As the person who brought up the NZ question (under UA I think?), I think there are a couple of issues being missed when we talk about fairness.

1. The maths example is skewed. For a intl leg to LHR from AKL in discount economy (who pays full Y?) you get 25,000 points return, that is still 10,000 short, you would need 3 return trips to SYD or 17 flights around the country to get to silver. Same goes for the gold example.

2. It is not like people in Europe or USA could opt for NZ's programme, you need to be a resident of Australia, NZ and a couple of other areas that are not serviced by another star alliance partner (that is clearly stated). So NZ's rules limit someone rocketing to gold whereas with their miles on UA they would not reach premier or premex for instance.

3. The point is not miles, it is the % of FF members who have reached elite status. Why should people in NZ be penalised because people fly more on UA?

Then above all, as was pointed out you may reach gold, but as an NZ gold elite you get no priority seating on UA/AC, no upgrades, nothing apart from priority checkin, luggage, lounge access etc.

Personally to reach gold or GE I had to fly 50% of my trips in intl and that was flying in full Y (corporate a/c) or J.

If you look at segments you need to reach star gold 100 domestic OR 14 intl paid J/P class. That is fairly equivalent to other programmes.

Mark

[This message has been edited by Koru Flyer (edited 09-20-1999).]