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1 year of elite status extension benefit for new parents.

1 year of elite status extension benefit for new parents.

Old Dec 21, 2018, 10:45 am
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1 year of elite status extension benefit for new parents.

Aegean Miles+Bonus now allow a one year extension to elite status to its elite status holders upon providing proof of the birth of a child.

https://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbon...ent-keep-tier/

Applications for status extension must be submitted before the childs first birthday.

Unfortunately the process discriminates based on sex of the parent. Why should fathers have to also submit proof of parental leave while mothers have to submit no such proof? I am hoping someone corrects this status hold benefit so as to undo the sex-based discrimination against male parents.
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Last edited by GUWonder; Dec 21, 2018 at 10:52 am
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Old Dec 21, 2018, 7:21 pm
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The reason for this should be self-explanatory: the extension is granted to the parent who, due to having to take care of the newborn, can no longer fly much.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 3:27 am
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Originally Posted by KLouis
The reason for this should be self-explanatory: the extension is granted to the parent who, due to having to take care of the newborn, can no longer fly much.
That's as maybe but many new parents curtail travel significantly in the first year of a child's life whether they are the full time carer or not.

I would say the A3 stance is unfair and discriminatory on this score.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 12:05 pm
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Well. I am going to have a baby during this status year. As I work for myself, I wonder what sort of "proof of paternity leave" would be acceptable to them, as the concept of leave doesn't really apply to me.

From my perspective if I am not working that gives me more time to go flying.... my own first flight was as a 3 month old baby and I am expecting this to be the case for my son too.

I'm not too bothered about this anyway, as I will probably come up with something to requalify with A3 normally. Unfortunately my wife is not A3 anything, however she is BA Silver and will be using BA's maternity status extension; this means that I could just aim to do my solo flying on Star and joint flying on OW as it isn't such a big deal if I lose my BA status.

FWIW, BA's rules say

"In order to qualify, Members will need to provide a letter from their doctor, a birth certificate or documentation relating to the adoption or paternity leave"

which reads to me that BA would accept just a birth certificate from the father.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 2:44 pm
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Originally Posted by KLouis
The reason for this should be self-explanatory: the extension is granted to the parent who, due to having to take care of the newborn, can no longer fly much.
Applies increasingly to a male parent as to a female parent and yet the proof demanded by Aegean for use of this benefit is based on the sex of the parent. That is wrongful sex-based discrimination in my opinion and I hope Aegean corrects this.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 2:53 pm
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Imo they should just require the proof of parental leave either way.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 2:25 am
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Originally Posted by Chiller3333
Imo they should just require the proof of parental leave either way.
Proof of parental leave is not as readily available to parents as proof of birth/parentage of an infant. It holds as true for men and for women.
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Old Dec 23, 2018, 11:36 pm
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Applies increasingly to a male parent as to a female parent and yet the proof demanded by Aegean for use of this benefit is based on the sex of the parent. That is wrongful sex-based discrimination in my opinion and I hope Aegean corrects this.
This is a commendable initiative from A3 and a great enhancement for M&B ^ It's however been implemented in a outdated and discriminatory way. Nowadays it's a rule rather than an exception for parents to share their parental leave; in some countries couples can even lose some days of parental leave if one of the parents does not participate.

In addition to that, as @GUWonder wrote, it is often much harder for one obtain proof of parental leave than proof of having become a parent. What about self-employed people? Or in my line of work (consultancy) where it's a common practice for new parents to take just a couple of months "official" parental leave, but then choose to work for several months part-time from home? This effectively reduces their flights from 4-5 per month to just 1-2, or some months even none.

As @: D! wrote, a birth certificate or an official letter from the hospital should be proof enough for either parent. In the Nordics it would be definitely against the law to condition that on a parent's gender, and I would be surprised if it isn't so in every EU country, including Greece. This is of course an additional benefit that A3 are not even required to offer in the first place; yet once they have decided to do it, they should do it in a fair and non-discriminatory way.
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Old Dec 30, 2018, 4:07 am
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It seems that if both parents have status, only one can get its status extended. Now let's see if it works for my wife with the second kid, she managed to qualify for silver and then gold during the parental leave of the first kid
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Old Dec 30, 2018, 6:33 am
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Originally Posted by ranskis
It seems that if both parents have status, only one can get its status extended. Now let's see if it works for my wife with the second kid, she managed to qualify for silver and then gold during the parental leave of the first kid
Playing the role of an advocatus diavoli I'd say that this demonstrates the fact that the decision to extend the status even to one of the parents may have been based on completely wrong assumptions and statistics
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Old Dec 30, 2018, 9:33 am
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Originally Posted by KLouis
Playing the role of an advocatus diavoli I'd say that this demonstrates the fact that the decision to extend the status even to one of the parents may have been based on completely wrong assumptions and statistics
How does paid parental leave apply to males in Greece? If the prevailing Greek method of paid parental leave from work applies very little to males, then maybe this is but a way for the airline to say its supporting females and children. Saying youre supporting males taking paid parental leave seems to be less popular overall, even in A3-served markets where male parents have a pretty high participation rate in paid parental leave programs.
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Old Dec 30, 2018, 9:52 am
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My post, as can be deduced from the smily, was only an aristotelian "joke". At any rate, I have no idea about the actual statistics and If I stated that new fathers in the public service do take a paid parental leave, that would be based on very few cases* I'm aware of: most of my friends have my age a few years, thus none of them has given birth for several decades, and my kids are both around 40 and have no children of their own. Furthermore, I usually don't ask my friends' children how they handle this matter.

* When approval of parental leaves was among my duties several years ago, 100% of eligible fathers applied; a grand total of 1!
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Old Jan 7, 2019, 9:16 pm
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I agree with the above sentiment re there should not be a difference between mother and father.

I am trying to work out how this scheme works in practice. For example
- Child born in July 2018
- Gold Status was renewed in November 2018 and in place until November 2019

If the above person was to submit (and be approved) by A3 what would happen to renewal dates etc? Would A3 add 12 months from November 2019 to renew - making it November 2020? Or is it more complex than that...
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Old Jan 10, 2019, 6:32 am
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  • Eligible for tier hold are only the active Miles+Bonus members that belong to Silver or Gold tier.
  • Eligible for tier hold are either the mother or the father of own child. There may be up to one-member parent on tier hold for the same child, at any one time.
  • Members may apply once for each child, as soon as the child is born and up until the child reaches one year.
  • It is clarified that, Tier miles added to member’s account in order to keep their tier, do not count for tier upgrades.
  • It is clarified that, Tier hold cannot be changed or cancelled once approved.
  • It is clarified that, eligible members can still enjoy their tier benefits while they are on tier hold.
  • Miles+Bonus tier hold benefit is personal for the member who receives it and is not transferable for any reason.
  • Members who are approved for tier hold can continue to earn and redeem miles.
  • Eligible members may provide the below documents:
    - For Mother: Birth Certificate
    - For Father: Birth Certificate, Paternity Leave for at least 3 months
  • It is clarified that the documents will be destroyed for safety reasons, after their process.
  • Miles+Bonus tier hold is a discretionary benefit and Aegean reserves the right to decline an application for, or to change the offer of, a Miles+Bonus tier hold at any time, at its own discretion.
  • Aegean reserves the right to annul or modify at its own private discretion, anytime and with no previous notice the benefit's terms and conditions, as they are mentioned in this document. The new terms and conditions apply upon their publication.
  • The application for the benefit implies the Member’s unconditional acceptance of the terms and conditions
I'm not yet sure what to make of all the above terms and conditions applicable to this new benefit of A3*S and A3*G status.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 7:08 pm
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Yeh, I've read the rules but I don't know what happens in practice - what does it mean. Has anybody here applied / used this initiative yet?
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