I've been a ST E+ member for thr past years or so and always tried, with increasing difficulty, to confirm status on all 3 alliances (I'm also Star Gold and One World Emerald). I say with increasing difficulty because, week after week, I ponder more and more whether SkyTeam really deserves my effort and business. While I always appreciated the benefits offered to frequent flyers, it has been a while that I have the impression that the quality of such services has been gradually decreasing, the the point that it is perhaps no longer worth "going for it".

The list is long but I reckon it can be summed up as follows:

1) Incredible devaluation of the Promo Awards. There used to be, in previous years, a lot of interesting offers for us FF. It has been more than a year now that I don't any offer even closely palatable. Is it really worth keeping this program now that it seems AF and KL have lost interest in it?

2) Devaluation of the FF program itself with less and less miles offered per ticket, and the introduction of XPs that, while leaving my situation almost unchanged, completes the picture above.

3) More and more airline that do not recognize benefits to FF from other partner airlines. See AeroMexico changing rules to "block" AF/KL passengers from being put on the upgrade list, to no access to 3rd party lounges with Delta. And more can be said. Not to mention the less than coherent policies when it comes to seat assignments.

4) An absurd lounge policy that is much worse than the equivalent on both Star and One World. For example the absurd restriction on domestic flights, which SA and OW don't have.

5) Again, when it comes to lounge policies, member airlines that decide to apply their own rules which contraddict the broad SkyTeam rules. For example I was denied access in the lounge in Lima because, while flying AeroMexico, AM gave instructions not to admit AF/KL elites if flying economy. Not to mention yesterday when, flying with UX, my guest was barred from entering the lounge in MAD because "he's flying on a different flight than yours" (SkyTeam website explicity says that "guest DO NOT have to fly on the same flight).

6) Again lounges. They're awful in comparison to those of the other alliances. Take the AF lounges at Terminal 2F or 2G. Small, crowded, cramped, often no seating available. Are these the lounges in AF's flagship airport? The KL lounge in AMS is decent, but food choice is pretty awful. Very little investment in new lounges and even the fanfared "SkyTeam" lounges are, in my opinion, not too special.

7) Rumours of airlines leaving the alliances, but no rumours about new ones willing to join.

I could go on with many more examples but yes, I'm not impressed and I was wondering if this opinion is shared among others.

Do you really think it's still worth keeping status on SkyTeam when other airlines and alliances are really "upping" their game?

While I recognise many of the symptoms you highlight in your post, it seems to me that there is a mismatch between them and the title:

The points you raise re the lounges and lounge policy are valid but they were already true in year dot. So, it is not a case of ST going downhill; it is one of ST having already been at the bottom of the hill to start with.

As to devaluation of the programme, that is true too but it has also been a trend in FFPs in other alliances too. One can discuss as to whether it is worse in this FFP rather than this other one, but it is a question of degree more than anything else. It is not something specific to ST.

As to poor recognition by programme partners, again this is not ST specific. There are problems of poor recognition across all aliances. In OW, for isntance, it is often argued that BA does not play by the rules of the game with respect to lounge access for those flying on other OW airlines at some stations. In *A, I vaguely remember from my bmi days various shenanigans at UA with regards to seating/priority issues. I am sure that there are other issues in *A nowadays.

All in all, I think that this is more of the same: ST has always been the less generous of the 3 alliances and it remains so now as ever.

If this is a thread about SkyTeam, shouldn't it be posted in the SkyTeam forum? Although you do seem to mix FB specific issues (Promo Awards/XP) with issues that are indeed relevant to the alliance.

Apologies for that. I didn't even know there was a ST forum as I always write here being a FB Gold. Feel free to move if needed.

Well said.

G

The issues in terms of lounge access (again, not strictly connected to FB), as reported by the OP and other users (there are a few reports on the AZ sub-forum but also on other forums, non-FT), are indeed extremely annoying.

G

That's a valid point. Being still relatively new to the game I wasnt aware ST was indeed "already at the bottom" however I feel things are going even worse now compared to 5 years ago.

What really annoys me a lot is this "non recognition" between airlines or not caring about rules SkyTeam posts on their website. A free for all basically. Shouldn't being in an alliance guarantee throughout recognition instead of "as they wish"?

Also I feel ST is particularly poor when it comes to operational upgrades. Except maybe Delta.

I agree that the inconsistency of policies across Skyteam airlines is mind boggling, but I�m not sure which alliance is better at that.

Promo awards are Flying Blue, and not Skyteam. Besides I am curious to know which Alliance offers better Promo Awards?

This is Flying Blue, and not Skyteam. Besides, some people (I'm one) will actually earn more miles than before. It remains to be seen if we get award miles inflation (likely scenario) or deflation with the new rules.

This is a bit subjective. When was the last time you have been in the 2G lounge? The all new 2G lounge is a spacious and pleasant modern lounge. Agreed about 2F, but a new central 2F lounge is in the planning. And have you ever been to 2E-M lounge? It's a fine lounge indeed, and the 2E-L lounge is currently being refurbished to meet the same standard.

Not a fact. For example, Jet Airways is a very likely candidate to join Skyteam.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/58492125.cms

In case you haven't noticed, all alliances are going downhill.

No one cares about frequent Y fliers anymore: you're either paying for J/F or you're not. There's a reason why Jetstar, Eurowings, LEVEL, Scoot, and all these new LCCs are not in any alliances despite being owned by a legacy airline.

...Yes, and please do remember that FFP's based on flying distance are "at the end of their life cycle". They are/will soon be changed to programs where a member will be rewarded for the amount that he/she spends on tickets instead of how far the member flies. This makes perfect sense of course...

I have a different vision about it. First, I prefer to fly by KL/AF/AZ here in Europe instead to companies low-cost like Ryanair. Planning in advance the prices are not so different when you put luggage, seat, transfer to a far and/or small airport, etc, on the table.

These companies do not participate in an alliance because this carry addtional costs. For a kind of service where the price is the focus, any cent is a huge difference.

Best