niki_m

Hi, guys!
I saw, that Flying Blue has ceased the end of the qualification period about 2022.
Till 2021, we've got the whole year about qualification (from date to date), but now the end is in December 2022, but not in april 2023 like an example in my case.
My qualification period was 01 april - 01 april, now is from april 2022 till December 2022, but not april 2023..

fifty_two

Hello

you are maybe talking about validity of your status (it used to be 12 + 3 months but not anymore) rather than qualification period (12 months)

Do not check the FB virtual card but rather the miles counter in app or website

irishguy28

This changed as of 1 April 2018.

Previously, everyone's membership year was aligned with the calendar year. Since the current version of Flying Blue (the one that uses "Experience Points (XPs)" rather than "level miles" to determine status) was launched in 2018, one big change in the program was that everyone's membership year was no longer always aligned to the calendar year. When you go up a status level, you begin a brand new membership year at that higher status level, and therefore your membership year "changes" to align with the month subsequent to the month you went up in status.

Given that you have stated that your status period went from April to April and you now have an end-of-year at December 2022, this appears to indicate that you went up in status in November or December of 2021. Is this correct?

It would help if you told us your current Flying Blue status level, and when you first earned that status level.

But still: since April 2018, going up in status can change your membership year. Previously, your membership was always fixed to the calendar year; and in the current version of FB, your membership year will always remained fixed as long as you either maintain your current level, or only drop in level; the only thing that can now change your membership year is when you go up in status level.

irishguy28

It just occurred to me that maybe you are talking about this "issue": with the move to digital-only cards, there is no longer a "grace" period of 3 months extra validity shown on your membership card beyond the actual end of your qualification period

12 or 15 month of benefits?

niki_m

I am Platinum since 6 years till now. I've got 6 consecutive years of Platinum membership with Flying Blue.

irishguy28

Your membership year and qualification period has not changed. As you have been platinum since the "old" Flying Blue, your membership period remains aligned to the calendar year: 1 January to 31 December inclusive.

The only thing that has changed is the abolition of physical Flying Blue cards. It was the "delay" required to complete each of the tasks (assessing each member's new status level; manufacturing a new card for each member; mailing these cards out to all members) that required them to previously add a "grace period" onto the physical card's expiry date, to bridge you through this otherwise awkward period between the end of the previous membership year, and the receipt of the following membership year's status card.

However, your new digital membership card no longer shows an extra "grace period" for which - in the physical era - status was granted for an extra period beyond the end of the membership year. As the membership card can now be instantly generated/downloaded, and there is no longer a need to manufacture a large batch of physical cards to be sent out to all status members after the end of each member's qualification period when it is known what their next status level will be, it is no longer necessary to issue cards with these extra 3 months of status to cover this period where your old membership year had ended, but you had not yet received your new physical card.

KLBGO

My digital card still shows qual. period + 3 months.

brunos

I can understand why sending physical cards would justify a 3-month lag between end of membership year and qualification period.
But that is not the only reason.
Miles credits and adjustments need some time. The IT does not always work very well, especially with partners.
Let's take someone who is FBG and took his lovely partner for New Year celebrations from Paris to NY. The outbound flight on 28 Dec is not immediately credited for some reason (AF flight was cancelled, rerouted on DL or whatever). Flying back on 1 Jan, the pax discovers that he has been demoted to silver and no lounge. His lovely partner is not impressed by the guy and decides to leave him once back. AFter a lot of complaining, the guy manages to gets the outbound miles/TP credited retroactively.
Clearly, there needs to be a split between qualification period and membership year. Whether it is 1 or 3 months is another issue.

irishguy28

I would argue that, in this example, Flying Blue has done our intrepid traveller a huge favour ;-)

Besides - in the vast majority of such corner-cases involving last-minute requalification, I would imagine that the timing of these flights was chosen as deliberate ploy/strategy by an engaged frequent flyer. Now that this frequent flyer is aware of the "change" from physical to digital cards, and the consequent issue of a potential "gap" in status coverage, they can adapt to this new scenario and plan more appropriately. This could take the form of ensuring that requalification is locked in early enough to prevent the issue (and thereby also avoiding any unforeseen hiccups related to travel disruption or rerouting on crucial last-minute qualifying sectors); that the flights in the potential "problem" period are booked in business class (thereby having the perks of status included regardless of status), by avoiding travel on partner airlines which may introduce an unacceptable delay in posting at what is a critical end-of-year time; or by actively ensuring that the XPs for the flights just made are forced to post immediately to your account. (At least on KLM, doing an auto "retro-claim" immediately upon arrival at the destination airport always goes through immediately; I have not tried this on AF, as I have not flown AF in the past several years, but it has now become habit for me when travelling on KLM).

As engaged frequent flyers, we all know we need to engage with the programme/rules/opportunities and look out for our own interests; as such, it will be in most frequent flyer's ability to adapt their requalification strategy to negate this potential down-side.

Fabo.sk

Considering that a retro-claim process can easily take 2 months, even in AFKL in some cases (like original routing credit) I would not take this so easily. However it is what it is.


Presumably you have qualified sometime last year other than December. Existing statuses with +3 months were not shortened.
Mine also still says August, even though my qualification year ends in May. I fully expect to be greeted with May 23 expiration come June.

irishguy28

That's why I would advise engaged flyers not to build strategies where their (re-)qualification depends on last-minute, potentially disrupted travel wherever possible. Travel in the dying days of December is always going to be risky, given what happens in both CDG and AMS if a snowflake shows up within 50 clicks (or, in AMS, if the wind gets above 5 knots! )

But a "retro-claim" on a straightforward KLM flight can be initiated as soon as you land. Try it next time!

Fabo.sk

Or you don't build your strategy, just see what happens. As for December, it's Christmas. Always a heavy travel period in Europe. That is if your period even is calendar year based.
Automatic retroclaim on a straightforward KLM flight did not help when I got rerouted due to strike

irishguy28

I just noticed the following now on the FB website:

https://www.flyingblue.com/en/programme/status

Anna Krulatz

Ha, that's strange! Mine used to be December - December, but now that I moved up a level in October, they moved it to October.

f0zzyNUE

retro claims seem to be way easier today. you just have to enter the ticket number (I did it with my AM stock ticket) and the segments showed up. flight segments are credited after 7 days of the flight with this method.