Qualiflyer - Patron, can you tell us more about Circle Club

Hello Patron

I saw you're a Circle Member in your profile. Can you share information on the Circle Club with us? I fly a lot with Swiss (I guess this year 150'000 or so) and seem to be stuck with TCQG.

I've heard that travel would need to be mostly in paid C or F - which would eliminate my chances of becoming a Circle Member. One agent said there's only 3000 wordlwide.

How long is status awarded? What are the benefits? How does one get in?

Would be awefully thankful for some answers ...

ch_usa asked: How does one become a Circle Member?

As beepee and kooks posted earlier on this forum, becoming a Circle Member is first of all by invitation only. You have to fly 200.000 Club miles/year on the nominating carrier; 2/3 of this miles have to be flown in paid C- or F-Class. I cannot confirm how many members there are word wide, but for sure most of them living in Switzerland.

Merry (Nick) posted two years ago: Membership is usually granted to Senior Execs and the 'arrangers' of Qualiflyer Global CIP's (Corporate Incentive Program) - which requires a minimum annual spend of $3.5m if mainly premium and $5m if mainly economy; The senior Execs of large companies based in nations where Qualiflyer is strong (in effect this is mainly Switzerland with a few in Belgium); some people (mailnly in Belgium) associcated the EC.
For the sales/corporate related members, membership is normally 'sponsored' by the VP Global Sales Services Swissair/Sabena in Belgium.
Links:
www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum40/HTML/000684.html (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum40/HTML/000684.html)
www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum40/HTML/000164.html (http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum40/HTML/000164.html)
ch_usa asked: How long is status awarded?
Three years.

ch_usa asked: What are the benefits?

Merry (Nick) posted three years ago: As with all these 'invite' only top-tier clubs the real benefits are not tangiable, in other words they will go out of their way to accomodate your needs, but specifically:

Access to any Qualiflyer check-in/non-airport check-in options.
Additional luggage allowance.
Additional bonus mileage as TC Gold (30% bonus every 10k miles).
Special assistance at key airports.
Lounge access, inc. when not flying with a Qualiflyer airline.
Guaranteed seat reservation.
Priority baggage etc.
Top of the 'list' for upgrades etc.

Link:
www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum40/HTML/000045.html (http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum40/HTML/000045.html)

Well, thank you very much. Is lounge access to 1st lounge or C / TC-Lounge? How about upgrades on not-oversold flights?

ch_usa asked: Is lounge access to 1st lounge or C / TC-Lounge?
F-Class lounge

ch_usa asked: How about upgrades on not-oversold flights?
trans-continental flights: As I do neither expect operational nor complimentary upgrades, I always try to pay my upgrades with miles. Therefore I am not very helpful for that. But maybe this thread opened from airOli is interesting for you:
www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum40/HTML/000685.html (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum40/HTML/000685.html)

intra-continental flights: Operational Upgrades around 5%; Complimentary Upgrades on the plane sometimes on SN.

[This message has been edited by Patron (edited 08-12-2002).]

THANKS!