KACommuter

My experience is that OW is much better than *A in treating its top elites. And yes, I do think there are too many dud airlines in *A so unsurprisingly the airlines which consider themselves to be "premium" like SQ will certainly not want to open up their top tier benefits for their partners.

So if you're a really heavy traveller who lives in a *A hub (which I was), hard luck.

CMK10

I like the idea. I've long thought Star is far more like Oneworld than Skyteam so the three tiered system makes sense. The only issue is that I imagine a lot of current Star Golds will not be happy with some of their benefits being taken away. But, as long as they were directed to Business Class lounges instead of Senator type ones I imagine it wouldn't be too bad.

Having seem some of the crowding at SEN Lounges it's probably long overdue.

oliver2002

If airline XX is willing to pay for the services YY gives the top-tier elite of XX there is no issue at all. AFAIK UA and SQ both didn't want to pay what LH wanted for the FCT when they opened in 10 years ago. UA for example pays for the welcome lounge in FRA for arriving UA pax.

LondonElite

Make * Diamond/Platinum much harder to achieve than *G currently is, and make this uniform across the board. None of this TK/A3 nonsense, and it may actually be worth something. The trouble at the moment is that, to a third carrier LH HON and A3 Gold are effectively the same thing.

CMK10

I agree. I was reflecting on this earlier this year. I was flying a Y award ticket on LH using a friend's inherited Star Gold status. I had access to better lounges than someone who paid for a Business Class ticket. How does that make any sense?

chisquared

How so? Which lounges did you have access to (I'm also unclear as to how your friend's status got you into lounges) that J class passengers didn't?

Also, why is the right thing to do to add a third tier? Why can't *A just impose a bit more uniformity (or at least, minimum standards) to awarding people *G status?

Surely if the problem is some airlines setting too low a bar for achieving gold status in their programme, then adding a third tier won't really fix that, unless *A requires the uniformity I suggested earlier. But if *A can impose that, why can't they just do so for the current two-tier system?

CMK10

United has had a loophole since their merger where if someone with status books an award ticket for you, you essentially inherit their status. So my BPs read UA*G and I was able to use the LH SEN Lounges at EWR and DUS. Had I been on a paid Business Class ticket, I'd have been in the Business Class Lounges. Do note this loophole will close next year.

Meanwhile on Oneworld, mid-tier status which gets Oneworld Sapphire only gets to use the Business Class lounges, only top tiers get to use First Class Lounges. Adding a third tier would mean that SEN Lounges/F Lounges etc. were for Star Platinum and Business Class Lounges could be for Star Golds. That would align Star with oneWorld which I think would be a good move.

LondonElite

Indeed. And the likes of LH's FCT/FCL and SQ's Private Room, etc, were out of reach, a bit like BA's CCR.

username

Having finally gotten to lifetime Gold on UA, I certainly hope *A elite does not go 3 tier.

In a way, it seems the current 2-tier system allows an airline to have incentives for its best customers to fly on the home carrier and get better treatment? It also does not disclose the actual level of its best customers to other *A carriers?

For example, Global Services on UA would be treated better when flying United than SQ and SQ also won't know the passenger is top tier on UA (and try to steal the passenger from UA)?

Of course, with things like PQD, I guess we should be glad if *A stays together in the long run. The carriers' first consideration for this kind of thing would be "what does it do for ME" and does it do anything for them?

cheesedawg

No discussion yet about how *S is basically worthless!

CMK10

Low tier status in any alliance (OW Ruby, Star Silver, ST Elite) is basically worthless unless you're flying on the airline you earned the status from (and there it's probably almost worthless too). Flying 25,000 miles or whatever does not really make you loyal and should not result in much loyalty from the airline either. That's at least my opinion.

ORDnHKG

So what do you want then ?

I can pretty much fly two long haul and achieve *S (with some creative routing, even 1 long haul can accomplish that especially if I credit my miles to OZ or A3), what benefits would you suggest for those that only fly one or two trips a year ?

1353513636

I don't think F lounge access is a good idea for a 3rd tier, many OW F lounges are overcrowded for this reason.

I would support adding priority security and priority seating like OW has for even Sapphire at least to a new top tier though. Perhaps throw in another bag and/or 10 kg. Maybe a 2nd guest to a Business lounge instead of access to a First lounge.

IluvSQ

I can't believe this thread is still ongoing.

Yes, there should be 3 tiers - the current two, and one at the top for myself!

burbuja0512

Isn't part of the problem that *A basically gives away their lounge access to anyone who signs up for their credit cards? I have no clue how many people actually have their cards, but any idiot who goes to the airport has the damn cards thrust at them.. here TAKE our cards.. you get free checked bags.. no foreign fee, 2 lounge passes, blah blah, blah.

Not to mention that you can actually BUY lounge access for 50 bucks. If I'm on a biz trip on a long layover, I can easily expense this in the name of a shower, a snack, and internet access. (or mostly I just don't give an explanation to my finance department.. no one's going to ask me anyhow).

So between the people who don't mind paying 50 bucks for a day pass to a lounge and those who are using their free lounge pass from their credit cards, you have a whole hoard of people who really shouldn't be there.

I haven't read through any other threads on this topic, so I'm sure that this has been brought up before, but my husband and I are both frequent biz travelers and we always complain about it. Our term for it is that United "whores out their lounges" to anyone with a buck..