Star Alliance Award Chart have been changed over night to the worse
Nov 1, 2018, 12:37 pm
#61
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I have no problem rationalizing the moves from SK side. The question is what we (the FFs of various kind) should do given that we understand this market situation? What is the best strategy for us? I was still unable to find a better tactics than sticking with SK. The continuous devaluations in all programs make it difficult to justify the switch (especially that I fly SK most, and good treatment of IRROPS and no nuisance efficient travel is what I value most; and I am not sure I can get that if I switched to have status with TK or A3). The only other thing I though of is to try to find a new job situation that can reduce my traveling significantly.
Given how airlines keep making the air travel experience worse and worse, cutting back on travel by air sounds likes it could be a good approach for many if they can find an equally or better rewarding professional and lifestyle track than the one that involves being an air travel passenger for work — more so if the air travel is frequently in the back of the flying bus.
Nov 1, 2018, 2:36 pm
#62
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: DXB
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 2,811
Off-topic, but now that we’ve already started ranting: I just missed my SK flight (SAS Go return ticket booked for EB points).
Went to the SAS service desk and asked if something could be done. “It’s an award ticket, you’ll have to call and speak to EB. I see that we have no award availability on SAS today. Also, the only SAS option would be a connecting flight, so that would cost more points than the direct flight you had booked.”
“Awards are zone-based, it doesn’t matter if it’s a direct or connecting flight.”
”Well, that’s not what they taught me in training. But you would have to call EB anyway, this is their new number.”
So I called them, spoke to a Danish (!) callcenter agent.
First I asked just to doublecheck that the return of my award wasn’t cancelled due to the no-show. It was, he said! It was only after I pushed back that he checked with a supervisor and confirmed that indeed the return was still usable, but that it was too late to do anything about the missed outbound flight (changes are only allowed up to the day before departure).
I then told him that I would like to book a *A award as nothing was available on SK metal. I had tried to book online (thanks to the new website), but it was less than 2 hours until departure.
So I asked if he could tell me the fees.
”I can’t.”
At this point I switched to English because I was sure I had misunderstood him. But he just repeated he couldn’t.
”I would have to send the booking to the Eurobonus department for pricing and they’re already closed.”
”But aren’t you the Eurobonus department?”
”Yeah, sort of. But I can’t help you.”
”So you are telling me that I can’t book an award at 5pm?!”
”You know, usually people book at least a few days in advance.”
I then finally called Tallinn (using the UK number) and they were able to help me. It only took ages (the agent put me on hold several times) and they quoted a too high number of miles. If I hadn’t checked the website before, they would have charged me 25k instead of 18k miles.
Can SAS sink any lower?
Went to the SAS service desk and asked if something could be done. “It’s an award ticket, you’ll have to call and speak to EB. I see that we have no award availability on SAS today. Also, the only SAS option would be a connecting flight, so that would cost more points than the direct flight you had booked.”
“Awards are zone-based, it doesn’t matter if it’s a direct or connecting flight.”
”Well, that’s not what they taught me in training. But you would have to call EB anyway, this is their new number.”
So I called them, spoke to a Danish (!) callcenter agent.
First I asked just to doublecheck that the return of my award wasn’t cancelled due to the no-show. It was, he said! It was only after I pushed back that he checked with a supervisor and confirmed that indeed the return was still usable, but that it was too late to do anything about the missed outbound flight (changes are only allowed up to the day before departure).
I then told him that I would like to book a *A award as nothing was available on SK metal. I had tried to book online (thanks to the new website), but it was less than 2 hours until departure.
So I asked if he could tell me the fees.
”I can’t.”
At this point I switched to English because I was sure I had misunderstood him. But he just repeated he couldn’t.
”I would have to send the booking to the Eurobonus department for pricing and they’re already closed.”
”But aren’t you the Eurobonus department?”
”Yeah, sort of. But I can’t help you.”
”So you are telling me that I can’t book an award at 5pm?!”
”You know, usually people book at least a few days in advance.”
I then finally called Tallinn (using the UK number) and they were able to help me. It only took ages (the agent put me on hold several times) and they quoted a too high number of miles. If I hadn’t checked the website before, they would have charged me 25k instead of 18k miles.
Can SAS sink any lower?
Nov 1, 2018, 2:50 pm
#63
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SJJ/AMS
Posts: 4,647
All-in-all and despite the usual FlyerTalk’s ‘turmoil’ (let’s not forget: we are a tiny minority), I honestly doubt that SAS/EuroBonus will see a major overturn in terms of loyalty — the vast majority of those regularly flying SAS will happily continue to do so and easily requalify Gold/Diamond without looking at earning/spending tables. Let’s face it, not many people outside ‘FlyerTalk’s world’ would know a great deal in terms of other programs (e.g. A3, TK amongst the all-time favourites here): a number of work colleagues (we are a large pharma business with a significant amount of work-related travel), when approached and asked what they thought about ‘this & that’ in terms of airline’s loyalty programs (only time I normally ask is when I notice some folks within my department proudly displaying their BA Gold or Delta ‘super-duper’ tags on their laptop bags), they wouldn’t have a clue and, again, I suspect that a large number (if not indeed the majority) of ‘EuroBonus loyals’ will remain so, regardless of all the recent changes (including no lounge access and you name it). Admittedly, had my commuting patterns not changed, I would have also probably sticked with SAS.
G
G
Nov 1, 2018, 4:35 pm
#65
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
All-in-all and despite the usual FlyerTalk’s ‘turmoil’ (let’s not forget: we are a tiny minority), I honestly doubt that SAS/EuroBonus will see a major overturn in terms of loyalty — the vast majority of those regularly flying SAS will happily continue to do so and easily requalify Gold/Diamond without looking at earning/spending tables. Let’s face it, not many people outside ‘FlyerTalk’s world’ would know a great deal in terms of other programs (e.g. A3, TK amongst the all-time favourites here): a number of work colleagues (we are a large pharma business with a significant amount of work-related travel), when approached and asked what they thought about ‘this & that’ in terms of airline’s loyalty programs (only time I normally ask is when I notice some folks within my department proudly displaying their BA Gold or Delta ‘super-duper’ tags on their laptop bags), they wouldn’t have a clue and, again, I suspect that a large number (if not indeed the majority) of ‘EuroBonus loyals’ will remain so, regardless of all the recent changes (including no lounge access and you name it). Admittedly, had my commuting patterns not changed, I would have also probably sticked with SAS.
G
G
This award chart devaluation hits hardest the biggest collectors of SK points getting those points from flying to use for flying. And most of those customers are who? They are the kind of customers mentioned above, business customers.
Nov 2, 2018, 7:58 am
#67
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: 1A
Programs: Elite Diamond Purple Dot Gold Silver Titanium for life
Posts: 1,822
Interesting that when you try to view the terms and conditions, a blank page appears.
Is there anything in T&C that mentions giving members notice of program changes?
Is there anything in T&C that mentions giving members notice of program changes?
Nov 2, 2018, 8:37 am
#68
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,169
Nov 2, 2018, 9:12 am
#69
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SJJ/AMS
Posts: 4,647
G
Nov 2, 2018, 10:15 am
#71
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: DXB
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 2,811
All-in-all and despite the usual FlyerTalk’s ‘turmoil’ (let’s not forget: we are a tiny minority), I honestly doubt that SAS/EuroBonus will see a major overturn in terms of loyalty — the vast majority of those regularly flying SAS will happily continue to do so and easily requalify Gold/Diamond without looking at earning/spending tables. Let’s face it, not many people outside ‘FlyerTalk’s world’ would know a great deal in terms of other programs (e.g. A3, TK amongst the all-time favourites here): a number of work colleagues (we are a large pharma business with a significant amount of work-related travel), when approached and asked what they thought about ‘this & that’ in terms of airline’s loyalty programs (only time I normally ask is when I notice some folks within my department proudly displaying their BA Gold or Delta ‘super-duper’ tags on their laptop bags), they wouldn’t have a clue and, again, I suspect that a large number (if not indeed the majority) of ‘EuroBonus loyals’ will remain so, regardless of all the recent changes (including no lounge access and you name it). Admittedly, had my commuting patterns not changed, I would have also probably sticked with SAS.
And also SAS has very attractive fares for large companies and there are tons of ways to earn EB points (credit cards etc.) and even status, it's just so simple.
Of course if you're already earning more miles than you can spend, you won't care much about the changes.
However, I also noticed that even within the "miles&points community" in Scandinavia, people seem to be largely clueless about anything else.
Some people seem to use Flyingblue because they fly KL/AF (which I dont know much about, but I've never heard anything good about it) and some use BAEC due to the good QR sales from Scandinavia we used to see.
And that's it. (I asked that guy why he uses Flyingblue of all the programs and he said it's because they will let you know when there's award availability over the phone, whereas BA only checks three specific dates for you... go figure.)
Even within the miles&points community, people will tell you nonsense like "You aren't entitled to SAS lounge access without an SAS card, that's just courtesy".
Or that you get better service on Air China in case of IRROPS if you have EBD instead of EBG.
Even within our "community", people seem largely focused on hitting the spending thresholds for 2-4-1 vouchers etc., so they can book their yearly vacation in Southeast Asia.
It's very different from Germany for example, where people join all types of loyalty programs and try to use sweetspots in all programs.
I don't think that even in the Scandinavian miles&points community, more than at most a handful of people have Alaska miles.
Of those I have spoken to, almost none had even heard about the Iberia 90k Avios promotion, etc. etc. etc.
But then again, there are no 2-4-1 vouchers in Germany, but American Express is quite popular, and Membership Rewards points are transferrable to a lot of bonus programs...
Nov 2, 2018, 6:00 pm
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,169
That is very true however most programs (talking about those I'm most familiar with apart from EuroBonus e.g. Flying Blue & MilleMiglia but even Accor when it comes to hotels, just as quick example for ease of reference), including most recently with some major changes in terms of earning/spending and you name it, tend to be a tad less cloak-and-dagger [as opposed to SAS] in terms of notifying the wider audience concerning changes that would significantly affect their membership
G
G
The comment was more OK the futility of looking for the terms and conditions and hoping to find a violation of the rules by giving no notice.
Nov 4, 2018, 1:52 am
#73
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: AGH
Posts: 5,979
Nov 4, 2018, 2:24 am
#74
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: DXB
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 2,811
You are right. I’m trying to remember why I wrote “points”, but I think that probably was a mistake.
Anyway, it did save me money, and yes, usually I wouldn’t have booked an economy award. But in this case it was OK value, as the flight would have cost 700€ otherwise.
Anyway, it did save me money, and yes, usually I wouldn’t have booked an economy award. But in this case it was OK value, as the flight would have cost 700€ otherwise.
