AirFrance Mini Fares - DL Medallion perks?
 

Does anyone know if DL Medallions (ST E+) get free bag and any other perks on the AF "Mini" fares.

Also, do we earn miles? It's hard to see what class I'm booking into.

I'm looking at a domestic MRS-CDG.

It says very explicitly that checked bags are a separate option, but I wonder if E+ perks apply?

Anyone have any experience?

Thanks!

ROTR

I don't think there's a lounge in Marseille, so that part won't apply, and I assume if you originate there, you won't really need the CDG arrivals lounge.

Right. Wasn't even thinking of lounges, but good points.

I've dug around and found on af.com:

Also, it books into E, which according to DL.com gets full miles and MQMs, so I think I'll go ahead with it and see.

I'll report back, of course, but if anyone has had any recent personal experiences, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks.

Watch out for the fine print. I had the impression that the minis were special fares that might be considered unpublished.

Yeah.
Well.. no huge loss if I don't get the miles/MQMs, I guess...only 500...
And I wouldn't pay the $29 difference, for 500 miles.

Would just be annoying if they make me pay that 15E for my bag when I get there, and then I still don't get the miles.

At least we'll get a data point up here on the site.

You might want to try this thread on Mini in the Air France Frequence Plus forum. There might be some information that's actually useful, based on people who've actually flown Mini. And if you're question isn't directly addressed, then at a minimum, you're unlikely to get any better treatment than AF's own elites (and that information will be there):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-f...ini-class.html

15 Euros + 500 RDM < $29 but it's close. A lot depends on how risk aveerse you are and how you value MQMs. Plus this is ignoring elite bonus RDMs. I think 15 Euros + 1000 RDM > $29, certainly if 500 MQM are added. This is without assessing the probability of being charged for the bag, which I don't think you should be.

Thanks for the link.

In fact, though, we are frequently treated better than FB members, getting 100% of miles for almost every fare flown, not to mention 100% bonus for gold vs 75% for FB gold.

Of course the two programs are pretty different in a lot of ways and VERY different about award redemptions, but I don't think it's a given that outside members get less benefits than "home" members.

ETA: According to the thread TrojanTraveler linked - it seems we do get the one-more-than-zero baggage allowance.
That's good news.


True, and up until recently, I would probably have followed that logic and paid the extra $29.

These days, though, I'm not feeling particularly interested in throwing extra money at the airlines in hopes of it working out in my favor or of having extra benefits or devalued scrip in my possession.

I'll keep my $29, and they can keep the (maybe) 1000 more skymiles and (maybe) 500 more mqms.

Of course, this is assuming I won't get charged for the bag - which I don't think I should either.

Anyone have experience with Mini fares yet?

Yes, I have flown on Mini fares, and it's actually pretty great -- they are cheap, I got access to the AF lounge at ORY with Delta Gold status (note: it's a pretty terrible lounge, though marginally better than the rest of a terrible airport), priority security, and earned miles including the 500-mile minimums, MQMs and elite-bonus RDMs. I did not check a bag but it appeared that I could have gotten one free with status.

Also, people on the AF forum are complaining that mini gets you assigned a bad seat, but in my experience I was assigned a window seat near the front both ways (row 3 as I recall). You don't get to choose your seat however.

Baggage fees for Elite Plus ?
 

Anyone flown Mini Fares with checked baggage since the last post ?
Wondering myself about OP's question and in particular the baggage charges.

Does anyone have any new info on this?

Specifically, how do STE+ perks mesh with Mini Fares?

Do I get my free bag and seat assignments?

Survey says yes to free bag, no to seat assignments, both in this thread and a related one in the AF forum.

Was there something that made you think things may have changed recently?

it seems like the delta E fare..

I hope you didn't take my previous post as snarky. I really was wondering if there was some news I missed as I'm considering some Mini fares myself for a trip this summer.

But in the AF thread linked to earlier, folks have reported as recently as October that they were earning DL miles and receiving a STE+ baggage allowance (and restating that in December, though no explicit "I just flew a Mini fare" posts). Unfortunately I haven't seen any reports more recent than that.

I would expect that if anything has changed since then, we'd pretty quickly see people pitching a fit in the AF thread. ;)