Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

So now three visits isn't sufficient. One must have elite FF status. This is new, isn't it?

In the list of programs given above, my understanding is that not just any elite level in (some of) these programs works but you must be of sufficiently high tier in your program. I'd love to see a complete list of these requirements, if there is one that's publicly available.

BTW, the list is interesting in that it seems to be a random list of carriers, not even programs. (For example, AF and KLM together participate in the FB program.) American is obviously missing, as is US, which is currently in *A but about to merge with AA. Within Europe, SAS, IB, and TK are missing as is Austrian, but Swiss is listed, as is LH. China Southern is listed but not China Eastern, although some minor mainland carriers are present. I'm not even sure that all of these airlines have FF programs with defined elite levels.