Elite + qualifications
 

Someone who just stated about delta gold being allow elite plus from march this year. How do the alliance regulate for all airlines to have similar qualification levels? Does the airline have a say in this, partial say or they should conform to the will of the alliance? So like in China airlines case at 70,000 miles which has come down from 110,000 miles pre-skyteam years.Is it likely to fall slightly further?

Also priority for upgrading would go?.. correct me if i am wrong

• The airlines elite plus members
• Elite plus members from other airlines
• Elite members from the airline in question
• And other sky-team elite members

I am curious with this one for my Chinese new year domestic flight on China Southern which will be packed for certain.

1. In principle each airline can decide for their own frequent flyers what level they give for what amount of miles. In the end they have to pay for the benefits their own members with status get from other airlines.
2. There might be special provisions within the ST contracts, which might impose restrictions on elite (plus) qualification, but I doubt anybody will know this. This is not public knowledge.
3. There is no alliance-wide upgrade priority rule within any of the 3 airline alliances.

Each airline sets its own upgrade policies. For example, DL has three tiers that are SkyTeam ElitePlus: DM is upgraded before PM which is upgraded before GM. DL also will upgrade the elites of only *certain* partners, IIRC AS (Alaska, not in SkyTeam) and AF/KLM, but only after all DL elites and their companions have already been upgraded, so it doesn't happen often.

ahh ok
 

So in a theoretical case would say a silver/bronze card member (aka elite member of DL) get higher priority than an elite plus of say KLM or China airlines?

On DL flights definitely, and this is not a theoretical case; it happens day in day out.

well, if IT works correctly, which is rarely the case nowadays...

DL doesn't have a bronze level. The lowest level (Silver) would be upgraded (if eligible) before a KLM elite. A China Airlines elite is not on the list for free elite upgrades, but might have very slight priority over the general public if a flight requires lots and lots of OPUPs, although the GA might instead pay attention to fare class (or anything else, as OPUPs are for DL's convenience and are not a published benefit).

What confuses me is we keep referring to elite. Are we talking about Elite or Elite plus? I will ring china airlines dynasty to see what they do with fellow elite members from other airlines.

In my post, I wrote elite (lower case letters, not prefaced by the word SkyTeam) to mean anyone above the base level on some specified airline's FF program. The names of the tiers can be different across airlines, even for various SkyTeam members.

Update coming soon
 

I have Just talked to the China airlines Dynasty office in Taipei and concerning their own upgrade system which will be confirmed soon in a phone call or email to myself The system will give priority on flight in this order.

1.Special Guest (CEO of HTC etc)
2.China airlines Paragon Member
3. China airlines Emerald Member
4. Sky team Elite Plus Member
5. China airlines Gold Member
6. Sky team Eite member
7. Dynasty Members
8. Members of other sky-team airlines, Fare code and Others.

I would like someone from another sky-team airline if they are really interested to compare with their airline to see what their policy is.

Dear Mr. MERRIN,

For your concern about the priority of membership, if you take the China Airlines flight,

our policy is to take our own top members(e.g. Paragon and Emerald cards) as first

priority for reservation waiting list, airport standby or preferred seating etc., and then

Elite Plus from other airlines.

This policy is generally used by other airlines. The top membership of the operated

airlines is always taken as the first priority and then Elite Plus from other airlines.

Hope the above information can help you.

If still having questions, don't hesitate to phone or email us.

Thank you.

Best,
Michelle Lin(ex 4775)
Taipei China Airlines Call Center
412-9000

Priority for what? Do they give free upgrades to elites?

I have already answered your question for the DL FF program. FB basically follows the same rules, except they don't give free upgrades (except as OPUPs, which aren't program benefits).

Ahhh
 

You see when this conversation started was this... I am talking about OP-Up's if you had read my original post i am flying china southern in 2 weeks with it being overbooked due to chinese new year.

The free upgrade thing that your refering to I know they wouldnt upgrade a non member just like they wouldnt offer spouse upgrades to non china airlines elite plus members. Confusion somewhere from the begining i see.

I don't see anything in this post, which I did read before and have read again, that refers to OPUPs.

Well the confusion is in many airlines around the world they really rarely do upgrading unless they are overbooked in economy. Such is the system with china airlines. So i did not consider i might be confusing people where in the us you can get upgraded if there are empty seats.