Air New Zealand Air Points - Moving From Silver to Gold

Friend of mine showed me his airpoints account to see if I could help him with a few questions. Last week his airpoints account said this:

Current Tier Status: Silver
You have earned enough qualifying Airpoints Dollars to retain Silver until 30 Nov 2009.
You require another 19.00 Airpoints Dollars to obtain Gold as of today's date.

He then took two Flexi fare flights which earned him 38 AP$ and thus making him Gold. His airpoints account now says:

Current Tier Status Silver
New Tier Status effective 01 Nov 08 Gold
A new membership pack including your new card will be sent to you prior to this date.

His question is that now he has earned Gold, why does he have to wait until 1 November 2008 to be able to use those benefits? Is this just a glitch in the system and he will be put at Gold within the next few days? Or does he actually have to wait till 1 November (which I'm assuming is his Airpoints anniversary date)?

That seems to be a change from how it worked in the past. While there was a small delay until the next sweep for status (twice monthly I believe), once it recognised you had attained a higher level the new status applies immediately - no waiting for a card.

I would guess NZ will send a card out early October and from then he will be able to use the gold status benefits.

NZ uses rolling 12 month status periods, thus the period is reset when a higher status is attained. Any unused silver complimentary status upgrades will be cancelled - so if possible use them up now.

That seems to be a change from how it worked in the past. While there was a small delay until the next sweep for status (twice monthly I believe), once it recognised you had attained a higher level the new status applies immediately - no waiting for a card.

I would guess NZ will send a card out early October and from then he will be able to use the gold status benefits.

NZ uses rolling 12 month status periods, thus the period is reset when a higher status is attained. Any unused silver complimentary status upgrades will be cancelled - so if possible use them up now.I think the sweep is much more frequent than twice monthly. Unless it has changed, it should quickly pick up with NZ*G and the benefits be available instantly (except the complimentary upgrades). Though do let us know how they get on.

With Airpoints status the membership anniversary date is irrelevant.

The upgrades only need to be applied to upcoming flights before the change in status - they do not have to be flown. However they might not clear...