Originally Posted by
the810
I believe SAS Plus currently earns business class rates in *A (e.g. 150% on A3) - after all, it books into business class booking classes, which is what's relevant for crediting to another airline.
SAS Plus books into its own A,Y,S,B,P buckets on SK. These are not "business" buckets. That some *A frequent flyer programmes, such as A3, award the same amounts for Plus as for Business is their choice - but it doesn't mean that they can't recognise Plus as being different from Business.
Star Alliance practice, in any case, places no requirements on how Flying Blue will view these tickets when the time comes that they actually earn in Flying Blue. They're not going to suddenly consider Premium Economy on SAS to be Business just because A3 and others have done so up til August 31.
My last trip on SAS was in SAS Plus - i.e. Premium Economy (A) - on the outbound, SAS Business (J) on the return. On the short-haul connecting flights when you're on a Business or Plus ticket, you travel in SAS Plus, with a fare class that is identical to that of the longhaul sector; so, when connecting to/from a business class flight, you're technically travelling in Business (see the CPH-AMS sector marked in J matching the previous longhaul Business (J) flight - as opposed to the first AMS-CPH sector in A to correspond with the subsequent Premium Economy longhaul sector in A).
Originally Posted by
the810
Of course it may be different in SkyTeam but I would be surprised if it were.
It is different. Skyteam - or more specifically Flying Blue - will not care or consider what *A used to do.
In Flying Blue, Premium Economy earns XPs at a rate that is different from Business (see the XP table below).
Anyway, my expectation is that there will be a change to SK's fare structure in the not-too distant future to bring it more into line with AFKL's. Whether and if SAS Plus remains in its current format is probably also an open discussion.