the status match between IHG and China Southern Airlines
 

I was quite suprised, in such a worldwide frequent guests and loyalty programme forum, no one in flyertalk posted the news of status match between IHG and China Southern Airlines which had already shocked the China market for a whole yesterday.

The IHG spire elite member could be instantly matched to the gold elite of China Southern Airlines, the expiration date is 2020/02/28, and if you could accomplish 2 qualified segments with CZ before 2019/12/31, your gold elite membership would extend to 2021/02/08. Please note, during this year, the gold elite of CZ equals to the elite plus elite of Skyteam, and in the following year, CZ would most probably join the ONEWORLD alliance, so it would be a totally complementary oneworld GREEN member after LATAM.

And there was a bug in IHG, because of the offer "Instant spire elite" offer, member could first be instantly upgraded to a Spire, then instantly be matched to the gold of CZ. For this bug, it was estimated that nearly 70,000 members got a free gold elite of CZ and Spire of IHG yesterday in China.

I am so sorry that friends in America did not know that, so I post this news here to make you all know, just cry! baby!

I am IHG Spire. How can i match? What link?

thank you

It wasn't really a "bug", but I must admit that execution of the promotion could have been a little smoother.

I don't know if CZ will ever join oneworld, but if it does, next year seems way too early. Even if it does, CZ gold will very likely be oneworld sapphire, not emerald (green). CZ will need to create a tier higher than gold if it joins oneworld, so there will be a tier for oneworld emerald.

I've yet to hear a single credible source suggest cz is likely to join OW, let alone anytime soon.

Flyertalk is/ has become useless for people based in/ heavily frequenting Asia, in my opinion. No surprise there, it was much discussed on other forums.

I was able to find this: https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/ih...-status-match/
Judging from Google Translate, registration is only possible through Wechat.

Yes, and it's working well again now.

No one here really cares cause the membership will only be useful for flying 1) CZ and 2) Skyteam till Dec. 31.

CZ itself is nothing spectacular and Guangzhou as the main hub isn't helping unless Hong Kong is destroyed. Yes we know Beijing is also a hub but the operation is hardly comparable to Shanghai and location is not that great.

It's also only available through wechat, which I think most American/European who are not visiting China or have a relation with them will utilize it, so not making to the news is not surprising.

There are also many other Chinese oriented promotions on fliggy that never made it to flyertalk. Not the first time.

Note to all:
-this is the first first post in my entire history on FT in which I play the "you are (dead) wrong" card

Hmm... I tried to take advantage of this offer today on WeChat, but it didn't work for me... I was able to log in to the WeChat IHG mini app, but when I went to register for the China Eastern promo it wouldn't let me get a dynamic PIN. Probably since I don't have a domestic Chinese phone number. Oh well.

It's China SOUTHERN (CZ), not China Eastern (MU), which is continuing as a major SkyTeam alliance member.

Ah, yes, That's what I meant, just mistyped... Indeed I entered my CZ Sky Pearl loyalty number, but still was not successful in activating the status match offer

This has always been (kind of) the case. While far from useless, it's definitely not geared towards those in Asia. That said, it's still been extremely useful for me these past years that I've been based out here... just nowhere near as useful as if I were still back in the US.

Also, what other forums are you talking about? If there are other English language forums for Asia-centric, I would love to know about them. I definitely have to sift through a lot more non-applicable information on FT. However, if they're Chinese language forums then they would be useless to me and a ridiculous comparison due to the obvious difference in user demographics.

Well... Hong Kong does seem to be doing a pretty good job of trying to destroy itself lately...

I actually made plans recently to go to the much further Guangzhou airport rather than fly out of HKG. Between the potential for transportation breakdowns to/from the airport as well as all of the cancelled flights... Hopping onto a train to get to CAN suddenly didn't seem such a bad idea.

Even if there was a train station anywhere close to CAN, going there from HK would still be an awful idea (price difference aside).

I thought I mentioned it, but I seem to have forgotten. If I was actually *in* HK, you would be correct that CAN would be silly, but both CAN and HKG require some travel for me to to get to. While HKG is a relatively easy trip, the unrest makes it a lot more questionable.

As I said, the risk of having my flight cancelled was a serious concern. I certainly don't relish the thought of dragging my kids on an hour and a half train ride plus taxi just to get to the CAN airport but the very real possibility that I might have to rebook 4 flights close in at significantly higher prices due to more flight cancellations is certainly worse. Possibly needing to drag my kids through hordes of increasingly violent protestors and police also gives me a little more reason for concern. While bystanders generally haven't been targeted, the situation has been getting worse each week.

I've had friends visiting HK who have been caught up at the edges of protestor actions or harassed for their choice in clothing color. The cops might harass you if you wear black. The protestors might harass you if you wear white (opposite of black), blue (pro-cops), or red (pro-China). Or you might just accidentally get caught up in a misunderstanding or other accident. I wouldn't be too concerned while traveling alone but with two small children I would prefer a guarantee of inconvenience to even a marginal chance of danger.

Would anyone be able to list the details on how to register for this? I have WeChat and searched for the IHG miniapp. Once you open the IHG miniapp, everything is in Chinese and there is no way to translate the text

The promo is currently on hold for a few days.

You can play whatever card you want and it won't change my opinion.

There are better resources for people who are into Asian or in particular Chinese programs, but they are definitely not discussed in a whole lot here on flyertalk (and not in English). When you can't even get an individual forum for each of those major Chinese airlines (for the lame reasons you get on talk board), plus the language barrier, I don't see why it's wrong to call people on this forum not caring enough to post many things Asian oriented (especially for CZ who is no longer allianced).

CZ without Skyteam to foreigners on flyertalk is just another Chinese airlines where they use to go to China or fly China domestic. On top of that, CAN is extremely boring for transit and your wifi can't access most international website without a VPN. Definitely not a top choice unless fares are dirt cheap.

I am not into arguing with however you want to play your cards, so feel free to not respond and this will be my only response for you.

Well, the protest is likely to continue cause they are not going to get what they want. I would avoid HKG unless it's just a transit within the airport (or ferry). It's definitely going to help CAN a bit for those that needs to transit to mainland China via ground. It's still very far to go anywhere from CAN. From the airport to city centre takes 40 min to an hour. If you need to go to the proximity of Foshan or Dongguan, it's going to take hours (and you may be stuck in traffic).

In case you're unaware, CZ has been guaranteed the #1 position in the world's largest airport. Because of this, and some bilaterals they have been working on, their goal of becoming the biggest airline in the world within the next 5 years isn't completely crazy.

Has anyone been able to match the last few days?

It's still not back up yet. I will try to update this thread when it is.