Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus - Aegean Longevity

I will admit, this post is written with little knowledge of Aegean's operations or research into their markets.

I am curious about the longevity of A3, based on Spanair's recent demise and the debt circus that surrounds Greece and some of it's EU neighbors.

The investment of 19,000 flown miles is not large, but I want to know if A3 is safe and worth further investment from a FFP stand point.

TIA.

Unless you can get someone on the inside to answer, there will only be more or less educated guesses on this one. You can read the documents at http://en.aegeanair.com/investor-relations/financial-results/ to get a grip on the situation.
In short, on the first 9 months of 2011 A3 reports a loss of 2.7 MEUR. It is considerably better than same period 2010, but still a loss. Revenue and numbers of pax is up considerably, but EBITDAR is down a bit.

As I wrote a few months ago in a different thread, remember Braniff, Eastern, PanAm, TWA, Swissair, Sabena, and several more. For some of those, nobody (among the mortals) saw it coming.

The future is always much more difficult to make an prognosis on, then on the past...:D

Personally, I think M&B is as safe as any other program.
If you are the worrying kind, best solution is to earn and burn on a regular basis, and that goes for any program. (I think you can find threads under all programs of people earning for years, getting angry over recent program changes). All programs changes over time, some of them gets folded into another program and a few will die in a bankruptcy.

I have been considering this while trying to decide who to claim points with this year. All of the flights I have booked ATM are on AC metal apart from NRT-SGN on ANA. I have about 30000 miles booked with plans for another 7000 and collecting with A3 will get me lounge access sooner. I also like the long expiry date.

I am not sure but I think I should take the 19000 risk and then try to use the miles up for a quick domestic within Canada or a flight from LHR-ATH or something. I wouldn't mind actually getting on A3 metal...

As I wrote a few months ago in a different thread, remember Braniff, Eastern, PanAm, TWA, Swissair, Sabena, and several more.
Also keep in mind that every one of those airlines' frequent flyers were protected. It tends to be the exception that miles become completely worthless when an airline folds. Miles earned with Eastern Airlines were pooled with Continental (OnePass), which is now merged with United (Mileage Plus). Delta assumed PanAm's program. (My Delta SkyMiles number is my old PanAm number.) TWA Aviators got folded into American Airlines AAdvantage. Braniff frequent flyers could get awards with Delta after the first Braniff collapsed. (Braniff II and III miles became worthless, but Braniff II and III weren't in business long enough to earn much.) Swissair miles (Qualiflyer) ended up in Lufthansa's Miles & More program (via SWISS's short-lived separate program). Sabena (also Qualiflyer) miles followed a similar path.

No guarantees, and so far nobody is stepping up to bail out Spanair's frequent flyer program members. But considering all the airline bankruptcies, frequent flyer program participants have done pretty well.

with the exception of Ansett Australia...

Also keep in mind that every one of those airlines' frequent flyers were protected. It tends to be the exception that miles become completely worthless when an airline folds. Miles earned with Eastern Airlines were pooled with Continental (OnePass), which is now merged with United (Mileage Plus). Delta assumed PanAm's program. (My Delta SkyMiles number is my old PanAm number.) TWA Aviators got folded into American Airlines AAdvantage. Braniff frequent flyers could get awards with Delta after the first Braniff collapsed. (Braniff II and III miles became worthless, but Braniff II and III weren't in business long enough to earn much.) Swissair miles (Qualiflyer) ended up in Lufthansa's Miles & More program (via SWISS's short-lived separate program). Sabena (also Qualiflyer) miles followed a similar path.

No guarantees, and so far nobody is stepping up to bail out Spanair's frequent flyer program members. But considering all the airline bankruptcies, frequent flyer program participants have done pretty well.

Yet to see what will happen to bmi's Diamond Club

A big difference compared to Spanair is that Spanair was heavily subsidized, especially from the regional provincial government. When Catalonia cut them off, Spanair was forced to cease operations almost immediately.

Yeah, I was wondering about Aegean's overall financial health too. Award programs are often rescued when there is a decent amount of competition from more traditional carriers. Iberia really has no incentive to rescue the program.

Yet to see what will happen to bmi's Diamond Club
That'll surely get folded into BA/IB Avios once IAG's purchase of BMI is complete. In the meantime, both BMI and Diamond Club are operating, and *A redemptions are available.

Yes, there are exceptions. Ansett is one. Midway and Independence are a couple others that come to mind.

Well Hungary's Malev Airlines ceased all operations today. One more small carrier bites the dust.