Nick Art

There is a fee.

SASegments

I have about 70 flights/year on SK. About 80 % are in Go and 90 % are with a stop in CPH. That gives me EBG by segments but I normally only make it to 30-40,000 points. A lot of my Go flights are not cheap as they are booked with short notice. Being EBG makes me choose SK even when I can fly BA, SN or AY without a stop and at the same price and it makes me choose Star Alliance for 1-2 long haul trips/year.

My point is that people qualifying by segments are not necessarily flying on cheap flights. Cheapest SK flight is often quite expensive the last couple of weeks. Having to requalify would really suck - especially as I'd have to start over with LTG qualification.

FlyingMoose

But as a consumer who gets their status from actual frequent flying? Stacking 30-60 minute flights is a chore, not frequent travel.

That was my point. If most of the status perks are already part of my ticket then what is the status getting me?

I understand that a portion of flyers qualifying on segments are doing so with actual spend and simply fall victim to the mechanics of the point accrual logic that EuroBonus applies. The majority however are AAL-CPH (example, not statistic) commuters that do a hilarious amounts of flights per year while total time spend in the air does not get close to actual frequent flyers. Often on corporate travel cards with cheap rates.

Moving those folks back in the qualification queue for 2021 would allow for some relief on the challenges SAS has currently.

RedChili

I have the impression that you don't understand the word "frequent." A person doing 50 AAL-CPH flights per year in economy class is a more frequent flyer than somebody doing 40 CPH-LAX flights per year in business class.

CPH-Flyer

Some people have the view that only flyers that do multiple long haul J trips every months are actual (or real) frequent flyers. The rest are just random passengers that don't deserve the status that they get. That point of view has appeared multiple times, and while I find that view mildly amusing, I normally just ignore it.

Though I would add that Star Alliance should look at their tiers and get an alliance wide status recognition above Star Alliance Gold, to give something more back to the ones that actually does fly multiple times J long haul every month.

SASegments

Those tickets book into C meaning that there is very limited benefits from being EBG (just the Gold Lounge I guess) and as they get 1,000 points/segment they qualify by points and segments at the same time.

urww

Well... Expiration of my 26K points comes in just a couple of days. Just got off the phone with EuroBonus support. Had an empathic chatty agent who was genuinely apologetic for his company policies. SAS would do no nothing to extend points. It's my understanding they actually do everything possible to expire points. As I noticed I had a very nice agent who was willing to check Star Alliance availability when I mentioned it's unfair to limit my redemption options and force points to expire. The system is up and running. He was able to locate availability and prepare a reservation for TK flights to SEZ (the award I was going to spend my points). Then put me on hold to get an authorisation for ticketing. He wasn't allowed to issue a ticket by a supervisor.

I had a last resort option - to book a domestic RT from OSL to Lofoten as far in advance as possible for late May 2021 (with 50/50 chance of using it). SAS has got you covered [sarcasm]. There is conveniently no availability at base 5000 points level for late May 2021, only at 12000+ points each way.

Like United SAS is screwing customers every possible way. I'm honestly surprised to see such approach from a Scandinavian company where business ethics is just about best in the world.

Looks like my only option now is to book an award ticket and hope a flight would get cancelled (then SAS on a case-by-case basis may grand extension). Any suggestion what flights in near future that are on sale now have the best chances to get cancelled?

Saint4805

For those who have Eurobonus points about to expire, is the smart choice to book am award trip as late as possible (April/May 2021) in the hope that things are back to normal or a new normal? I was thinking of booking an award flight from Stockholm to Aberdeen in October but perhaps it's too soon and too risky?

miamiflyer8

Will it extend the expiration if one transfers the expiring points to another account holder?

CPH-Flyer

I know this is defined somewhere in the rules for transfer, but I can't remember the details. If you can transfer them to a Diamond or Pandion member, for sure. But transfers of points is quite pricey.

miamiflyer8

For OP this would run at €130, €5 per 1000 points.

CPH-Flyer

No too bad then, I remember it as more expensive. I must be confusing it with another program. Did you notice the rules for expiration when you checked the price? (Or you just remembered the price?)

miamiflyer8

I remembered the cost as I also faced the same situation once but ended up being able to use the points instead. But now that you mention the terms I went ahead and logged into the point sharing site and looked at the terms and while it doesn't clearly state anything, it has the following point.

• If you regret the transfer of points and the points have expired since the date of the transfer, the expired points will not be reinstalled at you account.

I interpret this as the expiring points transferred to someone else get a fresh expiry date, but if you decide to cancel your transfer for whatever reason after the expiry nothing will be returned.


Go figure they have disabled purchase and transfer so this is really a slap in the face as you cannot even pay to rescue some points.

miamiflyer8

Looking at the FAQ I have now found the following, so yes, a new expiration date is granted but you cannot park those points in one account and then immediately transfer them back;

The points I wish to transfer to someone else's account are about to expire. For how long will they be valid in the new account?

Transferred EuroBonus Extra points are valid for 5 years from the date of transfer. Please note that returning points to your account will cause previously expired points to expire, meaning you cannot recover points that have expired since the transaction was made.

CPH-Flyer

I just logged in, and found that one as well. So there is an option. Create/use an account for your wife/husband/partner/friend, and send the points there. Need to be someone you trust enough though.

Are there still restrictions on who you can book for? I know I have booked flights for friends coming to Japan on my points, at that point it was technically not allowed but the agent did not stop when I said "I am booking for a friend, and am not flying myself"