EVA Airways: Diamond guaranteed booking no longer applies to business class
 

No more guaranteed availability in business class. It is also being restricted in other cabins too to Y, M, Q, K, T.

Where it does still apply, you only have to give 48 hour notice. In true EVA style, they have given less than 2 weeks notice of this change.

The previous rule was 72 hours but the only caveat was that it didn't apply to "discounted" fares. I was told that the meant industry-type discounts and that it still applied to L, V etc. Certainly my requests under these codes have cleared immediately in the past.

This was the most useful benefit about being Diamond after the nightmare of getting Elite availability as Gold. They have no problem waitlisting you as Gold on an existing flexible ticket whilst still selling tickets off their site from a different bucket. Whether this becomes the experience of Diamond holders remains to be seen.

Extract of email received today:

First of all, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your loyal patronage of
EVA Air and for being a member of the Evergreen Club for so many years. .....
To increase flexibility and convenience when booking a flight, we now offer Diamond
Card members guaranteed booking 48 hours prior to flight departure. Previously,
bookings were guaranteed if made 72 hours before departure. The new rule comes into
effect for bookings made from July 2 onward.

The new rule applies to Evergreen Deluxe Class, Elite Class and Economy Class Y, M,
Q, K and T bookings. Guaranteed bookings are not available for Super Business Class
and Premium Laurel Class. However, Diamond Card member will be given waitlist
priority on fully booked flights.

If L and V don't qualify anymore, this would be a good reason to start crediting to UA. At least on UA I can redeem miles for flights on Asiana and ANA at a good rate.

I see no mention of Royal Laurel class. ;)

Of course if I can't get on the flight than CX or JL will end up with my business.

EVA has one of the worst programs around, and I suppose this change is to ensure the program maintains that reputation. Oh well, you can always console yourself with the special pig trotters or garlic frog legs entree. :)

Just wanted to add a data point about my ELITE "guaranteed" booking today.

I have an open return on my L-class Elite, so I called the TPE Diamond hotline to set the date on my HKG->TPE->LAX flight to Aug31... Turned out the TPE->LAX segment was full in Elite. I mentioned the "guaranteed availability" privilege, but she said doesn't apply to L-class tix. :mad::mad::mad:

Also, on another L-class Elite ticket, I was charged $100 for changing the outbound date on my flight... $100 is a reasonable fee if I were an average flyer, but nickel/dimeing a Diamond is insulting, considering how difficult it is to become a BR Diamond. :td::td::td:

Sorry to hear that but not surprised.

This was my recurring nightmare on London tickets out of Saigon when I was Gold (which generally booked into L). This was the only benefit I was looking forward to as Diamond and of course I only got to use it a couple of times before it was taken away.

Anyone would think that L is some sort of heavily discounted promo ticket. I'm finding L tickets much more expensive than they used to be, with EVA making wider use of V/R.

What an arrogant lot we have running Evergreen Club!

Arrogance is the key to success in Asian airlines but EVA leads the pack