Originally Posted by
sbm12
Well of course they have to earn the miles to get the reward. To assume otherwise is just plain stupid. There are plenty of non-elites that either have the miles or have access to points to convert to miles. The question was whether a non-elite can redeem for a BF upgrade reward. The answer is unequivocally yes. You can keep coming up with inane discussion points as to whether someone will actually do so, but the question of whether they can is not debatable. The answer is yes.
Are they rarely redeemed by non-elites? I have no idea because I haven't seen the CO internal records. And I'm pretty sure you haven't either. So I doubt you know any better than I do. Do you have any proof that these rewards are rarely redeemed by non-elites?
Yes, the award is available to non-elites.
Second, whether or not they are actually available, I can only judge from my experience as a CO OP elite, trying dozens of times to get a BF upgrade and never succeeding once.
I have, however, never attempted to redeem a BF award as a non-elite. First, I do not fly CO TATL any more (I prefer l'Avion & OpenSkies). Second, I didn't even know that this award was available to a non-elite till today (and thanks to you).
My point is that a frank and open discussion of this kind of award on CO needs to include the extreme rarity of its availability.
That's all.