to A3. Given that most *G benefits apart from lounge access don't seem to incur any cost it all comes down to the lounge costs. That's why I personally have no issue crediting all flights where I'm making use of *G benefits to A3 as that ensures they get the cash from each of them. Remember they also don't have a massively generous redemption chart, therefore won't have to pay out as much at the other end for tickets when customers decide to redeem their miles.

I have been monitoring this "low points for *G" issue on the AE side of FT, and one has to wonder how long it will last no matter the cost. Maybe small regional airlines can make a case, but anyone flying overseas should come into line. Turkish and Asiana, to me, should be the same as the others.

In fact, most people with A3 cards trying to get *A Gold will never actually get into an Aegean flight, right? They are travelling in other *A carriers and looking for the shortest route to *A Gold (there is no minimum requirement of flights in Aegean)… how can that make sense to them from a business point of view? (i.e. giving the privileveges of *A Gold, but not really selling to this customers)
I have flown Aegean a number of times to Greek islands in business class. Does that make my A3 *Gold special? I hope this forum does not degenerate into snide "status lite" comments.

I hope this forum does not degenerate into snide "status lite" comments.

I was not implying that there are members of the program who are better than others. I am just curious of how can it work from a business point of view to have a program in which most members have never flied the airline running it (I am one of those). I am sure there is an explanation.

It is a simple explanation: the operating airline pays the FFP for the miles issued to the member. Thus the FFP can be a profit centre. The FFP in due course pays the operating airline for redemptions. A well run programme has a profit margin between the two. Simples.