Originally Posted by
raistlin
Hi all,
just sharing my experience of years flying AZ (and other ST carriers of course) as a FA+ - FA member:
- Lounge access: ^ always granted wherever appropriate. ST E+ status is really the single best benefit from the programme.
- Lounge quality:
c'mon, AZ, we are Italians. We don't really care about the lounge seats or how many people are there... but we care about having some food to eat. How difficult can this actually be?
- Priority check-in and lists: ^ always granted, excellent value, staff at business counters always ready to go the extra mile to suit you
- Telecheckin: tried it a number of times, too many restrictions to be actually useful. Also the webcheckin is often restricted. This is really something AZ needs to improve in general, not just for the clubs!
- Luggage: I usually don't check in any luggage, but the few times I did, priority tags didn't work and at times my luggage even got lost. Duh.
- Priority security: ^ where it is available it works well. Many ST carriers extend the privilege to ST E+, so this is really valuable to me.
- Priority in boarding: all ST carriers give me priority in boarding EXCEPT MY OWN CARRIER! Is it so difficult to do? Business first, Elite second, General third. Bounce the people who do not belong. Form three lines. It's NOT difficult. Other carriers do it all the time. And it IS a valuable perk for us frequent travellers. Come on, AZ!
- Elite phone line: ^ never had an issue
- Elite email handling: never had an answer on time
- Upgrade certificates: what a disappointment! You can only upgrade from awfully costly fares, and only twice on continental flights... it would be much better to offer a "space available" upgrade privilege as the american carriers do
OK - can agree with most points but you have left out a couple of major points - for me at least
-> bonus miles on journeys - 100% for FA+ which means that on a LIN -> LHR in J you get
8000 points for a return journey
-> upgrades - AZ on short haul do upgrade status passengers
Some lounges are OK - especially skyteam run lounges - very impressed with LHR T4