Originally Posted by
headingwest
I don't think Aegean has soft landings. You drop right back to blue if you let your Gold status lapse, therefore it would be quite expensive to get back up to Gold.
There is definitely a soft landing from Gold to Silver.
From the M+B T&Cs:
C. GOLD Card:
The Gold Member must accumulate 12,000 Tier Miles including four (4) flights with Aegean or/and Olympic Air or a total of 24,000 Tier miles regardless of the partner airline, within a period of twelve consecutive months from the date when he/she became a Gold Member, so that his/her Card can be automatically renewed for 1 year. It shall be made clear that any amount of Tier Miles beyond that required for retaining tier will not be taken into account for retaining Gold tier. If the Gold Member does not manage to accumulate the above Miles within the determined time, then he/she will be downgraded to the Silver Tier.
As has been said, A3 will not change year ends. In a lot of programmes it can be beneficial to have staggered renewal dates when always travelling together because if for any reason status is temporarily lost one partner can guest the other.
Unfortunately A3’s much harder qualification compared to re-qualification make this a much less attractive proposition for many ...