af fp

Has anybody already received a Platinum card without having flown the required amount of miles last year? I would think they would grant Platinum level to pepople whoo have been Rouge for a longer time (like 7 years), taking into account their sustained fidelity, even if they did not fly too much last year.

What are the exact criteria?

lapin

I just did. I was secretly hoping to receive a platinum card even though I earned only ~60K miles in 2004 and just made a 10K this year. I have been blue en 2002, red in 2003 and 2004. I have a US based account, an French Gold American Express Card and a Petroleum Card.

dctorres

We have similar cases , I hope my luck is as good as yours! When did you receive your card? I live in the Washington area as well and am patiently waiting....

dirkster

Here in Toronto, opening my mail from this week, I find the new Gold Card of FB with the ST Elite Plus symbol, happy that Canada gets "rest of world" treatment and not USA treatment.
Access to all ST lounges will be nice when I fly Delta (for example) to USA which is an International flight

DLSTR

I have been on the road awhile and just found my Gold Qualifying package at home.

I am correct to assume that as a German Gold member with a Elite Plus logo on my card I have access to all Skyteam lounges, when flying a skyteam partner airline?

Would I have access to KLM or Air France lounges without flying any a Skyteam carrier?

NickB

Yes

No

chrissxb

I've been denied access to ST lounges several times on Delta as canada - us often counts as domestic flight. but sometimes it worked. noone knows the exact rules over there.

GrapeDane

Yes, it is interesting Canada is not lumped together with USA. In the now almost retired F+ program we received 50% North American bonus. As I understand it, on the new FB program only USA and Mexico is excluded from being ST Elite Plus.

Concerning access to SkyTeam lounges it is only in connection with international flights. Delta regards Canada, Mexico and Caribbean as domestic flights.
Sometimes they can be nice at the Crown Room Club and let you enter.
Remember that the American lounges are private clubs, not lounges for first class/business class passengers. You will only get access to the clubs on international first and business class or as member of the club. When you are the top level (like DL SkyMiles Platinum) you receive complimentary membership.
I presume that the rules of CO and NW are the same.

ClipperDelta

Just got my FB package a few days ago - and SURPRISE! - actually got the FB Platinum card even though I barely made FPRouge with around 41K+ qualifying miles in 2004. Maybe they took into account my FPRouge status for the past 4 years or so..

GrapeDane

Congratulation!

dctorres - perhaps we will be lucky too!

Still looking at my mail everyday with excitement to see if the card should arrive.
By Thursday next week I would already have passed the 40K mark for this year, but where will it leave me for next year?

ALEXIS2004

I think FB decided that the difference between Gold and Platinum is not worth infuriating many US based accounts. The main difference between Gold and Plat is the 75/100pct bonus and the weight allowance (which does not affect too much US based accounts as I think the piece concept still applies in the US for international travel and not the weight concept)
For the above reasons, I believe that US accounts with 40k+ in 2004 (regardless of the previous years' level of membership) will be Platinum until March 2006.
The question would then be what about the qmiles required in 2005 to maintain this status?

ClipperDelta

70,000 qmiles required to qualify for 2006 for all non-French residents.

lapin

I got mine last friday (april 29) and I know several other people leaving in the DC area who got their last week.

GrapeDane

Got my package today. Also got the positive surprise of receiving the Platinum card.

So dctorres, let us pop the champagne on Air France. Will be in SFO lounge Saturday, so I will toast for all of us. Will have more than three hours at CDG Sunday, so the party can continue there

If the pattern looks like this, that all US (and Mexican?) Rouge members receive the Platinum card, I only think it is fair. We as Rouge members was promised and received a card valid until 03/2006, which gave ST Elite Plus status and 100% mileage bonus.
If F+/FB didn't award us the Plat card, there would have been a lot of upset customers, and probably some lost business. See what happened to Delta when they tried to change their program. This is pretty smart, and will make some more ex-Rouge members try to stay with benefits of Platinum and give even more business to AF/KLM. And then you would have to pay even more, so you can avoid the L fares.

NickB

You mean unlike us KLMers, who were given a card until Feb 2006 entitling us to the follwing disappearing bennies under FB:
- our elite bonus slashed
- our CoS bonus slashed
- disappearance of upgrade from any fare
- disappearance of complimentary domestic upgrades on NW (for Plats)