Dogmatick

I've been dealing with the same handler too and have said to her now not to just give an off hand Ill researched answer but to escalate cases where needed. I suggest you do the same.

For her to suggest that their processing time should be factored into your calculations is rubbish of the highest order because then you'd have to requalify on the 29th of December and not by the 31st.....

Write to Baumgartner and get the higher office to call you back. Also list the flights you're going to book with Qatar instead

duskraider

Earlier I received e-mail that my status validity has been extended to March 2020.
The only sad thing is that i had to actually send numerous e-mails regarding this matter while the answer was pretty straight forward.
Lets just hope reaction of staff to some things will be better in the future.

British Balikbayan

In my opinion, the old policy should absolutely apply. The delayed periods for things to 'process' sound absolute bull to me and I'm damn sure there is no mention of it in the terms and conditions. You would think that with today's IT systems it would happen automatically in real time. In my experience, tier miles have already been credited to my Guest account a soon as I have landed when I have checked. That said, when I qualified for Gold, my status upgrade didn't happen automatically.

However, on a positive note, I see they are saying that your card will be valid up to the 31st of march 2019. That mean they are giving you the rest of this year, plus all of 2018, plus the first three months of 2019. That's very different to the news that had been coming out recently stating that under the new rules, new qualifications will only be valid for 12 months. The email you received would suggest the reduction in validity for new qualification is not as bad as we first thought (if what you have been told is correct).

It's difficult for any of us to know what the actual truth is at the moment. Even different parts of the Etihad Guest website have been contradicting each other. Different people seem to be getting told different things by email as well as more confusion arising from what we have been told by Etihad Help. Etihad need to get that act together so that we have non-ambiguous clarification on the new policy.

Mike

duskraider

I have received gold card with expiry of march 2019 on it so connecting 2 things together looks like new rules are until end of year + 1 year + 3 months.
So it looks like people still can get 2 years + 3 months if you qualify in January which is not that bad in the end.

Dogmatick

Though they seem to be suggesting that they are instigating more change in this matter. Like the thirteen month requaly etc. I've still not heard back and it has been a while, I think that they're giving up on me, even in the lurker thread they aren't responding when you point out their inaccuracies (of which there are a few)

British Balikbayan

Although a reduction, I agree it wouldn't be so bad. But in your case you have been robbed of a year. I qualified for Gold for the first time in February and my validity runs until the end of March 2020.

And that's the unknown I feel uneasy about. If validity has a maximum of 12 months, I might just fly less, go back to Silver when my Gold expires and pay for lounge access at outstations. As Sliver, I would still have an extra bag, priority check-in and lounge access at AUH.

Dogmatick

Website now says
Etihad Guest Silver, Gold and Platinum - is valid for the rest of the calendar year earned with an additional bonus of two months.

Now it's two months

So if you qualify in December do you expire on Feb28th ? Some two and a bit months later......

British Balikbayan

Dogmatick, Was that in the FAQ's section of the website? I posted that info earlier in this thread here. This contradicts what is written in the notes at the bottom of the Tiers and Status page

It's clear that even Etihad themselves don't understand their own FF programme.

EDIT: Sorry I have messed up slightly. Previously it said 2 months bonus in the Terms & Conditions and 3 months bonus in the FAQ's. It now says 2 months bonus in both. However there still remains contradictions in the info regarding validity. Currently, the following is stated:

Terms & Conditions:
4.4 If you have attained an Etihad Guest Tier Status after 30 September 2017, your Tier status is valid for:
4.4.1. one year for Etihad Guest Silver Members, Etihad Guest Gold and Etihad Guest Platinum Members.
In addition you will enjoy the benefits of your Etihad Guest Tier Status for a bonus two month period immediately following the expiration of the periods mentioned specified in clauses 4.3.1,4.3.2 and 4.4.1 (as applicable).

FAQ's:
Etihad Guest Silver, Gold and Platinum - is valid for the rest of the calendar year earned with an additional bonus of two months.

Tiers & Status Notes:
11. Once you have attained an Etihad Guest Tier Status after 8 October 2017, your status is valid for: one year for Etihad Guest Silver Members, Etihad Guest Gold and Etihad Guest Platinum Members.

In my opinion they need to rewrite this lot with more clarity.

Mike

Dogmatick

Deleted, double post

Dogmatick

Elaine called me and passed me onto her manager

I have spoken to him before and knew for fact it was going to be a pointless call

To summarise, the renewal this year is thirteen months, if you have mileage runs booked to take advantage of dropping out of tier and requalify in January for two years then cancel those flights

What will happen thereafter, how will requalification work. They don't know

How long do you qualify for if qualifying now. They don't know

After January end how will you qualify or requalify, they don't know

What is my qualification period for next year and the method I requalify, they don't know.

I essentially got no answers at all from a fifteen minute call. It was utterly pointless and only done to tick the box saying that they'd called me which is precisely what I knew it would be when they called.

"We need to update our website", you think?

Ho hum, I really need suggestions of where to decamp to. People steering me clear of all options with the exception of Virgin (no one has mentioned it in the first place) but that has its own limitations

The merger cannot happen fast enough so as to remove such pointless customer service staff and program designers

gpicur

FWIW: I flew EY the other day DMM-AUH-DMM and after completing my journey sent an email to EY Customer Relations to ask if they would consider granting me a status match or status elevation based on my 2018 UA 1K (Platinum +) Status . EY sent me two responses which did not answer my question and then referred me to the EY Guest Program. So it looks like EY Status re-qualification and Status Match are getting more difficult.

...on the other hand, QR just granted me an additional 12 months of Gold Status due to the diplomatic situation that forced them to cancel flights to Saudi. That definitely comes in handy on BA, RJ and AA.