MrArkadin

I guess the link to overload is a proof that A3*G are way too many

MrArkadin

It's already on their website...
Silver to Gold: "The required number of miles for members who will not manage to reach at least 4 flights with AEGEAN and/or Olympic Air until 31.05.23, is 48,000."
Maintain Gold "The required number of miles for members who will not manage to reach at least 4 flights with AEGEAN and/or Olympic Air until 31.05.23, is 24,000."

frenchft

It’s a good move but 12k is not enough. Should be 24k + 4 A3 flights. Time to clean the ATH lounge zoo.

ClanJ

Good move with the 70000 kms. I live outside the EU and come to Greece every year. Find that A3 is the best airline to get around both Greece and Europe.

daiseiko

I agree but A3´s main target is to reduce the fees which A3 gold members use for other airlines lounges, especially United Club, I guess.

NWIFlyer

I always find that requalification levels an individual thinks are appropriate fall just below their own flying statistics ...

I have to say - even as a European for whom an annual trip to Greece isn't too difficult - this may signal the end of my relationship with A3. For some time it's been my secondary FFP, and there comes a point where you start to assess whether or not this is the start of a pattern whereby it'll become four segments plus ever more increasing miles.

The question then becomes - how much is it worth adding more miles in the short term to maintain status if you know at some point it's likely not to be viable because the requirements become too stringent? That becomes even more pertinent when I could accelerate my progress towards BA lifetime gold.

Chr04

I think the airline you fly pays the lounge, not the one you are gold member

AlwaysFlyStar

The fact that they haven't is a pretty good indicator that, at least for now, they aren't necessarily trying to significantly reduce the number of gold members. Based on the decision, in fact, it seems like they would be perfectly content to have the same number of gold members. They just don't want gold members who aren't flying Aegean at all. Now, we might see this change in a year or two after they crunch the numbers of what happens next, but these requirements seem to be saying, 'We are very happy to provide an extremely easy way to retain gold membership for our existing members as long as you fly with us every year.'
Again, who knows how long this lasts, but by making such drastic changes to the one side while leaving the other side the same seems to say that they are not necessarily looking to thin the herds or make it harder, they are just trying to change it so that they are only an easy gold status for people who fly Aegean. And this clearly has nothing to do with the lounge. The people affected aren't flying Aegean, so they weren't in the lounge.

The fact that they chose 70 rather than 48 or even the more common gold threshold of 50 seems to make it clear that they are not interested in being a competitive programme for people who are not flying with Aegean. But if you fly with Aegean, for now at least, they are happy to still provide a relatively easy way to maintain your status.

Phoenixtinct

I don't think that's fair. A lot of airlines change their FFPs - usually for the worse but Aegean with such a low requirement is quite generous. I was downgraded to Silver last year - I didn't fly at all during the pandemic, so extending the status had no real impact. Right now I'm getting back to flying again and even as downgraded to Silver, I have Business Class upgrade coupons and several Aegean lounge visits. You can't say that Silvers in other programs enjoy such treatment. I'll try to get to 18,000 miles to get back to Gold by the end of May since I miss the lounge access and the other perks but nonetheless, I can't blame Aegean here. If down the road things change for the worse, I may reassess but for the time being, I'm happy. After all, nothing lasts forever.

2P or not 2P

The Aegean website is back up. It states:

Guess I either need to pan to requalify by the end of May or have another four sector day in Greece!

AlwaysFlyStar

To be fair, I don't think I have ever seen a FFP change status requirements from 24k to 70k overnight. (I mean, can think of it more as a new requirement to fly 4 Aegean segments for everybody, but if you are only looking at the non-A3 flyers, that is nearly trebling the requirements, and that is rather a shocking change...)

The requirements for Aegean flyers are generous. However, the requirements for non-flyers are not the lowest (even before the change). And if you consider the requirements to get the status in the first place, even with the Aegean flights, you are still in the ballpark of several other airlines, like Turkish or Asiana or Egyptair.

Harper50505

Aegean have always looked after their frequent flyers pretty well in comparison to others. I doubt many Gold just credit four sectors and 12000 miles. In the current year which doesn't expire until May, I have 34 sectors all in business on Aegean and 73400 from other *A airlines in my account with at least eight more A3 sectors to fly before May but probably far more. It's still a highly attractive programme if you are loyal to it and for instance, based in Europe, way, way better than Lufthansa who have had downgrade after downgrade without a single improvement for the last twenty years.

NWIFlyer

It's not about fairness. It's a business decision for A3, presumably one that makes sense for them. The same goes for every M+B member when they come to decide if contributing further to the FFP makes sense in their own circumstances.

Some will decide the direction of travel is such that it makes sense to get out sooner rather than later. Others will think it's fine for the long term. The majority will persevere but wonder where it's heading. It's the way of the aviation world.

irishguy28

It's actually 112,654 km (aka: 70,000 *miles*)

roberino

There was likely pressure from the rest of the *A network to increase the barrier for *G membership. The 24k miles was doable for me on one return trip to Australia in PE.