kauppias

Finnair started with a 6month extension to the qualification period for everyone, they did it early on, which I beleive helped ease members worries 👍

they can easily add 3 or 6 months to that if the the situa continues further. they also run on a non fixed elite year like SK.

JR67

One thing I have been thinking about is how the credit card deals would play into any extension. Say you have Amex Elite and MC Premium. If they extend for a year then you get an additional 32000 points without flying at all. The credit cards can't justify their costs without the benefits, but it doesn't seem fair to get to double your points due to the cards. There we have a dilemma. If SK extends for a year I am easily EBD again without even seeing a plane.

kauppias

I dont know much about the SK CCs as they dont offer those benefits in Finland BUT if they extend status that does not necessarily roll over points from one year to the next

SK2751

I got an interesting and surprising message from the diamond service today. Yesterday night, I have wrote to them asking for about 5k status points for cancelled flights, as per the rules quoted above. I was just hoping to reduce the qualification gap for the eventual negotiation later if I have difficulties re-qualifying, or just to reduce the amount of flights I need to do to re-qualify if they start flying. My qualification year is ending July 31, and together with the claimed points I am at about 80k basic points, so slightly more than 10k points short of re-qualifying.

The email said that they extend my card by 12M right away. And that I will see it in the app when my old card expires. Kudos SK!

JR67

Congratulations!

Now it is time to see if they do it for others. SAS is consistently inconsistent, so who knows what they will do...

fassy

I don't see a huge issue in fairness. The people pay for the Credit Card and it won't change much. Assuming you have a qualifying year Oct to Sept like I do. I get the AMEX points in Sept and the Mastercard points every month.

Oct - 1.000
Nov - 1.000
Dec - 1.000
Jan - 1.000
Feb - 1.000
Mar - 1.000
Apr - 1.000
May - 1.000
Jun - 1.000
Jul - 1.000
Aug - 1.000
Sept - 1.000 + 20.000
= 32.000

If they now extend the period by let's say 6 months I get

Oct - 1.000
Nov - 1.000
Dec - 1.000
Jan - 1.000
Feb - 1.000
Mar - 1.000
= 38.000 ONE TIME

then my next year runs
Apr - 1.000
May - 1.000
Jun - 1.000
Jul - 1.000
Aug - 1.000
Sept - 1.000 + 20.000
Nov - 1.000
Dec - 1.000
Jan - 1.000
Feb - 1.000
Mar - 1.000
= 32.000 as usual

Assuming the BEST case, that I get the 20.000 two times in one year because they for example extend the qualifying year by a full year, I would get 2 x 32.000 = 64.000. And in the year after again 32.000. So in the best case for me, a one time free (well.... I pay 10.000kr for it) Gold card. Which wouldn't break the system.

You can argue that the status point from the cards are game breaking in the first place and I do agree.

SK2751

Let me just add: in the email I got from SK there was a somewhat mudded statement about basic points not rolling to the new qualification year. They say they extended my card by a year, but I have to start earning again for the subsequent year. Currently accumulated points are no good for that.

kauppias

CC points are great, they are just inherintly unfair (then again what in Life is fair 😂&#128514 as they are only offered to limited markets. but hey the US has a huge market for these... I just wonder what stops banks/airlines from offering these expensive cards EU wide but thats another topic for another thread 😁😁

CPH-Flyer

The main difference is that in the US a far bigger share of the credit card user go with revolving payments, and utilise credit facilities, where as in Europe the users tend to pay off the full balance every month. Meaning the profit margins in the US are far higher, and that pays for the far mor attractive card bonuses and point earnings.

SkOrdBgo

Some bad press related to SAS’ handling of Eurobonus popping up elsewhere:
https://onemileatatime.com/sas-block...piring-points/

RoyalSwazi

SAS might lose a number of customers (or at least Eurobonus members) unless they address this. SAS don’t really fit my travel pattern, but Star Alliance does. However I could easily swap those flights with Oneworld equivalents. Unfortunately, many Scandinavians can only think of SAS (not that Germans, Brits or french are any different) and I think they’re gambling on that. I hardly ever travel domestically, and neither China nor Trumpistan hold any appeal. TK, LH group, TG & SQ have great coverage of the destinations I enjoy, but QR, BA, CX and AY do as well.

SK2751

I don't know what is the market penetration of SK outside Scandinavia, and what percentage of their frequent fliers heavily rely on long haul travel. For short haul travel there is hardly alternatives to SK, besides LH for most Scandinavian inhabitans. BA is impossible for intra Europe travel (terribly complex airport for connections, out of the way). KL only really works if your direction is very west/south, AY is completely out of the way. For a business traveler with good distribution of destinations in Europe, SK is simply the only decent offer (Still ...). At least if you value your time.

fassy

But I agree, I'm with SK mostly for the European short-haul but even there I'm split 50/50 with LO, LX and LH.

The one good thing to say about SK is, that for short-haul pricing they are one of the few airlines which price by segment and not give you the retarded r/t penalty, e.g. like LH forces you into full-fare Y for a one-way ticket. Btw. LO is also good for that.

Long-haul, which most of the times means US East or Westcoast I usually go UA, LH or LX.

kauppias

true, but with high enough Annual fees it can still work, last I checked Sweden was in Europe and it seems to work there 😂 my point was why cant they offer them cross border, just seems so last season to offer a product ONLY to one countries residents obviously they have their reasons I just dont get it or like it 😁

jerjeffr

don’t think this is about “trimming the numbers”. I’m diamond so no issue and requalify, but this isn’t an “I” issue. This is about SAS saying screw the industry standard of what Delta, KLM, etc. are doing. Really shouldn’t be looked at as a o e on one customer basis, but how in times of uncertainty SAS is giving a middle finger to their most loyal customers which they have done for ages now.

On a selfish note, owning places and living between the USA and Denmark (AUS & CPH) I’ll get my lifetime gold this year and doubtful to ever step foot on SAS metal again when I was a cash cow for them in long haul business. (You’ll still see my plenty in the lounges so unsure other points ring true). LH and UA definitely have have their quirks but customers or frequent fliers being treated this poorly in the face of uncertainity, certainly isn’t a trait I want to support nor seems very ‘Scandinavian’ to me.