How did the old card expiry actually work?
Mar 12, 2013, 7:03 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,551
How did the old card expiry actually work?
So I remember the DC cards would always have an extra month on the expiry in order to allow delays in printing a new one etc, but this didn't mean the actual membership year was any longer did it?
But did it actually mean the extra month didn't show in StarNet?
For example Lufthansa have a similar system with membership year ending in December but cards expiring February but no question as to whether one is *G or not during this short period.
I'm asking because (amazingly) I just looked into the A3 account of Mrs. HL. Now she doesn't think so importantly of these things, and while I applied for a match for her there was never a reply, and frankly I forgot (When we fly *A we are together anyway). So when I logged in today I noticed she is showing as Silver (Blue) tier. The reason was as apparently above, her card expiry was not the "real" expiry and when she applied she was actually Silver and not Gold.
But I wonder if this policy really makes any sense. And should A3 be looking at it like this? Therefore it must be a curious thing with regards to StarNet and DC. While the SEN member is no question a SEN in Feb while he has not gained enough miles to renew in StarNet he would definitely show as Gold to all member airlines.
If it really is true that the extra month was meaningless, its quite an odd thing but I don't recall any embarrassing situations on here where the card said Gold and computer said no (In a partner lounge for example). In those cases, would the member airline honour what was printed on the card?
Thanks for your comments!
But did it actually mean the extra month didn't show in StarNet?
For example Lufthansa have a similar system with membership year ending in December but cards expiring February but no question as to whether one is *G or not during this short period.
I'm asking because (amazingly) I just looked into the A3 account of Mrs. HL. Now she doesn't think so importantly of these things, and while I applied for a match for her there was never a reply, and frankly I forgot (When we fly *A we are together anyway). So when I logged in today I noticed she is showing as Silver (Blue) tier. The reason was as apparently above, her card expiry was not the "real" expiry and when she applied she was actually Silver and not Gold.
But I wonder if this policy really makes any sense. And should A3 be looking at it like this? Therefore it must be a curious thing with regards to StarNet and DC. While the SEN member is no question a SEN in Feb while he has not gained enough miles to renew in StarNet he would definitely show as Gold to all member airlines.
If it really is true that the extra month was meaningless, its quite an odd thing but I don't recall any embarrassing situations on here where the card said Gold and computer said no (In a partner lounge for example). In those cases, would the member airline honour what was printed on the card?
Thanks for your comments!
Mar 13, 2013, 10:40 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Programs: Bonvoy LT Plat, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, BMI Gold (RIP)
Posts: 8,018
That's how I understood it too. You needed the card to cover the longer date period if you hadn't already re-qualified. The system would reflect the lower status if 38k hadn't been achieved, so you needed the card for access.
Mar 19, 2013, 7:26 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mostly UK
Programs: Mucci Extraordinaire, Hilton Diamond, BA Gold (ex BD)
Posts: 11,204
When I dropped to BD*S I was not able to do a gold upgrade over the phone as they seen me as silver even though my gold card was still in date.