thijsseh

According to the DC Prive website, in order to maintain this SA Voyager Platinum "Elect" status, you need to spend at least R100K with SAA (per annum). So that's the equivalent of (approx.) 3 International bus. class tickets per year OK, could be 2 if you pay full fare). This (6 sectors) would give you Voyager Gold in any case. So you pay the 3 or 4K per annum for the difference between Gold and Plat. Not sure if that would worth it (to me, at least). You can get vouchers for the First class lounges when flying SA (even if you are not 'Plat elect', it seems). All a bit 'fuzzy' I think, but I am sure there will be a target group for whom this works.

(OT: Now I finally know what "Plat Elect" is, I had read the term before but could never unearth how it was achieved!).

SAWorldVoyager

The 100k limit is actually a non event, I normally fly 60 - 80k miles of purchased tickets p/a, but also pay for the person/s flying with me. So the charges to SAA on my card count towards the 100k limit irrespective if the money spent is for tickets that are for me or not, the revenue charged still counts. In the past year easily spent 3x the requirement - I also charge anyones tickets to my card, if they willing to do an EFT to me .

OT: When I log into my account it still says GOLD, and I earn miles as if I was Gold. In fact calling Voyager for replacement Platinum tags is impossible, as they see you as GOLD. Yet when you arrive at the airport you are seen as a PLAT member. "PLAT" gets printed on your boarding card (except at IAD) where it prints "PELT", but that seems to be the only place..... weird.

REALLY OT: This service really assists me, as although I fly 3 or 4 revenue business tickets P/A usually JFK, IAD, HKG and fly 4 or 5 revenue CPT business a year I always end up short on plat despite a 160 -180k spend.

If I stop flying, 2012 id be silver and 2013 back to blue. Whereas a friend flies CPT - LHR usually 8 or 9 times a year, spends about 80 - 95k (cheapest fare he can lay his hands on with full mileage) and has been Lifetime for a few years already, yet only started his active flying a year before me....

So this workaround suits me. I have always felt voyager should allocate mileage by spend rather than by miles flown..... but I guess I would. It just seems the system is unfair.

Cheetah_SA

Thanks for the info in Diners Privé, guys. Doesn't look like it's right for me just now.

Are you sure about this, thijsseh? I mean are you sure you wouldn't reach the R160k threshhold? Could you not be more creative about what you pay by credit card? I pay my telephone, rates & taxes, electricity etc. (and those for the OH's business) all on my Voyager cc. Look at your debit orders and see what you might be able to pay by cc instead. That alone would get me half way to the target in year. Plus, as a traveller you must have a fairly chunky spend on airfares and travel related stuff.

I am, as you know, more of a BAEC person (as in that's where I have status - but possibly not for very long!) and many aspects of EC (like the household account) suit me. It's just that a free (well, I guess it costs R1650) SAA J ticket to Europe is a lot to walk away from.

thijsseh

Oh yes, Cheetah_SA, up till now I have spent a multiple of that on the Voyager card each year.
But things are changing: Firstly I have now retired, so no more business related expenses on my CC (I am even dropping to "Blue" nest year... ). Secondly, I will most likely be spending a good deal of my time overseas in 2011 / 2012, with a foreign income to suit (a bit of consulting for mrs t.). So those two changes will cause a substantial drop in my spending on the SA CC. Do Telkom, Eskom and the City of CPT all accept AMEX CC's for debit orders? (come to think of it, I believe they take the sum of the AMEX and VISA spend for these 'qualifications', so VISA would be OK too). That would certainly help quite a bit. I already pay as many recurring payments on that card, but I was not aware that those (semi) government institutions accpted CC's (and AMEX to boot).

thijsseh

Yes, as I mentioned, there will be a group of people for whom this works and you clearly are one.

Having said that, if you accrue miles as per Gold, the benefits are then restricted to (better) lounge access, maybe better chance of an upgrade and possibly limo service. And Voyager Plat is still *G, so no extra benefits when travelling *A partners. Anything I miss?

SAWorldVoyager

Other than the "pretty" luggage tags... no.

But seriously the only real benefit for me is the car service. With Prive you get cycad lounge by default, and I always ensure I have a J ticket so the upgrades are useless to me, I am too scared to risk an upgrade at the airport. Ultimately platinum offers me little benefit, as I earn miles as a gold.

Prive is pretty cool though besides SAA lounges, you get the Avis Presidents club, and although I was member of President Club before getting prive, if you dont have it does make a nice difference. I also enjoy the meet and greet service with Prive.

They meet you at First class checkin, take your bags to their locked office and escort you through immigration (jumping any queues at security or passport) and then on to the lounge - they also carry your carry on luggage for you. Then you are met at the lounge once boarding is underway and are taken to the plane, again jumping any queues at the boarding counter and for some reason TSA type security checks and carry on luggage weight checks are skipped because in my opinion the person carring your bag is wearing a reflective vest. At this point they load your luggage in the hold and provide the container number the bag was loaded to - you can be assured your luggage is on safe, as it never lay around "downstairs".

Back in SA, you are met at the plane and carry on luggage taken from you, escorted to immigration, skip the queues, leave your tags and go on to the arrivals lounge and they stand waiting for the luggage, collect and bring to you in lounge, before being taken to the car waiting outside the first class check in upstairs.

This however only applies to International travel, not available on domestic, and im unsure on regional flights.... But a very nice service and to me what gives the Diners the edge.

Cheetah_SA

Wow, SAWorldVoyager, that sounds like pretty awesome VIP treatment! But as I'm currently in a miles spending mode for at least a year I won't be travelling on SA much at all - mainly because I can hardly ever find international award seats on SA.

I don't know about them accepting cc directly (though I can't see why not). What I do is pay those bills at Woolies or Pick 'n Pay with my Voyager Amex.

thijsseh

Well, I finally got an email today setting out the changes.

It starts like:

To retain some of the most popular Voyager credit card benefits, in a turbulent economic environment ...and then tells about the increase in required spending levels for non-expiry and for companion tickets (as detailed earlier in this thread)..

Still feel seriously riped off by the 166% increase in required miles for a 'global companion ticket'. I'll look at it for a year and then decide if I keep the thing or not (I have just been charged the fee, and returning the card will probably not result in a refund.

They try to sweeten it by telling me that the fee has not gone up (which at R1650 is a bit OTT anyway....

Cheetah_SA

Such timing. They, and we, have known about this for well over a month. But nothing like tapping into the Xmas spirit, SA. (Scrooge Airways )

thijsseh

ahrobert

That is for BA not for the Standard Bank/ SA cc offering which is not as competitive. Wake up Standard Bank - do a deal with SAA!

thijsseh

Is there still a Standard Bank / SA card? I thought that agreement was ended when Nedbank won the contract to operate the Voyager cards and that one could only link the Standard card to BA now.

SAWorldVoyager

Standard Bank had their nose put out of joint when Nedbank won the SAA Voyager card.

So they decided to screw their own customers who wanted to use Standard Bank and SAA voyager, and at the same time tried to steal SAA customers by offering a Tier match on BA if you did the swap.

Seems like even big banks can be sore losers, and immature children.

gcuk

They must be getting desperate for business. My 13 year old daughter received the email reproduced below, addressed personally to her in our family email account. She was so excited and I was so annoyed, we've applied. Me thinks she will be disappointed


Dear Miss T gcuk

We all love to travel. As a valued Voyager member you can now fly to any destination in South Africa with this special offer. For a limited period you can earn 9 000 additional Miles (or the equivalent of at least one ticket* to anywhere in South Africa) when you apply for an SAA Voyager credit card by 28 February 2011 and use it by 31 March 2011.

Benefits of the SAA Voyager credit card include:
Earn up to 1 Voyager Mile for every R6,00 spent on the SAA Voyager American Express® Credit Card plus double miles on your spend in the first month.
SAA Business Class check-in.
SAA Business Class departure lounge access.
Up to 18 000 bonus Miles on your first SAA flight purchase.
A complimentary SAA Companion Ticket when you reach an annual spend threshold.
An extra 12-month validity on your Voyager Miles when you spend R60 000 or more on your SAA Voyager credit card within one calendar year.
Note: These benefits are dependent on the type of card you qualify for. Above benefits are based on an SAA Voyager Premium Credit Card. The benefits, bonus miles and threshold amounts vary per card type. Click here for a comprehensive list of qualifying criteria, benefits and loyalty fees. So make sure you apply for the SAA Voyager credit card before 28 February and use it by 31 March 2011 to take advantage of this exclusive** offer to earn 9 000 bonus Miles to get to your dream destination faster.

fatyaza

I don't think Nedbank Cares whether we use their Service or not as I have done so much research and found
1. They offer non expiry of miles when they want you as a customer and as part of the service contract and By chance I was told that Miles expire and the original contract benefits have changed ! Nedbank staff didn't know this ! Neither did we when we first heard !
Nedbank customer service staff didn't know about it and requested that Voyager answer my questions and between Voyager and Nedbank I didn't get an answer until some G Hirsch confirmed receiving the query and took forever to advise me that
The miles do expire as per a new decision!
Nedbank advised customer through website and Media
This is unacceptable according to the Law!
Nedbank is obliged to inform clients of a material change in the contract as this was the Biggest Drawcard and leads to loss of money and benefits
I will be not using the Voyager card as we all know that Voyager cannot give us seats and most times the Miles will expire before a seat is secured
Watch out Nedbank you going to start losing Voyager credit cared customers starting with me as I like to work with caring people not the take th. Money and run kind