kauppias

It seems most people who were extended now we're in the Q1/Q2 status expiry group, so let's hope those of us in Q3/Q4 will get a similar extension soon enough.

No hard evidence but in the past I have yet to be disappointed in A3 customer service so I feel confident enough now...

Palal

So I'm some miles short of renewal (May 23) and got the email.

It seems to be unclear whether any of the existing qual miles will carry over. If they will not, I might credit any flying before May 23 to another airline's FFP.

pbd456

It is not clear that A3 is giving a blanket extension to everyone ending in Q1/Q2. Not sure if it is tied to a3 flying as I know some keep a3 gold with partner only all these years

powergean

The same to me. They told me by phone, i am alredy gold untill 2022, so i dont need any upgrade.

Artemio

I'd guess so, since I went from 2 upgrade vouchers to 4!

kauppias

doubtful, as I qualify with A3 segments each year and I know some who got the extension also with NO A3 segments ever. And another who was extended wWho does yearly A3 segments as well...

hydrogen

I got the extension email but my account still says I'm due to expire in 05/21
Is this normal?

djjaguar64

I received my extension til May 23, 2022. Gold

irishguy28

They won't; despite the email referring to "extension of your tier", they are implementing this in a completely different manner than the previous measure. They are indeed extending the status; but this time, they are NOT extending the qualifying period.

So, the people receiving this email will start a brand new membership year; it is not that they will extend the current "year" again by a further 12 months on top of the previous extension of 6 months.

In May 2020, they extended the qualification period by 6 months only on those accounts that had not already requalified, meaning these members were given a special 18-month "year" instead of the usual 12 month qualification period; these members' qualification date was extended by 6 months.

Now, they are using a different scheme. They are not adding a further 12 months to the qualification period, meaning that some will have had a single 2.5 year long "year" in which to earn enough Tier Miles to requalify.

In March 2021, they instead began notifying some members who won't requalify that they will be granted a new year of status anyway, irrespective of the tier mile balance. This is more in keeping with what most other airlines did.

As such, Aegean have abandoned the initial "extend the qualification period and allow them more time in which to qualify" for the more typical "suspend the normal status-downgrade rule for a limited time".

You will not get to carry over your tier miles; tier miles only exist until the end of your qualification period; your new year starts with zero.

Aegean are not going to move that qualification period deadline into the future again; everyone will start a new year once they cross that date with a new starting balance of zero tier miles. It's just that some of those members will retain their old status level this time, despite not having had sufficient tier miles to have earned it.

giorginho

I've read through the posts made during the past couple of days and this is the one (plus the way irishguy28 also understood and explained it in his last post), by far, most probable and certainly most logical explanation and (probably fairest) way to go by. It seems like no matter how they do it, someone will have something to complain about, unless of course they were to go all-out and provide a free status extension, extending all status miles and providing new vouchers! But, even for people who have flown during this time, like myself, this "going all-out" would be providing more than what the customer has basically "paid" for.
If you can qualify on your own, your counter resets and you get new vouchers, if you can't... well the airline will offer you the same thing. I'm being the "devil's" advocate here again, but some people seem to want a prize for having flown in difficult times. Or act as if it's a contest of who benefits the airline more. This is a good move by the airline!
PS. If you get the cash refunded for purchased status miles... well.... if you want to, you can always use it to purchase those status miles again, can't you ?

johnirvine

Giorginho, no-one wants a prize for flying in difficult times - they just want to be treated fairly and equitably. Aegean is a commercial organization, not a charity, and should not be distinguishing between 'deserving' and 'undeserving' recipients of their largesse. If one year extensions and 4 free upgrades are being doled out, all goldcard holders should receive them, not those just who 'need' them. Perhaps Aegean will next extend this charity principle to mileage? I am currently in the Aegean lounge in Larnaca and will take two D class flights on Austrian today - perhaps A3 should refuse to give me mileage as I have over 1 million miles already and clearly do not need any more!

intuition

The "everyone should get the same treatment" argument makes sense if you view a mileage program as a loyalty rewarding program only.
But ultimately, the program is there for the airline to make more money.


Some examples from programs I'm member of. I don't feel sad towards any of these program because I can see the business logic behind their doings

Finnair - extended the qualification and membership period several times by 6 months each time. Currently my membership "year" is 2,5 years but I have only collected a few miles and will be downgraded before flying is resumed.
For me personally this has been pointless as I am locked out of any destination the airlines serves (in a meaningful way to me). It has been heaven for a small number of flyers, who has access to domestic flights and thus easily can collect 150 segments to reach the super-tier "Lumo". Unfair to me as I will likely loose my platinum status while my friends have a walk in the park to get a super tier.

SAS - has extended the tiers on a rolling schedule (extending those who are nearing year end without having re-qualified). If you qualify by your own you won't get extended. Perfect for people with Gold staus who have gotten 2 years added for free to their Life time gold count. A misery for me as a silver, because if I fly to reach gold I will miss out on the free extension.

irishguy28

Unless you were planning on taking your own "holiday" from requalification, it doesn't seem that you would benefit in any way from the sort of additional measures that you seem to think Aegean should show to those who qualified by virtue of their own flying.

If people are still travelling enough during a pandemic to requalify, then being given a "year off" either now, or in the future when travel patterns are more normal, doesn't seem to bring you any additional benefit than it brought you right now.

Regardless of whether they extended your current membership year from 12 months to 24 months; or if they guarantee you already now that your next membership year will be Gold regardless of your tier mile balance at the end of the current membership year - it won't have the same "effect" on you as it has on those who were forced to stop flying - unless you go through your own period without flying. So, unless you were planning on taking a break from flying, it doesn't seem that this measure would ever bring you any benefit. You would still keep flying, earning Tier Miles that are, in fact, meaningless in that year, and still "earning" the very thing that was available for free. (i.e. you would experience the same outcome as you did this year - being handed status for free, but flying and earning it anyway).

You simply travel enough to never have requalification worries. Therefore, "guaranteeing" you an additional year over and above the guarantee that you currently enjoy, doesn't actually bring you anything.

(Unless you want to be given explicit permission from Aegean to take your business elsewhere for an entire year without consequences for your status)

This is why I suggested, upthread, that those who feel aggrieved at being given this free pass, but not needing it, should approach Aegean in whatever future year they fail to qualify.

Unless and until you fail to requalify, having the "regular" status downgrades being made flexible will have absolutely no bearing on your situation.

(It's sort of like complaining about people having a guaranteed minimum wage, when you are already earning a salary that exceeds that amount)

Carpacchio

Well - I had booked enough personal flights in the qualification period to requalify easily. However, Aegean had either cancelled those or offered alternative flights that didn't make sense for me (I cannot fly freely, but need to take certain restrictions like school vacation into account for personal travel - because for obvious reasons, I wasn't able to do business travel in the past 12 months).

So it was not really my fault that I ended up with not enough miles to qualify - hence I consider it reasonable that Aegean offers me a grace extension of Gold membership and I will do my best to requalify normally until that is over !

TheProf

Exactly - I normally do >50K business travel, with several inter-continental flights per year and my employer has not allowed any travel since March 2020. Makes no sense for Aegean to have people like me take their business elsewhere.