Air New Zealand Air Points - Airpoints status upgrade

I joined the AirNZ Airpoints scheme last November, and now
according to the AirNZ website, I'm going to be upgraded to Silver status by Dec 05.

Does this mean that any points I earn from here on to December do not count towards a status tier? If they do, for which period would they count, remembering I joined the scheme in November?

Not at all - There is a status year and a requalification year both of which are rolling. If you only just qualified for NZ*S your status year will be from November 1 so any points earned can be used to retain your IMO mostly useless status. Your status will either be valid from the 15th of November or the 1st of December - not sure in your case.

BTW Welcome

They do both.

e.g. I qualified for silver on 15/07, received it 15/08. The points/dollars accrued after 15/07 counted both towards my requalification date (Aug 06) and towards the next tier level.

Right now I have 37 remaining to reach Gold - presumably by Feb 06 when my flights start dropping off the 12 month calendar - and 43 remaining to requalify for Silver by Aug 06.

Very confusing.

Interestingly I rang the Silver line recently to ask what happens when you go Silver -> Gold and if it takes the month for your status to upgrade as it does with Jade -> Silver. Apparently it should be instant, and if you request they will send/fax you a letter which should give you lounge access. Which will be good for me, since I probably won't qualify until late Nov/early Dec, and I have a couple of overseas trips late Dec/early Jan that would be nice to have lounge access while travelling.

Oh.. and I discovered recently that I've got about a 75% success rate in getting priority tags by showing my Silver card at the bag drop, vs not. YMMV though.

aj

Oh.. and I discovered recently that I've got about a 75% success rate in getting priority tags by showing my Silver card at the bag drop, vs not. YMMV though.That is very interesting... a higher rate than I get as a member with priority tags as a written benefit. Ce la vie...

It also seems odd that a Silver to Gold membership upgrade is quicker than Jade to Silver.

That is very interesting... a higher rate than I get as a member with priority tags as a written benefit. Ce la vie...

Yep, I thought it was an anomoly at first. But it's happened on 3 out of 4 flights where I've presented the card at the bag drop. It never happened if I didn't. Maybe they took pity on me? Who knows.. I was running late on 2 of the occasions, and the last one (Monday evening) I had missed my booked flight by about 4 hours as well. When they printed my BP out, it also came out with no FQTV details. When I pointed this out, they reprinted it, where it just said NZ*S FQTV but no number. It did credit OK though.

Perhaps the priority tagging is an unpublished benefit? Or random act of kindness? Anyone else had this happen? 2 occasions at AKL, 1 at WLG.

It also seems odd that a Silver to Gold membership upgrade is quicker than Jade to Silver.
Yep. When I questioned the CSR about that, he said that he wasn't aware Jade->Silver took so long, and that it should "definitely be faster than that, and if you require a letter for lounge/baggage privileges before the card arrives, just let us know".

I thought that was quite cool.

Well, after qualifying on Monday last week for NZ*G, and it taking a few days for the sweep to go through... logged into my account this morning and it proclaims I'm gold, with the gold banner and all.

So, did my *S -> *G go through in only a week? Maybe this is much faster than going Jade -> *S.

I'll find out on Thursday as I have to pop up to AKL again.

Congratulations ajnz ^

If your account now shows as gold then you're good to go. Should receive the kit within a few days.

Congratulations ajnz. ^

Alas on my last RTW I was 86 AP short of reaching G status! My statement states ' To reach Gold Status you need 86 points qualifying AP as of todays date'.

I will be flying SYD AKL PMR AKL SYD in early Feb In Biz Class. Will I then qualify for Gold????

Thanks

Thanks guys. Looking forward to using it - especially after the meeting on Thursday, a few beers at the KC will go down real well.

MrSydney, according to the earn chart at http://www.airnz.co.nz/airpoints/earning_airpoints_dollars/airnz_earn_accrual.htm you would earn 85 A$ in biz each way between AKL/SYD and 10 each for the domestic sectors, for a total of 190 A$.

MrSydney, according to the earn chart at http://www.airnz.co.nz/airpoints/earning_airpoints_dollars/airnz_earn_accrual.htm you would earn 85 A$ in biz each way between AKL/SYD and 10 each for the domestic sectors, for a total of 190 A$.

Not quite. MrSydney is based in Australia and so aussie airbucks (http://www.airnewzealand.com.au/airpoints/earning_airpoints_dollars/airnz_earn_accrual_au.htm) apply. 75 + 9 each way for 168 total. (Note while this is less than NZ or anywhere else other than Australia and Norfolk Island airbucks, the amount of aussie airbucks needed for awards and status levels is also lower.)

Whether that is enough to qualify gold depends on when the rest of the airbucks were earned (ie within 12 months or not).

Doh, you're right! Forgot about the differing earn rates for AU.

Its not so much differing earn rate but different currency. Everything to do with airbucks has a different level for members from Australia and Norfolk Island, compared to everywhere else.