llunow

Dear all

In May, SAS changed the terms for earning points in economy (min. 1000/flight) as well as changed the conditions for EBG (min 50 flights or 50.000 points). This is all good, unless this happens in the middle of your earning year. I am caught in a dispute with SAS and I don't know whether there are any chances of me winning this battle.

My earning year changes 1/9 and during my last year, I have had 41 qualifying flights and around 42.000 base points. If we stick to old conditions, I would have kept my EBG due to >40 qualifying flights. If we however look at the new conditions, I would have received minimum 1000 (1250 with EBG bonus) base points for each of my flights. However this only applies to flights made after May 2012. I have several flights earlier in my earning year, where I only received 260 points. If all those flights were according to the new conditions, I would have received more than 9200 additional base points, giving me a total of >50.000 base points = enough for keeping my EBG.

I have both contacted EBG customer care on the phone as well as on email, and they refuse to let me keep my EBG, as I don't have enough points or flights as currently required.

I would have expected SAS showing better judgement for these cases of customers caught between these two sets of conditions. Especially as I would have kept my EBG if either new or old conditions have applied to my full earning year.

I know that compared to may of you, my travel activities might seem limited, but I really have hard time coping with loosing my EBG - it really makes my travels much easier. Please let me know if any of you are in the same situation and/or have some good advise for me.

brgds
Lukas

SK2751

Hmmm ... a tough case. Esp. that scandinavians are not good in being flexible with rules, in my experience. It reminds me how vulnerable my status is. My flying pattern is similar to yours, but I was more lucky with how my flights aligned with change of rules.

I have no idea how to help you ... People would often say go A3 if this still works and you are after status not mile. I do not know how effective A3 is as a programme with SAS lounges, etc.

ILS2

I am surprised that SAS denied you EBG status for another year. I have plenty of examples of friends and colleagues that have been granted a "one off" due to falling a few miles short, being on maternity leave etc. You're case is created by SAS changing the rules in the middle of the year, so you would think that they would be aware of this problem.

I guess your last chance is to humiliate yourself publically on SAS' Facebook page. It has proven to be quite an effective way of getting things the done the "right" way.

GUWonder

A3*G status does just fine with SAS for lounges, check-in and additional free baggage allowance.

Adde

I mentioned the risk for exactly this scenario in another thread already before the point earning changes took place in May. I have a similar flying pattern and would also have risked loosing my status if I would have been unlucky with the timing of the changed conditions in relation to my earning year.

SK2751

Yeah, I forgot the facebook idea. This might work. Although you could try calling again, hoping that you can hit a different agent. I actually like the EBG status, so I would definitely try these means, before defecting to something else. Especially if you think that you can maintain it in future years.

llunow

I have given Facebook a try, as well as Twitter. No luck - they only refer me to their official EBG email address. I am truly disappointed how BAD SAS is handling this... They excuse themselves with lack of capacity in their lounges for all the "borderline" cases.

Anyone who has experience with escalating such issues inside SAS?

Any recent experience with status match from EBG to A3?

llunow

OK, I have given A3 a try, but they are only matching BMI Diamond Club, so no luck here either. I might as well get used to EBS

LH4116

Have you lost your EBG yet? If not, request a status match from Turkish. They match *G to *G. I honestly think TK is a better programme when it comes to maintaining status. The status lasts for 2 years, and you only need 25K per year to re-qualify. If you for instance reach 25K within your first year the status will renew for another two years after the original expiry date. Good luck!

SK2751

Would not re-qualifiaction in EBS be similar effort as qualification for *G in A3?

Guy Betsy

You can always give TK Miles and Smiles a try..

intuition

If I understand OP correctly, he has already lost SK *G? Then matching offers won't mattter to him. I suggest for OP to got with A3, and to read up in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aegea...les-bonus-694/, especially the FAQs.

If he indeed still have gold, I suggest going with TK instead and do the status match. Lost of reading there too, in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...tus-match.html

MrsAina

Sorry to see that you lost the *G status. There was a transition period, ending July 31. I picked up that on this forum and had it confirmed by EB - prior to July 31. Up until then you would renew your status for the next qualifying year, based on the old rules.

Got myself a quick trip to CPH to reach 40 single trips as August for me is a period without extensive travelling.

llunow

My EBG is still valid until November, so I have few weeks to have it matched. I will try going for TK then, as I have tried sending my info to A3 and they only match with BMI Diamond. Is TKG valid for SAS Fasttrack and lounge access?

Thanks everyone for the good input.

SK2751

lounge access with TKG should be fine, as long as you fly *A. Fast track unfortunately will not work (only if you fly SK business or eco extra, but this is independent of TKG).