subject2load

Ah yes .....truly comforting to see EK coming up with as many offers as they can to look after regulars from other carriers ; as opposed to coming up with anything new for their own existing Skywards pax.

Hard on the heels of the announcement of an enhanced relationship with Alaska (lounge access to go along with the well-established tasty mile redemptions etc etc ...) we now have this charm offensive targeting Air France loyalists.

Wonderful

eternaltransit

I tend to agree - although having taken advantage of status matches without doing any flying on the new airline, I can hardly come out against them

These sorts of things are commonplace - they are there to try and get some incremental business. After all, Amex was until recently giving out free CX Diamond and EK Gold to Centurion card holders! Unless it starts having a hugely detrimental affect on stated benefits for existing flyers (e.g. lounges rammed), I don't think it's that much of a problem. If you're buying a J/F ticket you get a lot of the benefits already - just some extra miles.

However, the timing of it, especially given the lack of attention EK gives its own flyers with the scheme, certainly doesn't go down well, I agree.

CalFlyer

Appalling. But just what was to be expected of Emirates.

eternaltransit

Are you opposed to status matches in general, or specifically because it's EK?

As others have posted, status matching is a commonplace thing amongst airlines (and hotels) - EK is quite restrictive when it comes to them (the last major one was in the US matching to certain US programs for US residents).

KU104

So is this for AF only, or can I status match my BA Gold card to it. Wondering that it might come in handy on some DXB trips I might get in the next year in Y, even though I quit EK.

SuiteFlight

Most people who are eligible for status matches (and are aware of them) have taken advantage so let's not get silly.

The reality is that status means little unless you actually fly said airline, and it's value is only decent if you fly it regularly (in which case, you'll probably end up requalifying for status).

When Emirates lounges are crowded, it's not from status matches, but rather from people flying other airlines that have ability to use the Emirates lounge due to alliance agreements (because Emirates lounges are usually better than other airline business lounges).

If I wanted to tighten up status matches, the only thing I'd think sensible would be to require at least one premium class booking (no cheap Y) to unlock the benefits - after that anything is fine (that would cut out those least likely to requalify). But to be honest, I don't think it's that much of a problem to even institute that (far more impact in capacity restricting lounge access to those not flying on Emirates aircraft IMO).

extramileage

Emirates is one of the tightest in terms of status matches and even this offer leaves Emirates with a fair amount of discretion to approve only those that they wish to lure over.

I really doubt this will move the needle very much in terms of numbers of Gold or, especially, Plat.

lighthand

One question. If a person has never flown with a airline, how do they get their contact as well as know how frequent they fly?

I assume they don't give status match to everyone.

stimpy

In this case I'm already on their email list as a blue member with my address in France. So as theorized above they are probably attacking the French market. If I send them a copy of my AF Lifetime Platinum card and my BA Gold, etc., I expect they would figure out that I'd be a good customer to have. And I've flown in EK F a few times in the past. Normally I would jump on this but it looks like I'll only be flying between the US and Europe for the next year.

m3red

I thought EK were trying to reduce the number if plats as there are far too many. Knowing EK as I do I think it would be very difficult to get a match to platinum and you'd need to demonstrate considerable future spend.

lighthand

Ok understood.

Too bad OW and *A don't often (never in my case) offer status matching. Would be good for my L. America/US and Inter Asia travels.

Flame3601

hey

I work for emirates , in the fine print, and i mean very very fine print, you will only receive gold or platinum skywards tier status if you are willing to give up your airline of choice gold or platinum equivalent , it a way to get more premium customers flying emirates !

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CHOOSES EMIRATES AS THEIR CHOCIE OF AIRLINE TO TRAVEL WITH ^:-::-:

JOSHUA FLEMING
emirates employe

badgersfly

How exactly would one go about "giving up" their equivalent status? Even if you could "give up" your other airline's status, how would Emirates know?
thanks

eternaltransit

I've successfully matched EK to Skyteam, Oneworld and Star Alliance - are you specifically excluded from some of the offers?

DYKWIA

Do you really work for Emirates?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emira...l#post25582469