A “Banked Year” Airline Status Extensions Get Interesting
Taylor Rains March 21, 2020
Image Source: Air New Zealand
On Wednesday, Qantas announced a 12-month status extension for eligible Frequent Flyer members. Today, Air New Zealand released its own status extension, and it’s much more generous than Qantas’.
NZ is Offering a Banked Year
While Qantas only offered a 12-month extension to those who could not retain their status on their own, Air New Zealand is offering a banked year to those who have already retained Elite status this year. This means that those who have already hit Elite for 2020 will have a “banked year” that will apply on the next anniversary they do not hit Elite status. The details are outlined on the company’s website:
- All members who are Elite, Gold, and Silver tier status as at 20 March 2020 will have their current tier extended for an extra 12 months.
- For Elite members, they will be adding an Elite Banked Year to Elite members’ accounts which will be automatically redeemed should you not retain Elite status.
- For Gold and Silver members, they are applying a process to provide a year at their current tier status. Some of these members will have already earned enough Status Points with their own activity to keep this status. So we will be applying this status extension to their membership accounts once they reach the end of the next review date up until 31 March 2022.
Elite members will see their banked year in their Airpoints account between March 20 and March 31. For Gold and Silver members, there is no action required from you – Air New Zealand will take care of the extension when your membership year ends.
Is NZ Mailing New Cards?
While Qantas is sending out new membership cards with an updated expiration date, Air New Zealand is not. Members will need to use their digital Airpoints membership card on the Air NZ mobile app, which will display the new expiry date.
As far as OneSmart cards, NZ will be sending new ones out prior to the current OneSmart card’s expiration date.
See additional details of the status extension here.
ANZ is a bank, NZ is the airline.
Corrected!
No stock buybacks. More consumer protection for delays/cancels. No change fees, or at least a max change fee of $50. No fuel surcharges - just embed in the price of ticket. No seat fees - sure you can onlys show parts of the seating for those with status, but allow seat choices for early bookers.