Havking become a huge fan of weekend trips here in Norway and Europe (and to the US) I reached Scandinavian Airlines top tiper (Diamond, 100k miles or 100 segments) 5 months into my current earning period. As I then realized I will move to Grand Forks, North Dakota to start my Air Traffic Controller education and that Avinor (state owned company managing all Norwegian airports paying for my education) will buy the ticket to GFK with the routing OSL-AMS-MSP-GFK, which is one leg with KLM and two with Delta, both SkyTeam. Therefore I contacted China Airlines asking if they were willing to match my SK and *A status, which they were, giving me SkyTeam Elite+ for the next year as an Emerald Flyer.

Now I am very familiar with what I can get as *A gold, but I am curious to what I will get as SkyTeam Elite+, and some things seem quite unclear even after googling and searching around.

Example: Do I get an extra piece for free when checking in (the group ticket should already give 2x23kg) when the last leg is US domestic? How about lounge, as I understand it I will get access at AMS and MSP - how about the contract lounge KLM has at OSL? How is the upgrade policy among the other ST partners?

If anyone here, more familiar with ST than me, could maybe explain to me a bit more what the benefits usually are, that would really be appreciated.

Well the elite plus passenger should get an extra 1 bag or +20kgs allowance.

If they check your baggage all the way through to the final destination then this should be no problem.

Then Lounge access is a maybe for contracted lounges. If you just show your elite plus membership they will not invite you in so you need to get an invitation from KLM upon checking in. Maybe you can ring them to ask before hand.

Upgrades.. I assume you mean complimentary/op-up?

Your chances will be very slim. They will upgrade their own elite members first before any sky-team elites. You will be higher ranking than those on Elite memberships from other airlines and non elite flying blue/delta members and non members.

Hence your best chance for upgrades is to fly CI as now your emerald member and that only happens maybe 3-8% of the time.

Seems CI has given out many Emeralds recently for status matching, quite generous considering i doubt i could get similar ranking for status matching with other airlines.

IMHO, you're going about this the wrong way. There is no Skyteam FF program - there are carriers with their own programs who are members of the SkyTeam alliance. Don't expect commonality - 'SkyTeam' benefits. Look for the benefits specific to the program of your elite + status.

Example: some Delta fliers get upgrade instruments that can be used on AF/KL flights, too. These provide no upgrade on other Skyteam carriers. I don't know that CI has an equivalent.

A further example: There is no uniform SkyTeam award redemption chart.

I know Delta members get some additional benefits on KLM/flying blue and vis versa but he is asking from the perspective of China airlines dynasty membership which has no additional treatments in this case.

The only additional bits he would get is by flying China eastern/China southern or Xiamen airlines domestically. In that case he would get domestic lounge access and being able to invite one person with him as a guest.

So to finalize it he will be upgraded after KLM and Delta elite members.Again his chances are very very slim. And this is not guaranteed but its logical assumption by many members here and there.
Its not even worth talking about upgrades to be honest in this case because its just that unlikely.

I would like to add though.. which is a small thing anyway. That on my last small flight from London-Amsterdam they did allow me to use the economy comfort seating. With 3-4 other members of KLM or etc. Where the back of the plane which was normal economy was really full.

Thank you all for your replies.

So to sum up: the general opinion is that SkyTeam is less of an "alliance" than the Star Alliance in terms of alliance status?

I guess how different is it from this? http://www.skyteam.com/en/Frequent-F...Team-Benefits/

I am very well aware of that site, but if you read my first post:

None of those questions are answered there, hence this thread.

I was actually responding to the other posters, who as you summarised, seem to indicate that it isn't quite as tight as Star.

I'm not STE+ and am interested in how people view it vs what is advertised.

I think all US domestic flights (regardless of which airline or alliance you are talking about) which have been ticketed with an international leg, the international baggage allowance applies to the domestic leg. However, on the lounge question I think ST is not as clear, particularly when if comes to contract lounges.

Ah, my mistake then. ^

This is different from *A. There, the rules of the opening carrier applies to the whole travel. So if I was to travel CPH-IAD-FLL with SAS/United in eco I would still get 3 checked in bags for free for the whole trip including the leg with United, as I am SAS Diamond and SAS is the opening carrier. On the return however I would only get two pieces checked in for the whole trip as for what United, the opening carrier, is concerned I am *A Gold which only gives one extra piece.

If this however is different with ST, that is a huge plus in my book.

Don't quote me Would appreciate someone confirming this with experience on ST

Upgrade? For free elite upgrades, AF/KLM, AS, and SPG elites are below all DL elites and their companions but other partner elites aren't on the list. OPUP priority isn't a published benefit, but DL would give OPUPs to their own elites, then FB elites with no chance for ElitePlus from other partners.

Wrong. I received an upgrade on Delta as an Aerolineas Elite Plus.

I did say those members would be before an Elite member on DL or KLM/FB.
But now what you say list or not Skyteam elites will be in-front of non skyteam elites. I have even asked such a question a year or so ago. And the policy is no different from say DL elite member flying CI or CZ.

They wont be on the list on your words but they will still have higher priority than non members or members who are non elite. But from CI's interpretation from their US and Taipei office this is generally accepted. Just like i was allowed to sit in Economy comfort due to my Elite plus membership with KLM but non elites and others were made to sit in the back with the flight not being completely full but not that empty in economy section. The 3 other passengers in Economy comfort with me were all like Elite KLM gold members.

Geez some superiority complex these DL members have...

When asked will the Delta members get an upgrade on Asian carriers i never heard anyone say they are not on the list but just far far back in the line which is right.
But the other way round its not even on the list yet its no different from the other situation i just mentioned.(This excludes the few examples stated before like the FB preference and the connecting China co-operation).

So I requested a match with Delta just for fun and they gave a 3 month challenge as Gold. Now, what do you guys think is worth the most in terms of status on the flight OSL-AMS-MSP-GFK (1 leg with KLM and 2 with Delta) - Delta Medallion Gold or China Airlines Emerald. Both are ST+.

With 2 legs on DL, being part of the "home" program is always better. Whatever they do, airlines do favor their own. And if you are flying coach, you will have a chance at a complimentary upgrade on the MSP-GFK flight (provided it has a first cabin).

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer