Sjondorn

Hi,

I'm FB platinum and I just stumbled on "Special Elite" fare when studying (not intenting to book at this time) award ticket miles cost:



Am I to assume it's a regular classic award available only to Elites (i.e. the imporant part is change = 45 EUR, cancellation = 45 EUR)?

brunos

If you give the date and class, I can check as Ivory.

brunos

FB award are highly variable depending on day and flight.
As an Ivory:
On April 14, I can find same itin in Y on KL for 75K plus 83.68 and on AF 75K plus 90.11.
And the classic change fee is indeed 45.

On May 12, I can get J on KL for 62.5K and 213.68.

Sjondorn

The date was 9th March. Other three options that show up is for 187500 via Amsterdam. The "Special Elite" also appears on 8th March (same 75K miles) and 7th March (75K miles, but via Amsterdam it's 62.5K miles as a classic award). Then the only other date in March is 27th (as of now), also 75K miles.

brunos

I guess that you mean in business class.
To me, it is currently all 187.5K for March except 7 March at 62.5K via AMS

irishguy28

"Special Elite" awards were introduced - for Air France only - on 01 April 2009 as part of the disastrous "April Fools" changes to FB.

At that time, they were additional award seats opened up to Elites for 15% more than the going rate.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-f...ilability.html

FB no longer specifically mentions "Special Elite" awards, and not having been Elite on FB for some time I can genuinely say I have not seen this in some time.

There were more recent changes to the longhaul award scheme which eventually included variable pricing of Awards for everyone (additional award space opened for everyone, just with having to pay more (far more than the 15%!)). I really though the concept of "Special Elite" awards was therefore superseded by more recent changes.

(Assuming your screenshot relates to a business class flight, that represents a 20% mark-up on the cheapest available 62,500 miles Classic seat cost. I just did a random search on that route and threw up availability in Y for 25k (Classic, on DL), 50k (Classic, on AF), 75k (Flex, on KL), 80k (Classic, on MU), and in J for 62.5k (Classic, on AF), 187.5k (Flex, on KL) and 200k (Classic, on MU) for the one-way flight).

irishguy28

Only promo awards cannot be changed or cancelled.

EVERY OTHER award can be changed for the fees you mention (except Flex, which can be changed/cancelled for free)

MSPeconomist

I don't understand the MU availability for so many miles. AFAIK partner award tickets are either available for *low* miles or not at all.

ADDED: It might be charging for two award tickets, but 200,000 miles still seems like it's too much for "low" inventory availability.

irishguy28

SFO-PVG starts from 40k in Y on MU and from 100k in J on MU.
PVG-PRG starts from 40k in Y on MU and from 100k in J on MU.

Looks like they added them up!

(source: Flying Blue Miles Calculator)

However, if you put SFO-PRG (or vice versa, as shown below) in the Mileage Calculator, and select China Eastern as the operator - you get a far different result!!!

irishguy28

Sorry to bump this, but I just noticed here (from the long-haul award "enhancement" page on the FB website from 2013):

So I am really puzzled by this "Special Elite" designation...

Sjondorn

Well, it actually makes sense given the description. It may be labelled as "Special Elite" but looks like it's just classic award available only to elites, which matches business class classic award based on the number of miles.

Keter

As a FB Plat can i cancel or change a promo award ticket?

cityflyer369

No.

irishguy28

But again, the change in 2013 was that everyone had access to the "extra" seats - not just the elites - but everyone had to pay more for the extra.

We never heard anything about a reversal of this policy.

It therefore doesn't seem likely that, 3 years on, they suddenly reversed the policy and added "special" to the name.

(I am no longer elite so cannot determine how often a "Special Elite" award may be offered, but I am fairly sure this is the only time such awards have been mentioned here on FT)

Keter

I don't see the 'no change fee' benefit for Platinum anywhere on the web anymore.. Feel a bit lost because RU call center told me they are not aware of such a benefit...

And i cancelled several classic award tickets for free last month...