hco

Oh really? I just went to the one linked from the Thai site. Good to know.

travelislife

"Round Trip Miles Required
(Sydney to Bangkok Business Class)"
Thai (old chart) 98000
Thai (new chart) 196000
Singapore Airlines 93500
Qantas 120000
Cathay 140000
Malaysian 106000
Emirates 120000

Just did a quick reality check, if those new rates are right they are ridiculous!

travelislife

Here's one for you as well. United miles on Thai Airways planes SYD-BKK return in Business Class, 60,000 miles + $160. Thai Airways miles on the same Thai Airways planes 196,000 miles + $600.

How is this rewarding their own frequent flyers?

MikeFromTokyo

If these new redemption rates are correct, I am going to have to consider crediting TG flights to UA or another *alliance program. The huge cost of J to F upgrades also is not attracticve, since the fare difference is often not that much, and there is always the option of paid standby upgrades. Award levels for other SE Asian destinations are also not attractive considering that these tickets can typically be bought relatively inexpensively.

ROP might still be attractive for credit card miles and accellerated gold status through the SCB credit card.

hco

Just got a confirmation from ROP. Award chart is correct, but they are also increasing the bonuses for elites.

----------------------------
Dear Mr. hco,

Thank you for contacting Royal Orchid Plus.

Regarding our new Air Award Chart which will be effectived on 01SEP2014, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and regret to learn your dissatisfaction.

Please be informed that changes of miles on THAI, Star Alliance award ticket and all Mileage Upgrade Award will be effective on travelling commencing on 1st September 2014. Thus, if members reserve the seat and issue ticket before 1st September 2014, the old award levels will be applied.

The decision of these changes has been made with careful consideration as we have not adjusted the miles in our award charts for almost fifteen years ago since the beginning of our program.

Please be informed that we strive to add value to the Royal Orchid Plus programme through benefits with tier status, and through more redemption channels. Earning and redeeming miles are equal components in a loyalty programme. The amount of the miles in the new award charts have been calculated comparable to the purchased ticket fares. For an example, the miles on Royal Silk (business class) were calculated from 80% of the average fares of C and J class code tickets.

Therefore, members will be able to have more access and possibilities to get award ticket seats with more inventory in every flights.

Moreover, starting from 1August 2014, active Royal Orchid Plus Gold and Platinum members will receive more bonus miles
from flying THAI as following:

Platinum members :
economy class (except G/V/W) earn 150% of miles (now 100%)
business class earn 200% of miles (now 125%)
first class earn 250% of miles (now 150%)

Gold members:
economy class (except G/V/W) earn 125% (now 100%)
business class earn 175% (now 125%)
first class earn 250% of miles (now 150%)

Please note that this mileage increment is earned based on exclusive tier members of Royal Orchid Plus for more convenient
in award redemption. However, these bonus miles are not counted toward qualifying miles for membership tier evaluation.

We believe that Royal Orchid Plus is one of the balanced programmes in the Asia Pacific region.

In the meantime, we look forward to having pleasure of welcoming you on board THAI as our valued Royal Orchid Plus member
and we send you our best wishes.
------------------------------------------

11277m

"we have not adjusted the miles in our award charts for almost fifteen years ago since the beginning of our program"

Not correct, the required mileage for award tickets was increased by, if I remember correctly, about 25% around four or five years ago. At the time they justified the increase by saying it was because their service would be much improved by the new aircraft they were either having or upgrading.

I know because I was unhappy that I was paying extra to travel in the identical aircraft as before.

Now they say that a ROP Gold member can earn 25% more miles in economy, or 40% more miles in business, but it will cost them an extra 100% when they come to spend them.

Doubling the mileage cost in one go seems madness to me. Isn't it usual to regularly make small increases instead, as in the "boiling the frog" experiment.

travelislife

I will be interested to see their response to my email. I have provided them the table I have put in this thread showing the discrepancies from other programs. So their line We believe that Royal Orchid Plus is one of the balanced programmes in the Asia Pacific region. is just marketing fluff.

They have used the line again that it is due to new aircraft and product, considering about 10% of the fleet have the new business seats this seems ridiculous.

Saying they have tied the miles cost to revenue fares this could mean they move to a revenue based program in the future. I personally don't think more seats available when they already had great availability is a plus. There will be more award seats going to *A partners and less to their own frequent flyers! I suspect they like the revenue from the other *A programs more than their own frequent flyers.

Also we should get a mod to modify the title to include award tickets not just upgrades.

11277m

Found it... Newsletter December 2008-February 2009, page 3.

"Delivery of new aircraft and upgrading of the long-haul fleet now provides a superior level of seating comfort, entertainment choices, fine dining and personalized service when travelling in Royal First Class and Royal Silk Class between Bangkok and THAI's intercontinental destinations.

Beginning January 1, 2009 mileage requirements for Award travel on THAI in Royal First Class and Royal Silk Class will increase in Zones 4 to 7."


To sweeten the blow, page 1 had;

The Amazing Award Seat Sale

Beginning January 1 2009 Award travel on THAI is on sale!

The Amazing Seat Sale gives you...savings of 20% off standard mileage requirements.... bookings can only be made by contacting THAI beginning January , 2009.

"we have not adjusted the miles in our award charts for almost fifteen years ago since the beginning of our program." ...would they like to reconsider that?

11277m

I must stop digging out my old THAI documents...

From the May 1st 2004 Member's Handbook, page 26, round trip air awards on THAI:


2001-4,800 miles Y 45,000 J 75,000 F 110,000

4,801-8,000 miles Y 65,000 J 105,000 F 140,000


So a J 4,801-8,000 miles return was 105,000 is currently 130,000 miles and will be 260,000 miles in September!!!

"not adjusted the miles in our reward charts for almost fifteen years" Ha Ha.

MikeFromTokyo

My take on it is that ROP only makes sense if one can attain at least gold status, considering the half priced awards and upgrade benefits, as well as the new mileage earning bonuses.

For people who fly less a program like UA seems to work better. Also, since TG has reasonable J and F fares, I would just as soon pay for my tickets and then redeem miles on a more expensive route not serviced by TG.

It seems odd to me that TG would structure its program so that it alienates passengers who fly less frequently.

BinSabai

I also complained to TG whether they made a mistake and got an answer (at least within 24 hours) that they will forward my complaint to management and also mentioned the higher mileage accrual for Gold and Platinum members!

of course such higher mileage accruals do not at all compensate the increase of needed miles for awards by 100%!

I guess this will backfire and they will have to revise that

11277m

BinSabai, "I guess this will backfire and they will have to revise that"

I certainly hope so. I first thought the doubling was an error, and am finding it impossible to understand such an increase.

Perhaps the "new" THAI boss will make himself popular by reversing this increase.

Now I'm beginning to fear for the Annual Gold Award.

Aussie_flyer

Rip to rop

andyptrav

Surely this is madness, Thai Air are struggling and now the board decide to alienate their best customers. Many people such as myself do not shop around with other airlines because of the award availability and why would I now pay about £790 for an economy flight LHR to HKT when I can pay £630 and still get 25% of the miles?
This change is also underhand, I have made buying decisions based on the awards promised and now this promise has been halved.

From August as an ROP Gold member I will earn 25% more miles in economy and 50% more miles in business, but it will cost me an extra 100% when I come to use them. Also the miles earned before the awards are halved will not be retrospectively increased, this is also underhand. However I look at this I feel I have been conned.

When I now calculate the returns that can be realised for this extra £160 it does not appear worth it. e.g. I will now need 23 LHR to HKT economy return flights for a first class return that still costs some £450 in “taxes”. 23 x £160 = £3,680 and the benefit is £3,750. Not only that but one also now has to make these 23 flights within a 3 year period.

Now that ROP no longer makes sense for me this will mean that when I fly business at peak periods I will now have no incentive to use Thai. The only incentive now is to retain my Gold status which I can do on a quarter of the flights I buy.

lingua101

Luckily I just burned my 75K for SIN-BKK-KIX ticket next month. I only left with about 22K in my TG account now. Not to mentioned that I have to pay close to $600 for this award ticket.

If I remember correctly, promotional biz class to KIX normally is about SGD1500.


Even with the bonus tier miles for Gold and Platinum, the increase is still too much, especially in Premium cabin. May be the demand for TG premium class is very strong. I guess it probably cheaper to redeem *A award using KF/TK

Perhaps i will just credit my miles into TG if I fly discounted fares. Otherwise, I should probably deposit it into TK/SQ