Originally Posted by ffay005

I hope I won't be slain for this comment, but I (mildly) disagree with the need for another status extension. The way I see it is that now is the time to entice people to actually fly. Yeah yeah, I know about our government recommendations, they've been the same for 16 months now. But seriously, the rest of the world is starting to travel, too.

What complicates it here is that most tier points come from longhauls, and AY only has two lonhaul markets: the US, with a complete travel ban ex-Finland, and Asia, with a practically complete travel ban for practically everyone. Why they haven't started flying to Cancun, like all the others, and why they didn't start this a year ago, beats me. But if AY wants to stick with US&Asia, then there will be very little longhaul traffic.

Instead of just offering a status match, I believe AY could and should entice us to actually fly, albeit only within Europe at this time, and start accruing those points. What about "earn double points for your first return flight, and triple points for your second return flight each calender month"? Or a moderately priced J campaign over the summer?

I realise the status match doesn't cost AY anything as virtually all the benefits have been slashed, as opposed to other airlines. But the status match also does not bring customers back.

Then, of course, comes the big question of business travel. I suppose it has not recovered to any considerable extent. And I am afraid it won't, either, for a very long time. There has been, and will be, some work-related travel all the time, but I suppose most meetings and more-or-less social business trips will not happen in the foreseeable future.