Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Thai Qualification year (not a GUP question)

Hey guys,

Had a hunt but couldn't find anything that answered my question.

My wife and I were both status matched to Thai ROP Gold during the Star Alliance wide *Gold matching promo a while back.

We were given Gold until November of 2011. During that time we didn't start crediting anything to ROP until the calendar year of 2011.

My wife re-qualified by September 2011, with Gold now showing until November 2013.

I had to get a manual adjustment made a couple of weeks ago as some sectors posted very late (and had dropped to Silver in the interim), and now my Gold status runs from March 2012 to March 2014.

I'm under the impression that the qualification year for me to extend my status from March 2014 onward requires that I either fly 50k in calendar 2012, or 80k in calendar 2012 and 2013. Is that correct?

A shame that my wife an I are now out of sync.

We are planning to fly from Sydney back through Bangkok to London the 31st of December to make sure the sectors credit inside this year. I'm also guessing that if I leave Bangkok on a scheduled flight that is even 1 minute past midnight on the 31st of December that it will count as January 2013 even if my whole 'journey' (with no more than a 4 hour stopover) to London started from Sydney on the 31st? That's how it is on all others I've take unless the flight number is the same the whole way through (which it wouldn't be).

Thanks for your help, you have all been a great resource and contribute to us continuing to prioritize flying Thai where possible.

I'm under the impression that the qualification year for me to extend my status from March 2014 onward requires that I either fly 50k in calendar 2012, or 80k in calendar 2012 and 2013. Is that correct

Not quite. As you qualified in Mar 2012 (note: Mar 2012 qualification is because TG manually adjusted the miles, per your email), you can requalify by earning 50k or more Q-miles in calendar 2013, or 80k plus b/w Jan 2013 and you qualification month in 2014. As you qualified in Mar 2012, you would have from Jan 2013 to Mar 2014.

Miles should credit in the year in which you depart. 11.59pm on 31 Jan 2012 = 2012. 12.00am on 1 Jan 2013 = 2013. Even if the 11.59pm flight runs 10 mins (or 100 mins) late, you'll still be earning 2012 miles.

Happy travels.

I had to get a manual adjustment made a couple of weeks ago as some sectors posted very late (and had dropped to Silver in the interim), and now my Gold status runs from March 2012 to March 2014.

I'm under the impression that the qualification year for me to extend my status from March 2014 onward requires that I either fly 50k in calendar 2012, or 80k in calendar 2012 and 2013. Is that correct?


It can be quite confusing for many members under your situation due to the fact that your Gold status starts from March 2012 rather than the actual month your last qualifying flight (that got you to Gold) was. In addition, TG system could potentially think you had managed to fly 50K between Jan and March 2012, thus have become Gold in March. If you fly 50K Q miles from April (or the date you became Gold in March) to December 2012 or 80K between April 2012 (or the date you turned Gold in March) and December 2013), you will be requalified for Gold. I don't agree with the qualification month restriction hgp referred to (in your case, March 2013) for the 80K evaluation.

The trick here (in my opinion, more of a concern, actually) is that you will not earn GUP2 if you fly 50K more Q miles in 2012, but will only get it if you fly 50K miles in 2013.

As an Ambassador, I sincerely hate to provide incorrect information but I stated the above based on how I have always understood the program, so if I need to be corrected, other experts please point out the errors on my logics above. My Gold status has always ended in December, so I may lack experience on this.

If you fly 50K Q miles from April (or the date you became Gold in March) to December 2012 or 80K between April 2012 (or the date you turned Gold in March) and December 2013), you will be requalified for Gold. I don't agree with the qualification month restriction hgp referred to (in your case, March 2013) for the 80K evaluation.

I've edited my post so the wording is more accurate (thanks for the tip, kiam).

As the OP qualified in Mar 2012, miles flown in the remainder of 2012 don't contribute to requalification (let's leave Platinum out of the equation). With Mar 2012 qualification, the two requal options are:

50k+ miles in calendar 2013
80k+ miles b/w Jan 2013 and Mar 2014


The trick here (in my opinion, more of a concern, actually) is that you will not earn GUP2 if you fly 50K more Q miles in 2012, but will only get it if you fly 50K miles in 2013.

Correct. GUP2 will come about by flying 50k+ miles in 2013 (ie. the year after qualification).

The TG qualification rules are a little confusing, but when you consider the two-year validity it's not bad at all!

Happy travels.

Yeah, this makes sense now.

hgp, please ignore my questions in my PM sent to you just now before I read your modified post. :)

I now agree with the two windows you mentioned below. The dead year for OP's remaining months in 2012 is similar to my dead year during the second calendar year. That's fair.