Number of Elites
 

It is several years since this question has come up. Does anyone have any idea of the current number of Elites?

Based on the bag tags in the lounges about every third person.......
:)

So every person? As who actually puts the tags on their bag? Other than people wanting to show off, thinking it is status symbol in general public or something?

I only put a tag on when planning on using fast bag (often as leaving the lounge and taking it off while waiting for a Uber).

ummm.. It may be true what you are seeing but may be during peak times?
my observation is that it is not that ratio off peak

Luggage tags
 

The new luggage tags seem to snap easily
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a0b7d30c6d.jpg

This has been an ongoing issue over the years. Normally you can pick up replacements at the Koru lounge or if you've been at a status level for a few years you seem to accumulate quite a few of the different designs they have had over the years.

To your point:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e7181c4985.jpg
My wife's EP kit was sent three times, plus two more tags for my requal. So eight extra.

I deviate from others here, and think that there are a perfectly fine number of Elites in the wild. Why do I say that? I say that because my Elite benefits with Air NZ have never been impacted.

I have never had to wait more than five minutes during the busiest times on the phone (a huge benefit actually that gets overlooked for FFs).

In all except Aucklands lounges during the absolute busiest times, I have never had a problem finding a seat (even Auckland lounge isn't always packed) and Air NZ are working on a solution to that (the main problem being Auckland airports design itself). And that is with usually taking a guest in. And as I have said before this could be fixed by making Koru more expensive and that is the real "culprit" here to crowded lounges.

There are tonnes of upgrades available and I can usually find guaranteed upgrades even to North America if I am flexible with where I travel into, and, given the thread on upgrades, it seems the vast majority of them clear for Elites.

The only benefits I don't always get are the elite welcome. In fact I almost never get that, although on a recent TT flight I did get Sydney arrival cards and a random headphone upgrade which was sweet.

So if all of my benefits are working great and I have fantastic service with Air NZ, I don't see how there are "too many" Elites, unless you want to limit the number because you want it to be more "exclusive" and to make you feel of even higher status. I can safely say my ego does NOT need that at all. Almost all of us who are in a position to be Elite already have either jobs or businesses which mean we are in a very privileged part of society, so I don't need my FF status to be more exclusive as well.

The only thing "missing" it appears is the elite gift and frankly. I could care less about that. Getting wine glasses might be fine the first year, but random junk starts piling up. It's like when you find yourself regularly flying an airline with PJs. They just start getting abandoned because while keeping them is a novelty at first... They soon become more annoying junk.

Perhaps also my opinion is impacted by the fact that I am a North American traveler and know what it's like over there. Its dreadful to say the least. North America IS a place where half your plane has status and having it means very little, and as a result of constant domestic upgrades, business class is massively watered down. Flying domestically even in business in the USA is the opposite of pleasant and so to me, Air NZ is am absolute breath of fresh air.
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