jerry_greece

I was upgraded (almost 1 hour before departure saw it in the app) to a (packed) 1-row-C on a KLC flight VCE-AMS. I had the window at 3A but was moved to 1C with upgrade. Crew apologised that they did not have other C meals because it was a last minute upgrade and offered a sandwich from Y. I wanted to tell them that I wouldn't eat the salad anyways. I missed my window though :/

atflyer

So do facto a downgrade since you rejected the Wanders box and missed your view ;-). Or did you have at least a free middle seat and better wines as compensation?

jerry_greece

No no, it was a E190, so indeed a downgrade. I tried to compensate by having 2 gin-tonics but I would have gone for the view (it was sunsnet time).

Squerez

See Venice and die....have a spritz and you will be back!

Patagonico

I´ve just finished EZE-CDG and CDG-ARN in economy. On the first leg they proactively served me wine from Business and Armagnac (on my request) after dinner. On the second leg the middle seat was kept free (two empty seats on the entire aircraft) .Water bottle and champagne was offered as a courtesy after departure. On both sectors Cabin chief presented himself after boarding thanking me for my loyalty.

atflyer

One of the most memorable trips I had was HKG-CDG-VCE with evening take off at HKG somehow flying over Victoria Harbor at sundown after take-off, and then landing at VCE next morning an hour or two after sunrise Followed by a direct private boat trip from the airport to the island where I had to be. I see that 2 gin-tonics cannot make up for the Venice view (I never knew, but the institute where I lectured told me they had direct water taxi's from the airport. Something much nicer and different as Nice, where you can order helicopters to places nearby - never splashed out on that one).

Maestro Ramen

I did enquire about taking a helicopter taxi from hotel rooftop to GRU while in Sao Paulo, assumed might have been on the cheap side since Brazil is not expensive, but the quote was prohibitive (think around 800 euros) so I passed (and just as well since the traffic was not too bad in the end).

The hotel (Grand Mercure) has a helipad, but not sure if it's ever been used as the staff was surprised that I asked. (When you find out the price, not so surprising after all!)

wuzziduzziman

From my experience, everything in the "luxury domain" tends to be very expensive in Brazil (compared to the Western world).

jerry_greece

I usually take the cheapest public buses available :P

Fates

Now that Ultimate has been “streamlined” with the other tiers, do we expect this to lead to a devaluation of Platinum status? As a new-ish Platinum member, I’m noticing them trying to add a lot of platinum+ features. There was mention some time ago of enhancements to Platinum status but now I’m concerned they’re just going to say “well done for reaching 300 XP, if you want anything of real value though you’re going to have to reach this new 600 XP level”. I understand they’re always going to try and push people to higher status but the current distinction between Gold and Platinum feels very poor given the huge jump in XP from one to the other.

where do folks think this is all headed?

curiousexplorer

I think introducing a new tier might be quite complex at the moment. More probably they will introduce a gamified system with extra benefits as you gain more XP over 300.

I do hope however that some extra benefits are coming to the current Platinum status because indeed the difference from Gold is negligible.

atflyer

The only game left for plats is the 10 year that gives plat for life. But that is a tall order....Apart from the PSL and the free upgrades to economy comfort earlier as for Golds and Silvers. And then I am not entirely sure what extra benefits Ulti's get.....

itaexpat

I agree with both these points, and I would also hope they'd enhance Platinum given that the difference between Plat and Ulti is much bigger than Gold and Plat (of course, such is the difference between 300 and 900XP)... the other thing is that Ultimate requires 900 UXP which are only earned on AF/KL-marketed flights; if truly Ulti were to become a tier like all others, shouldn't the earning scheme also be aligned to all other tiers?

Unless FB is trying to zero in on customers based on Europe or doing frequent business with Europe. Which is totally possible. I'm a European based in the US so I do a ton of AF/KL-marketed travel between US-EU, but part of my earnings is through Delta, which isn't eligible for UXP. As it currently is earned with UXP, Ulti doesn't strike me as a real tier in the stricter sense of the word.

Fates

yes, exactly! I’m also a European based in the US, so Ultimate feels unachievable based on my current work travel.

Fingers crossed that these promised “platinum enhancements” truly are enhancements. Surprising that they announced the changes to silver and gold and ultimate without saying anything at all about Platinum…

ofj

isn't UXP based on AF / KLM marketed flights? As I understand, one could take tons of Skyteam flights on other carriers, as long as it is booked on the AF / KLM sites. It doesn't have to be operated by them, correct? Conversely, flying on AF / KLM and booked on Delta is actually ineligible for UXP, right?