Easy qualification.
 

Today I got a letter with my mileage statement (mainly tax free shopping :-) ). They stated that the situation (Iraq, Sars, etc.) is affecting them too.

They asked me to fly them as loyal of possible and they would be loyal to me: the would be very flexible with the FF-status for 2004. If I understand this correctly KLM will lower the qualification tresholds? Interesting ...

KLM is also giving away FD Silver. Last week I recieved a couple of forms giving the status away for six months. If you fly 15,000 miles (business class Amsterdam to Chicago) you get silver for a year.

Having just qualified for BA Gold again for 2004 those things amaze me. I do fly the miles, pay the tickets and then they give this away. I have seen this happen and the next thing is that being elite has little or no meaning and the benefits will be reduced. :-(.


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Cheers,

Brenno.
wereldverkenning.nl

Hi Brenno,

If you can spare one of those forms for a forum member who will probably just fall short a few flights of a status upgrade, I'd be very very greatful. And of course I would reimburse you for your trouble. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

BTW Apparently KLM doesn't care whether I fly them or not. I have received no letter at all...

[This message has been edited by Avallon (edited 05-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Avallon (edited 05-03-2003).]

Will do.

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Cheers,

Brenno.
wereldverkenning.nl

mmm... I will fly 80,000 miles with KLM this year. I wonder if they will give me extra credit or something extra for those of us who plant ourselves on their metal for the full freight?

This said, its nice to see KLM acknowledging that some of their members may have cut back travel due to current circumstances.

I would really hope that they do something for those of us who already re'qualed with butts in seats (by the end of Mar in my case).

Sure it's good to do some extra for people helping to qualify but bonusses should do such a thing so that people have equal chances. Further I also feel that people that qualify in March should receive utter recognition.

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Cheers,

Brenno.
wereldverkenning.nl

Keep on dreaming! Based on past performance you can safely assume that KLM simply take their most frequent and loyal pax for granted.

johan

I don’t care so much about KL giving away status. If people don’t use the card, they wont build up miles and loose it again.
So they don’t bother me!

What I do agree with is the devaluation of status level. People who fly little get Silver, but Silvers don’t get Gold etc.

Last Wednesday at the C-lounge in AMS I got some hints that the perks of Silver will be reduced substantially next year.

This is not a bad thing because at the moment KL Silver is by far the most generous status in the world for people who fly only 25K (or less, see above) a year.

Another thing will of course be that the amount of Platinums will reduce a lot by natural attrition.

Suppose you are right Miles4All, and KLM is very generous with giving out SilverElite status. Takes but a few intercontinental trips to qualify. However when flying intracontinental, making 1000 miles in total on a $550,00 ticket (standard return fare AMS-HUY) seems uhm, odd? Especially if u consider that a cheap flight from Amsterdam to Paramaribo would cost little more and get u about 10.000 miles. I think that people who buy tickets for about $6.600 per annum deserve some perks. Of course the story changes when u buy action fare tickets from the UK to AMS (u pay a fraction of the AMS - UK price) but not many people do...

[This message has been edited by Avallon (edited 05-05-2003).]

7 return flights AMS-JNB will get me PE for under € 4,900.00.

45 return flights (90 segments) AMS-CPH will get me PE for € 12,735.00. That's admittedly considerably less than the expenditure € 21,075.00 required to attain PE on this route by flying 75,000 miles (70 return flights), but still a lot more than needed when flying longhaul.

All calculations assume lowest available fare.

johan

I'm no KLM fan, but I think they are not that bad compared to some other airlines in the US or Europe. Okay AF gives you Rouge at 40,000 miles (1,000 miles per flight minimum!) and BMI at 38,000, but LH or SK requires you 6 tickets to the moon in First Class to reach anything.

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Cheers,

Brenno.
wereldverkenning.nl

Brenno, Lufthansa gives away FTL status for 35k for non-german residents.Based on the fact that you will get 1000 miles per segment on LH and that you receive a 25% executive bonus ( for status and award miles ), once you reached FTL level, Lufthansa gives away their top status much easier than KLM.

The sad thing for many loyal KLM customers who were Silver Wings for many years is the fact that the more or less worthless Silver Elite status ( no lounge access at all starting in 2004 )is harder to reach than Silver Wing status in the past.Of course Silver Wing status had more substantial benefits.

IMO, it does not make any sense at all to loose status pax and reject lounge access for Silver Elite members( members who could fly up to 49999 miles without getting anything substantial perks beside a 50 % bonus on flown miles).
Based on numbers from the competition it is fair to assume that all Silver Elite members generate more revenue than Gold Elites, same is true for Gold Elites in comparison to Plat Elites.

KLM was always known for high load factors in Y, but I wonder if former Silver Wings, who will be be downgraded to Silver Elite status will keep their loyality...

I can only hope that they are smart enough to extend elite status for all customers.Beside that it is time to overthink their programm, the current elite thresholds are too high in comparison to the ( european ) competition.That can easily result in loosing pax to the competition.

I am pretty sure that the grand total of all elite customers will be lower at the end of 2003 than it was at the end of 2001, if they don`t change anything....



[This message has been edited by Threy (edited 05-05-2003).]

Threy,

The new program is a copy of NW's WP. Those guys over there dont even get into the lounge in the US with WP Gold and fly up to 74999 miles a year!
They see FD members popping into the lounge with a Silver status they were given somewhere, and believe me, they complain about that. See NW board.

Another point made I have to fully agree with; people flying short haul invest a lot of money into an airline and get very little out of it. Indeed very unfair. I suppose that is why milage runs were invented.

So? Who says copying NW was such a bright idea in the first place?

Perhaps, but KLM is based over here, not over there. Their main markets are in Europe, and their main competitors are based in Europe. Try telling a KLM SE from say NWI who flies to AMS every fortnight that he's being denied access because those guys over there are jealous. I'm sure he'll understand!

johan

Economy class, short-haul flights

KLM = 45 flights
1.) 90 segments = PE qualification
2.) 45.000 miles (90 * 500 miles)
3.) Award miles: 101.250 (90 * 500 miles + 90 * 500 * 1.25)

LH = 40 flights
1.) 80 segments
2.) 100.000 miles (80 * 1.000 miles * 1.25) = SEN qualification
3.) Award miles: see 2.)


Business class, short-haul flights

KLM = 37.5 flights
1.) 75 segments
2.) 75.000 miles (75 * 500 miles * 2) = PE qualification
3.) Award miles: 121.875 (75 * 500 miles * 2 + 75 * 500 * 1.25)

LH = 20 flights
1.) 40 segments
2.) 100.000 miles (40 * 1.000 miles * 2 * 1.25) = SEN qualification
3.) Award miles: see 2.)