alanw

I got a mail from Iberia Plus last week informing me, in classic Iberia fashion, that they know things are tough right now, and they really wanted to be flexible, and even though they made the requal criteria less demanding, but go pound sand because we just dropped you to a base member. I can't say I'm surprised, really.

Except from their paragraphs-long mail about how hard it is out there for an airline:

Please note they say that "even though we proportionally reduced the requirements of the program", you've dropped to base level. There has been no communication from them about any change in requirements.

BA are also offering no relief whatsoever, so I guess I'm going to be concentrating my flying from now on with *A.

craigthemif

Considering that IB+ runs from 1 April until 31 March for status purposes, it's very hard to argue that people didn't have at least 11-11.5 months to complete the Elite Points required. Platinos have two years...

Whether or not BA, IB, etc.should be extending status anyhow is a separate question. I think it's the right thing to do, but IAG will soon find out whether it matters. They still may feel good about having the Madrid to South America and London to everywhere business markets locked up.

more4less

Hi alanw,

Got the same mail here.

This “downgrading” combined with the limited benefits on Vueling, even booked under IB code, also drive me to the other alliances.

more4less

Hi craighthemif, you are somehow right but I was not so far away from renovating Oro and actually I had a trip already booked that would have take me well above the 2250 elite points.

These days we are seeing very low fares in Premium Cabins, and probably it is foolish to book, but still I have bought a few tickets and non in Oneworld.

Matias C

Hi,

I have a question. Flying in vueling (ticket VY) is considered a segment for qualification in Iberia plus?

more4less

I would think so but not 100% sure, sorry. I hope other regular contributors in this forum can confirm it.

jackr27

This is my interpretation too, although I don't tend to fly with Vueling if it can be at all helped.

I did requalify at Oro and I imagine Iberia's reasoning for not being flexible is that the year runs 1 April - 31 March. But I can also see that downgrading people who were close to requalifying might not be the best strategy for when this is over - more so if they did actually have oneworld flights booked and decided not to travel when covid-19 escalated.

I am interested at this point as to whether Iberia will show any flexibility for this coming status year. My next flights (due to cancellations and postponements) are not until the end of October (!). And I'm not even counting on taking those at the present time. Usually 6 months in I'd be well on my way to requalifying, but that definitely will not be the case this year, and I am not anticipating earning enough EPs to requalify over the next 12 months.

This said, since Iberia is virtually shutdown now, and the situation here in Spain is very difficult, I don't see how it'd be sustainable for them to not at least show some flexibility this year, because otherwise they must be heading for a dramatic reduction in Iberia Plus status members come 2021.

Danimalito

I got upgraded by IB from plata to oro (silver to gold) 2 weeks ago. I was pretty close to gold anyways.

I'm guessing that they did something similar to BA, where the requirements for the levels were relaxed ~30%.

From the email in spanish:

James1715

I didn't seem to get any extension but I don't seem to have an expiry date for collecting the required points due in Year 2 of the Platino cycle (I was over 6250 points in year 1 of 2). Just says, earn 5875 elite points by *. It should be earn 5875 elite points by 31/3/21, as per the bonus Oro card. Perhaps this was an IT error rather than anything generous.

marcelduchamp

Hi alanw,

were you downgraded from Oro (Gold) to Base? This past year’s the first time I’ve not fulfilled the requirements - in fact, I barely accrued 15 Elite points in 2019/2020 - and was downgraded from Oro (OW Sapphire) to Plata (OW Ruby). Do they normally do soft landings or did they make some sort of exception because of the lockdowns worldwide?

Danimalito

A couple of years ago i had Oro, but i ended up crediting only a single flight to Iberia the following year. They moved me down to Plata, so i think soft landings is an undocumented policy of theirs.

LupineChemist

I just went from Platino to Oro (after basically no flying in the last year) so I'd say soft landing is standard.

cape

Hi more4less , I am in a similar situation, downgraded to Plata after cancelling just a single ticket that I could not fly in March ( purchased 4 months ago).
It would have taken me over the 2250 threshold.
I tried to ask for an exception but no luck, I find this very disappointing and short sighted from Iberia...

alanw

I went from Plata to Blue. There is a special circumstance, though...I got the Plata "for free" with the Icon Visa card. Evidently it was for the first year only. I credit all my IB flights to BA. The only thing that gets credited to IB are VY flights, of which there weren't many Avios this year.

As the Icon card is such a terrible deal, I decided to get an Amex and stop worrying about an airline credit card.

Cofyknsult

So much for the Intra- OW Alliance consistency. American has fully extended status for a full year, doubtlessly under pressure from the other US "Big 2" DL and UA plus Southwest which did the same thing even adding extra benefits. Finnair has also been extremely cooperative.

I have had, since all this began, to cancel trips with Finnair, AA and BA, the first two being no problem at all, but BA delaying things and refusing flexibility for as long as they could... only to HAVE to fully refund me , with the money now-re-credited. IAG (BA/IB, not sure for Vueling and not involved with EL) do not seem to realize that there will be an "After" (or actually maybe there won't) and that the good will and choice of their (former?) customers will be paramount for their recovery.

That they have lost me forever as much as I'll be able to is totally unimportant. They will howerer have lost millions who have not been treated better than me, and THIS will have a significant if not definitive impact.