groovyfly

Yes, did receive the letter. Just didn't quite understand if a mistake had been made at the time as I had lapsed one year for a full 10 year consecutive streak.

And am also above 60. Maybe that's why it's cheap for SK to give me a lifetime gold... :P

CPH-Flyer

Yeah, probably the above 60 kicking in on the total. Also if the break year had a soft landing, in the spring they seemed to count soft landings. Not so any longer

kauppias

Its pity they dont count them, if I fly 90000 miles year 1 and 20000 year two it should be better for them then if I just fly 45000 year one and year two?!

I might have thought more closely about leaving Eurobonus if they had counted soft landing and just spreadout my flightflights accordingly but now it just doesnt make sense to fly 45kX2 for gold as EBG does not materially benefit me more then star gold.

another_shot

Got a letter congratulating me with Lifetime Gold. I am well below 60 but I have done 10 years in row EBG and EBD qualifying through the miles only every time (no credit cards, no segments). I cannot find this meter showing how many years I have but for some reason (SAS IT again?) my current qualification period miles have dropped and now it says I need another 34k to qualify for Gold - it sounds very coincidental that I have passed EBG re-qualifying threshold quite recently and they simply cut 45k (?) from my current period. Looks weird but I guess it doesn't matter any longer as I will not make Diamond this time anyway.
What surprises me there is no small text explaining what Lifetime Gold exactly is and what kind of terms and conditions apply - you expect there should be some?

FlyerTalker70

So let me get this straight, if I hold SK status for 10 years straight I'll get that status for life? Also does the status apply across the alliance (i.e. if I have Lifetime *Gold thru SK does that mean if I were flying UA with my Lifetime SK *Gold I could access the UC)?

This news is really calling into question my milage crediting strategy - I have no qualms hitting the required milage for a given stretch of time (i.e. 10 years) if it means lifetime status for me! Geez with all the competition from the various * milage programs it's becoming virtually impossible to choose which one is right for me, be it UA with their policy that any ticket earns at least 100% miles, A3's, you only need 24,000 miles to get Gold when you fly us, or OZ's get 4 years of Gold once you hit 50,000 miles!

In terms of confidence in SK delivering on this program in the long run I have no worries there. SK is one of the five points of the Star (the other 4 points being AC, UA, LH and TG) meaning if they go bust chances are the lifetime status will still be valid come HEL or high water (most likely outcome would be LH Group acquiring SK).

Safe Travels,

James

kauppias

I would certainly NOT expect to hsve SK LT gold honored if SK went bust? Is there any such case of a airline going bust where LT status was honored somewhere? Not counting mergers which are a different beast all together

SKT-DK

Me neither - I am sure there would be options for status matches to other programmes in- and outside the alliance, but only for the normal qualification periods of the programmes offering and not for lifetime.

FlyerTalker70

Could you name a single legacy airline that's gone bust in the last 30 years and left their loyalist high and dry? I suspect the number could be counted on one hand with several fingers to spare!

There's a huge difference between the fly by nights like Primera and Monarch and the legacies like BA or LH who have survived good times and bad (i.e. 9/11).

Safe Travels,

James

CPH-Flyer

Ansett Australia is the only example I can think of. There was recognition of booked tickets on partners, and some offers of status match. But other than that, the members lost their miles and acquired benefits. Not sure if they had a life time status, but that would ahve been down the drain.

But let's say SK goes belly up, and the pieces are absorbed n to Lufthansa, who does not have a lifetime status, I doubt life time status from EB would be honoured.

FlyerTalker70

I wouldn't consider Ansett to be a legacy (Aussie feel free to chime in here if I'm off the reservation so to speak) although their loss as the only Ozzie * partner is dearly missed. The only example that I could think of was SwissAir which if memory serves me correct LH did end up eventually acquiring and I believe the elites were grandfathered? I'll let the Euro FTers comment on what happened there the only other thing I could recall was that SwissAir tickets were as valuable as the Deutsche Marks are now when they went belly up.

Safe Travels,

James

Tango Alpha

Yes.

And yes, gold is gold.

kauppias

LT status wise I would not be hopeful. But thats just me. Plus if SK went belly up I doubt there would br many suitors for the whole operation. With these new changes SK is boubd to lose alot or members in the leisure market from my view. Perhaps for business flyers there is a point to stick with EB but leisure GO flyers not so much

CPH-Flyer

Ansett was founded in 1936 I would normally count that under the legacy carriers. But I can't say I have a clear definition of what counts as a legacy carrier, other than having been around since the early days of aviation.

Swiss Air went belly up, and then became Swiss International. Lufthansa only acquired them years later. When they were struggling once again. I don't actually know if the elites were carried over from Swiss Air to Swiss International. They were certainly when Lufthansa took over, as they acquired a going concern.

Nick Art

Svantevit

One example that comes to mind was BMI who was part of Star Alliance. The had a lifetime gold which also counted as *Gold. When BA aquired BMI existing BMI lifetime golds were status matched to BA Silver but not given lifetime status. When BA then later introduced their own lifetime status levels, the BMI flyers were still not re-instated as lifetime anything.

See link: BA Lifetime Gold for bmi Lifetime Golds ?

All the above is as far as I remember.

Svantevit