Braniff

I'm currently a Gold. But I have the opportunity for my travels the rest of the year to make Platinum. Howver, I cannot see any difference between the two except for 75% vs. 100% mileage bonus.

And I've had very good experience with upgrades on AF as a Gold.

Am I missing something ?

Falco Peregrinus

Yes. And that is not "25% more miles" like most people say but most probably between 11% and 14% more if you systematically connect at CDG. This lowly 11% difference between Gold and Plat occurs if you:
1. Connect at CDG
2. Travel in business class and get a COS bonus to which Gold and Plat extra bonus won't apply. These COS bonuses pretty much limit the interest of being Plat, especially if you're not based in France and travel in Tempo Challenge or Affaires where the 100% COS bonus on the intra european legs "dilutes" the benefit of extra status miles.

I believe that op up performances depend much more on the routes you flight than on your status. I'm a 90K (France based) Plat with 31 segments incl. 10 long haul segments. Only 1 op up this year...

Hagbard Viking

Is there any way for the airlines to win on FT? FB is one of very few programmes where you get both a significant COS bonus and a significant Elite bonus. Seems a bit unappreciative to think of it as dilution...

JOUY31

This is pretty much how the BA and LH FFP work. The Elite bonuses also apply to the base miles, not to the base+Class Of Service miles. I am actually glad the COS bonus was raised from 50% to 100% for Tempo Challenge and L'Espace Affaires medium-haul.

YVR Cockroach

It used to be much better under FD. 100% CoS bonus, 125% PE bonus.

LH M&M is more generous for premium pax.

Falco Peregrinus

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough... my point was not to compare FB with M&M or BAEC (and that wasn't the OP's question for that matter). As far as Fréquence Plus is concerned, the raise of the FB COS bonus (500 to 750) was accompanied at he same time by a decrease of the base mileage (750 instead of 1,000). As the total miles remained the same, the change affected mostly the Silver members (the Fréquence Plus Bleu status bonus used to be 50% of 1,000, it is now 50% of 750 for Silvers).

I used the word 'dilution' (with euphemistic inverted commas) to point out that the move to the upper status is more attractive if you usually fly in economy than if you usually fly in Affaires or Tempo Challenge. And let's do the math, it is more attractive to move from Ivory to Silver than to move from Gold to Platinum.

JOUY31

Well, LH also reduced their benefits, as before their infamous changes, an LH SEN could earn 375% of base miles in First Class, now it is only 325%, whereas an AF Plat would earn 400% in l'Espace Premiere.

Falco Peregrinus

6.6% more than a Gold in l'Espace Première.

JOUY31

And an LH SEN would earn ... 0% more than an LH FTL ...

JOUY31

Two additional differences between Gold and Platinum status:
- excess baggage allowance of 20kg vs 10kg
- Platinum status for life after 10 years

albireo

and (new benefit) additional free allowance for sports items granted to Plats only.

Braniff

Thanks for the information. I was not aware of the increased bag allowance, etc. for platinums - but then again I "never" check in bags.

cfischer

if you travel domestic US a lot (NW) you get pretty much 100% upgraded to F-class (this year 14/14 for me), for gold this is 65-90%, depending on the route/day.

San Gottardo

The miles aspect has been explained here. Other than that, Platinum is actually quite poor when it comes to perks and other things which make your travel more pleasant (as a matter of fact, Flying Blue as a whole is poor in that respect).

Since the comparison between LH SEN and AF Plat was made, here is the comparison on "perks":

• Booking guarantee for C class (48 hours before dep) and Y class (72 hrs) on all flights. Flying Blue: only Y class, only longhaul.
• Double baggage allowance on all Star Alliance carriers. Flying Blue: 20 kgs more, whatever your ticketed allowance
• Companion award for award bookings (second person pays only 50% of miles). Does not exist on FB
• Free seat next to you (unless plane is full) for SENs. Does not exist on FB, they stuck you anywhere
• Preferred seating for SENs, best seats on board reserved for them. Again, does not exist on FB, you're being stuffed anywhere that suits them
• Dedicated security lines at all (most?) airports in D, CH, A, plus many others. AF didn't manage to organise that with ADP, not sure who is responsible
• Lounges also at secondary airports. Air France: true lounges only in Paris, plus some patios in selected provincial airports
• and so on...

Just in case you have a choice....

cfischer

so how many EQMs do you need for SEN? I need 70k for Plat ... and if I look at the easy of getting free flights, don't even think about comparing it. For a C-class award EU-US I need 40k EQMs and I believe it is almost twice as much for LH SEN