Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

Has anyone been notified that they are, as described in the Flying Blue brochure, Platinum Elite for Life after having been Royal Wing and Platinum Elite for more than 10 consecutive years?

I have called and written for confirmation but have not yet recieved any answer from Flying Blue.

Emma65

If you've been PE/RW for ten years, shouldn't you be that for life already? I believe it used to be 5 years of consecutive RW/PE to get life membership and now it's 10.

Emma

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

What airline (KL vs AF) and/or country are you referring to?

Under Flying Dutchman I was not aware of any PE for Life program. After 12 years no one has offered one to me either.

In the Dutch brochure Platinum Elite for life is being described as a new program feature of Flying Blue.

Emma65

I have a welcome package for FD lying around somewhere but I distinctly remember it being 5 years of PE to qualify for life. Which is why I reacteed when I spotted the new 10 year rule for FB.

But it has to be consecutive years. 3 years PE, 1 year GE, 7 years PE does not qualify as 10 years of PE = life membership.

Same when it was 5 years.

As for calling FB, I called them yesterday and got through in a couple f minutes.

(I'm based in UK but started my membership while living in Sweden, I also check various countries sites from time to time.)

Emma

simonsmith

Johan is the expert on this. Sometime ago KLM FD announced PE for life after 10 consecutive years at top tier. This was well before the new programme. I dont believe it was ever 5.

monahos

New for former AF F+ members...


This is what I recall as well. 5 years would be way too easy.

Emma65

Precisely what I was thinking too. I thought it was extremely generous of them to offer lifetime after 5 years. So when the FB package arrived and said 10 years I thought "ah, they've doubled the years needed".

Anyway - no doubt Johan will pop in and let us know the deal.

Emma

JOUY31

TGV , a F+ member, has been awarded Platinum lifetime status with the new joint FFP.

Seachain

it's a little more complicated for those who used to be royal wing. the way it happened was that when klm changed the "carry over" rule they had to award members "so many years" advanced platinum. for example, you needed something like 25,000 (don't flame me for inaccuracies, it's just the concept i'm trying to explain, y'all!) to remain a royal wing. if you had in fact done more than this, then you carried the excess forward to the next year. let's call this the "change over point". at this COP, you took how many miles were excess or accrued and divided by the 25,000 or what ever it was and then rounded it up. that was how many years future guaranteed platinum level you were given. many people in my old office had in fact accrued some 000s excess miles so that when the programme changed, they had to give you many years future guaranteed platinum membership.

i'm trying to remember when exactly the COP occurred.. i think it was around 2002-2003 but memory is hazy - sorry. i recall one person in my office who being told they were platinum until 2012. i was given plat up to 2007. i was told i was lifetime plat at the turn of this year even though strictly speaking at that stage i'd only consecutively held royal or plat for 8 years so it occurred to me that they'd counted the guaranteed years in calculating the 10 year requirement .... not that it would have made any difference other than they confirmed it sooner than expected. it was an "in the bag" expectation.

so my take on it all, is that it really depends how many miles you'd accrued at the first change over point as that really dictated what then subsequently happened since after that point, it depends purely on what you do in a certain period.

i'm sure others will be more eloquent in explaining this one!!

now here's the irony. at the time of all the above, their attitude towards us really engendered loyalty towards KLM and we went out of our way to use them for the priveleges accorded to us and upgrade opportunities. they had really worked out a good way to reward frequent flyers and we responded by giving them our business. a lot of business, i might add.

and now Flying Blue has removed all that and there's little or damn little point to using KLM. i've got my (probably) last intercontinental journey starting tomorrow, then it'll be the competition i'll be using. plat for life and yet disillusioned to the point of not seeing any value in the award whatsoever and am most unlikely to use or want to use them again, under the current rules.

am i alone?

oomen

Indeed no use anymore to be loyal to KLM. PE status does not give you any benefit anymore. So yes: go for best deals rather than loyalty to KLM.

Leon

Would be great is someone could actually confirm (back-up with an email or something) it used to be 5 years of RW/PE to get a PE for Life. I will complete 5 years in October, should give me a chance to send a claim to KLM.

Emma65

Why? If my memory is correct you still won't make a life time membership in October as you now must have 10 years consecutive PE.

hfly

I don't recall it ever being five years, I believe it was ten since they started it.

Norri

Me too, I never read or heard any mention of 5 years before unless it was in the dim and distant past, AFAIK it has always been ten years.

Emma65

Despite the fact that I have a very good memory for numbers I may truly be completely wrong on this.