Losing the gold touch
 

Hi
Myself and wife are gold skywards for the last 9 years flying y class only,not a mean feat in itself,holidays only,no business trips.
Now it looks like we are losing gold due to this new skywards system.
When it started out flex fares were available in y, now however we can only get them displayed in j,f. To keep g:confused:old in y is now impossible without flying to Australia 5 times a year ...ludicrous.
Are skywards reviewing this system or not because it is losing two more frequent customers here etihad looks a viable option.
Anyone else fed up

Congratulations on getting and keeing Gold for 9 years flying Y. I agree. No mean feat. ^

Arguably, it was more ludicrous that someone could be top tier elite WITHOUT flying at least that much. :)

Just received my Gold Elite card from Etihad Airways today. Decided to give them a try because their fares look much better than Emirates'. Being very loyal to the Emirates Airline I still can not justify paying almost double just for the miles. Let's see how Etihad are.

Also enjoyed La Premiere of Air France this week - what a great experience! The procedures and lounges at Charles de Gaulle are way ahead of the premium check-in area and first class lounge in Dubai. The in-flight product is not as good (no suites), but the service is much better and tres chic. The only disadvantage is that Air France are much more expensive than Emirates out of Dubai. AED 97k for a return flight to Los Angeles - I still can not get over that that easy.

If I understand correctly you are yet to fly EY so did you status match to Gold Elite from skywards?

Welcome to the party, though you're a bit late.

I haven't flown Etihad in a few years, but as an FFP there's no doubt they are better. However, EK recognizes their elites onboard much better, has nicer planes, more frequencies on my main route, usually has better fares (though these are now Saver), and DXB is a much nicer experience than AUH.

Having said that, Etihad currently has a sale in J out of SIN, where their fares to Europe are half of what EK wants. If I needed to fly to Europe and could afford to pay the J fare on EY, I wouldn't bother with status and just go for it.

Not sure whether it was a status match or else. I reserved the tickets through Centurion Travel Service and received them with a note to expect a gold elite card as well which arrived within 72 hours. I believe that the Etihad experience might not totally equal to Emirates especially with the longer drive and the outdated Abu Dhabi airport, but sometimes I find it harder to justify paying almost double the fare to fly Emirates. So it turns out to be a good opportunity to give Etihad a chance.

Depending on where you live Abu Dhabi airport may not be that much further in time terms. Only about 15 mins difference from The Palm. The new section (Terminal 3) is very modern and very nice and I really enjoy their F lounge. Like you I could not justify the price differences so I switched what travel I could away from EK to EY and others some time ago - also the lack of any real benefits for a lowly Gold means allegiance means little. Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

going against the grain
 

I think i got my timing right for once, I am about to go for GOLD for the 1st time ever (probably the first and last) in November. I had a J flight to Oz earlier in year then have a F (:D) LGW-CPT in Nov. Very pleased with myself as all flights are paid for out my own purse! Just wanted to let the forum know that there are a few people making the status (and i'm not a business person).
P.S What can i expect of my first experience in F cabin and how does it compare to J?
My flights are Ek16,772,771 and 15.

Many thanks

Hi Aquitania
Nice of you to join the Club who have now transferred their Business to Etihad, Yes they may be a unknown if you have never flown with them, But at a Big saving , Well its worth a try.

I just received My new silver card from EK today saying , If your Travelling less frequently because your are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service , please contact us!!!!! You have to search for the contact details and guess what!!! I don't want to waste my time when Etihads have given me Gold to March 2013 ;-)

Malc

Good to hear that, Malc. How strict are they in regards to cabin luggage? I am infamous for having bigger and heavier carry-ons. Never had any issues with Emirates. Does anybody check the weight and size of the cabin bags in Abu Dhabi or elsewhere?

You shouldn't have any problems at all, especially if you're flying in a premium cabin. My father has flown both EK and EY a fair bit and actually much prefers the EY service and product consistency (in F & J). In Y, as a Gold, you get no recognition on EY.

I have never had an issue on any of the many flights in J and F I have taken with them - not so much as a sideways glance ...

Re ludicrous
 

B747-437b
Are you suggesting that to obtain gold we should all have to fly 108,975 actual miles which is man to Melbourne five times a year while every other loyalty programme only asks 50,000 miles to achieve gold
5 minutes on the Internet brought up man to Melbourne taking 10/09 to 17/09 as an average

Skywards cost£5344 per person for 54000 tier miles ie 4 roundtrips at 13500 tier miles while etihad brought in 43590 tier miles for 2 journeys at a cost of £2477 per person same journey
Do you not agree skywards has brought in saver fares to thin out it's elite membership leaving the lounges for it's business paying members only
I signed up for skywards because I believed them to be fair and affordable,now they seem to be reneging on these perks in the name of making the system simpler to understand
By the way the emirates flight had one way in flex so god knows how the figures would have added up all in saver... Not good reading I would have thought

Status match. Khalid
 

Hi again
Been with skywards that long I am out of it regarding other loyalty programs
What is this status match you talk about.
Does it mean that if I transfer to etihad that they will provide a gold card status,without having to go through the blue, silver card process and queueing at airports all over again?

I'm saying that Gold is Emirates' top tier, so comparing it with a mid-tier on other carriers is not really accurate. Have a look at British Airways' program for example. To achieve Gold on British Airways would require 13 roundtrips in Economy Class between London and Melbourne.

If you're not flying enough to meet whatever criterion the airline sets for its elite status, you're not flying enough in their eyes. If the grass is greener elsewhere, its a free market! :)

+1.

If status is such a big deal you can buy flex fares. You get double the miles without paying double the fare. Though it depends - sometimes it's only 20% more, other times it is 60% more.

HI Aquitania

Etihad Guest just gave you a Gold Elite Card ? Or they Status Match you ...

Because I hear that Etihad dont give out Gold Elite Card unless u reach the 125.000K miles.... Gold Card is the highest they Match or giving some kind of promotion.

Yes, they sent the Gold Elite card to me this week. Did not ask them for it at all, but it might be that the Centurion agent arranged it for me when reserving the tickets. Not sure, but definitely appreciated the attention.

That is not true at all. That seems to be a blinkered look at US schemes and only looking at the mid level tier

e.g. Qantas's mid tier level ( which is level which provides for lounge access ). MEL-LHR r/t earns 120 Status Credits in discount economy. 700 is needed to attain Gold and 600 to renew so is 5 r/ts to renew it. To attain the top tier requires twice that level

Full economy would earn 240 points so would halve it ( same as how Emirates offers twice the earning for flex fares ), however on Qantas , for international travel, only full fare economy will earn full SCs whilst Emirates offers flex fares to Australia at about 20% over the lowest economy cost)

That really depends on what fares you look at. Based on 5 trips that would be £1068.8 per trip. If purchased a flex fare the cost would have been an extra £200 but only needed 2.5 trips so would work out at £3172 which seems pretty reasonable cost to attain top tier status

Dave

Yes its the AMEX thing that worked for you. AMEX Cent Desk has the possibility to get you Top status:D without even asking for it. I flew CX F 4 times 2 months ago & I have Diamond status with CX already which otherwise could have taken ages. I too used Amex Cent to book the CX tkts.

Safe Flying

EGT

Thats correct.


And in regards to elite (Gold) tiers at other airlines outside the Middle East, we could do a benchmark of their threshold. Just to let you know, Lufthansa (LH) threshold to become Gold (Senator) is 130k (when living in Germany).

As a UA 1K, 2MM, QF and EK Gold flyer I know a little bit about achieving status. Anyone that doesn't do sensible research on minimising costs (if that's what they want to do) can't really complain IMHO.

All of my flying (and everything else in life) comes out of my own pocket. I am not employed and am not in business, so I have no sympathy whatsoever for people whose fares are paid by their employer complaining.

And BTW, I have renewed my QF Gold membership for approx AUD 2,500 and my EK Gold for less than AUD 5,000 this year.

I know that this will annoy many people on this board, such as ELITEGOLDTRAVELLER, but that's life.

Just my point of view.

Hi Mate,

I am indeed happy for you to being able to renew your status with EK.

On a personal note I do not share a liking for those people who Status Match for just having a go for some upcoming flights & then look for a soft landing:mad:

All revenue renewers are always more than welcome. Its your/our business that keep FT & the airline FTQ business on track.

BTW no one pays for me too but unfortunately I do have to work. Call it freaking destiny or kind off a burden that some how I got on my small butt (its bigger now) & I do have to pay for 1278 people also & this is only the offical figure;)

About the rest. Well then we would need some silica & a LOT of hard liquid in an indecent sorrounding at illegal hours to talk over. Don't forget I need to work at the legal hours.:D

Safe Flying

EGT

Xxxxx

It's not the concept of Saver fares but the implementation that is of concern. For example, Business class tickets (not companion fares etc) that earn Saver mileage. Or tickets ex-DXB which are ridiculously over priced earning Saver mileage when there is no difference between saver and flex fare conditions. Why pay 50% more?

Xxxxx

Flexible way
 

Hi
I got the answer to my original query by emailing emirates directly
They told me the only way to buy flex tickets direct is not online as this always gives the cheapest fare to the fields entered
To buy flex I have to phone the reservations centre whose number for the uk is 0844 800 2777 which I did and found flex flights to joburg at Xmas are about £140 dearer than saver but giving full mileage.
This means we probably will be gold again next year as I'm willing to pay that much just so we don't have to queue at the airports.so thanks for all your views we got there in the end
Happy flying

I still think EK is a great airline, there's no doubt about that.

As for Skywards and other programmes - with LH you feel like they're out to nickel and dime you. Look at the M&M forum and there's enhancements every week. EK used to be about the comfort, convenience and pleasure of flying. Sure, you become too liberal and your business becomes unviable. But EK has always been innovative in the past, and it would be nice to see them finding innovative solutions (which they say they are working on), rather than following the pack and reducing mileage and benefits. That's what differentiates a market leader (one that has a lot of financial resources at hand in this case) from the 'industry'.

Don't want to start any offtopic or flaming i just want to comment on this that having boatloads of money, cheap oil and government that backs you up virtually in every way isn't actually anything "innovative".

While the effect of that on Emirates is very debatable, one could say the same of Saudi Arabian, Royal Brunei, Gulf Air etc.

Innovation is First Class Suites, onboard showers, onboard bar, ICE, route expansion, flight path planning and a lot of other things that aren't visible to a passenger. If you have the resources, invest them in creating an excellent product. That's something EK has typically done.

The problem at present is that EK's profits are likely being used to pay off Dubai's colossal debt.

Ive gone off Emirates for various reasons, but I think it is fair to point out that EK does NOT benefit from cheap oil. Oil is purchased at global prices. So its debt incurred to buy/lease aircraft.

As far as govt backing is concerned its normal in city-states. Singapore and Hong kong do it too.. for the very simple reason that these are big domestic busineses for small countries and so ""too big to fail"" for reputational as well as commercial reasons (No one is going to judge or rate India China or USA by their airlines) It just means that govt spends a lot of time and effort thinking aboput how to help the airline grow

The model works -- at least they are not bloodsucking leeches living off taxpayer handouts like contemporary Air India and Alitalia (for much of its life)...