GBobon

hoangtri1

Just logged into my account and saw this message. I am hoping A3 will match me into Gold (I currently have *G with Turkish). If they match me, I will likely buy miles.

Tokyoite

why the hope for one *A airline to match the status of another *A airline?

hoangtri1

I was previously *G with A3...then I left and switched to TK *G when A3 retired the lifetime *G benefit. I now realize that A3 is a better program (TK's award miles last only 3 years & are so hard to redeem unless you book a TK award). So now i'm hoping A3 will match my *G status. If not, I'll probably switch over to A3 anyway.

MichalB

As a matter of policy Star Alliance airlines do not match statuses WITHIN the alliance.

hoangtri1

I know, but sometimes they do.

KLouis

A3 never does.

hoangtri1

Do you know if I can gain Silver/Gold status by flying on Aegean award segments? For example, if I fly 15,000 miles via United (credited to A3) and 2 award segments on Aegean, will I gain Silver?

Chiller3333

To get silver with 12,000 miles you need two paid A3 segments.
Awards do not count, neither for first time nor for requalification.

KLouis

The idea is to have a system in which the A3 frequent flyer system will also benefit A3 and not only the program's member. If your idea were valid, Miles+Bonus would just cost them money...

headingwest

I'll ask the question again in the hope that someone from Aegean actually reads this forum. What the point of buying extra miles when you can't see what you can spend them on?

The search page restricts access if you don't have enough miles, but that prevents people from seeing what they could buy.

Tokyoite

From a systems design and cost perspective, it is cheaper to weed out award searches from accounts that dont have miles. I would speculate that M&B has a low IT budget, so they didnt go for a large scale system that can handle many award searches on starnet (star alliance partner network). They likely implemented this restriction so that only those with the miles can do the search.
I.e. analogy is, only those with a bank balance of X euros can do a test drive of a car at price Y, at a car dealership.

As long as you know and understand the rules (on a standard award, only 1 stop-over of less than 24h, no mixed cabin classes etc.) and you have the award chart, then you can replicate your searches for free on any of the top 3 good star alliance FFP websites (United, Aeroplan, ANA).

hoangtri1

Doesn't A3 get paid from *A partners everytime you credit miles to their program? So it is to their advantage to have more active members.

KLouis

I really don't want to start, once again, the same old discussion but think that ir's not as simple as you put it. You look at the income generated (how much actually?) from miles crediting but you don't consider the cost: lounge access (own and partners'), free luggage on partners and, most importantly, "free" tickets, also and especially for *A, non-A3 flights. Just remember that the original idea of all "milesprogams" was to get frequent flyers fly their own airlines.

Your original question, in an extreme way, would imply that somebody would have the benefits of Aegean's frequent flyer program's status without ever flying them once using a regular, non-discounted ticket.

hoangtri1

1> I don't think there is any lounge reimbursement between *A members. On United flights within the US, the lounge receptionist will usually scan my boarding pass, but will rarely ever scan my guest's boarding pass. If there was a reimbursement, I think United would make it a policy to scan all passes to ensure they are getting reimbursed for all guests. Many subsidiary *A airlines also impose further restrictions (e.g. Olympic Air coded flights refusing *G access). Why would they do this if they can get reimbursed? On international flights - often, I just show my *A gold card and get into *A lounges without any scanning of my boarding pass as well.

2> Free luggage - this was always free until about 9-10 years ago, so I'm not so sure that *A partners are charging member alliance airlines when *G members use this benefit.

3> The "free" tickets you're referring to - I am 100% sure this is a win-win for all parties. When I fly United and credits to A3, A3 receives a fee. Given that most flyers won't redeem miles for years - this is essentially an interest free loan to them. The actual "free" tickets, when redeemed, are heavily discounted. That's why there are so many restrictions. A3 only allows you to redeem *G flights that will net a profit for them. The same applies to all the airlines. *A members open award space because they know that these seats will go unsold - that's why there is really very little incremental costs to opening the award space.