Originally Posted by
eksf26
So I've been diamond the past few years, and Im about 6500 points shy of it this qualification period (ends 30/04). I am debating if I want to exchange the 65000 points (or 700 euros) to retain my diamond status, or if I just downgrade to gold for the next year.
Is EBD worth it compared to gold? I see the perks list on their website, but things that are unclear are how much do they actually upgrade diamond vs. gold (when and when not making a bid), etc. It just seems like the free drinks and bids being with 10% more isn't really worth earning gold 2x in one year (giving away gold card is cool too, but worth it?)
I have never received an upgrade I didn't bid for, and find it frustrating SK doesn't offer instant upgrades to their most premium members.
Anybody have any insight or thoughts that might help me make my decision?
Unless you fly SAS often enough to claw back a lot of value from free beverages in Go and using the SAS lounges as arrivals lounges, you would probably need to see sufficient value in giving away an EB Gold card or getting soft-landed to gold the year after to make EBD really worthwhile. Yes, for some there is value in the other benefits as well. +30% vs +20% on your upgrade bid could make a difference, but probably only on rare occasions, and EBD have the (unpublished) possibility to get courtesy upgrades on long haul flights. But post-covid, anecdotal claims say that SAS has shifted to accept more upgrade bids and handing out fewer CUs. The 30% vs 10% discount on "buying regular tickets for points" can be valuable when you only find a reward long haul ticket in one direction, but it requires you to be relatively rich in EB points, which usually means being located in a country with SAS-branded credit cards.
And EBD are actually not SAS' most premium members since there is also EBP (Pandion), with EBD just being the highest published level.
And by the way, if you're potentially willing to pay for the basic points, you have another couple of months to consider, while you enjoy your grace period. Purchased basic points are back-dated 123 days.