Originally Posted by
indiebands
Hi Kvet,
Any idea how many OKPlus platinum members there are (in addition to you and sinibab)? I heard on a flight in August a rumor that there are only 2- I guess it could be just the two of you. I also sat next to a guy who was hitting platinum with his flight to JFK and then Mexico. Something tells me that there have to be more than 3 platinums by now...
Incidentally, on a recent flight to Bucharest, at checkin, I was told that there were five people on the waiting list ahead of me and only a total of six seats in business, of which only 2 were available. Then she checked, and said, "they are all gold" - zoiks, that's getting competitive.
I think the Platinums are a fairly common species by now - e.g. on my PRG-AMS commute I see a lot of the same faces every Friday coming back (Mondays are more random). We are now in week 37 my Calendar informs me - which means that the guys on a weekly commute (e.g. from/to Bucharest) will become Platinum this month or next month. But I must admit I have had no visuals of other Platinums yet.
But as I said in another thread, when I asked the personnel in the lounge in Prague they told me they see them fairly often (they should as those passengers had at least 35 flights originating from Prague in the last eight months) - or are very often to be found transatlantically - and possibly there is a species of Platinums who fly their segments mainly on Skyteam partners -but then the OK+ Plus advantages are minimal I think.
I didn't receive my card yet - but I did receive the upgrade from M-class (just had to check it) ;-) Probably nobody ever uses it - the call center lady first told me that "Upgrades are issued at the gate" and I had to explain her that this is a Platinum benefit for the infinitesimally small class of passengers who 1.) are Platinum and 2.) notwithstanding their nearly 100% chance of an upgrade in any upgradable economy booking class still buy an M-class ticket -and probably light their cigars with 100 dollar bills. So virtually useless in general but when I couldn't book another economy booking class last Thursday I tried it out - it works.
Today I tried to book PRG-AMS (one way, in C-class) on award miles for a friend early next month and I was told that she would be waitlisted. C class availability was shown on the website. I could however book an economy ticket - so much for the Platinum status when it comes to award flights.
I have requested the partner Gold card - of course also didn't receive that one yet.
You also get a slightly different boarding pass which says VIP next to the "upgrade material" SPML indicator in the left upper corner of the passenger part of the boarding pass - which means that they can track the Platinums in the booking system and you are fairly sure that in Prague you will get upgraded.
Not quite sure about the outposts - the regimen in Amsterdam depends on whether the gate personnel knows there exists a pecking order in upgradability of passengers holding some color card.
Haven't seen any other advantages yet (or lack thereof) - but I will report as soon as I notice any.