The in-app message about new program start date has moved from April 2026 to "early 2026" so who knows when it will actually go live. I admit I have changed some of my spending habits because of the lack of clarity they have provided and picked non-Air NZ routes for a lot of my international travel this quarter. If they had just come out and said it will be a rolling 12-month process from the date you qualified (for me it was at announcement) then I probably would have kept racking up status points to get a headstart on keeping Black.
Yeah. Think they missed for the details. And the people earning black know what they are doing when it comes to flying. Not like silver or gold where you can almost accidently qualify. As suspect most people getting black could easily do a gold QF and platinum NZ or similar combo. Which sets them up better. And with QF with lifetime at least you know your points aren't going to waste.
Could have made it simple and said people between announcement and say 1 May you earn Black will have a anniversary of 31 April so some people's first year will be say 15 months. Ready this thread the biggest issues seems to be clarity, rather than what perks there are.