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SAA Voyager re-launch --> now spend based for status

SAA Voyager re-launch --> now spend based for status

Old Nov 28, 2014, 4:02 pm
  #1  
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SAA Voyager re-launch --> now spend based for status

Herewith an extract from an email I just got from SAA Voyager...

Dear Mr Xxx

REcognition and REwards REinvented with SAA Voyager for 2015

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do at South African Airways. Earning Miles within our SAA Voyager programme is above all, about flying and being loyal to SAA.

In celebration of unwavering loyalty and support towards us, SAA Voyager is proud to announce that we have reinvented our programme to make sure that loyalty is recognised and rewarded fairly and even more.
What does RE stand for?
REceipt of 1 Mile for every R1.60 spent
REdemptions inclusive of fuel levy
REmoval of seat complexities
Upgrading with your Miles
Other Award Types
REturn of 5%
REcognition of loyalty
Becoming Africa's Leading World-class
Loyalty Programme

It's some kind of special

Our valued customers will be rewarded with a world-class loyalty offering during 2015.

What does the RE stand for?

RE stands for REceipt of 1 Mile for every R1.60 spent
One of the major changes we are implementing on 1 February 2015 is the introduction of SAA earning based on spend. You can now earn your Miles based on the airfare and fuel levy paid, rather than the distance and cabin class travelled. That means that you get 1 SAA Voyager Mile for every R1.60 spent, exclusively on SAA operating flights*.

How does it work?

Under the new SAA earning structure, you will receive 1 SAA Voyager Mile for every R1.60 spent, when travelling on SAA operating flights. With no cap, you will reap maximum benefit from double and triple Bonus Mile promotions on SAA operated flights. For tickets purchased in a currency other than ZAR, we will convert the purchase to ZAR and then calculate the number of Miles you will earn.

The earning structure for flights within the Star Alliance network, codeshare airline partners, SAA marketing flights**, SA Express, Airlink, Swaziland Airlink or when using the SAA Voyager partner network remains the same.

*SAA operating flights are flights where SAA sells seats on SAA's own aircraft. SAA operating flights are typically identified by flight number range SA001 SA999. **SAA marketing flights are flights where SAA has entered into an agreement with another airline to sell seats on that airline partner's aircraft on specific routes. SAA marketing codeshare flights are typically identified by the 4-digit flight number.

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Click here to find out more.


RE stands for REdemptions inclusive of fuel levy

Under the new SAA Voyager redemption structure, which is effective from 1 February 2015, you can now spend your Miles as payment for fuel levy, when you redeem them for your preferred flight, exclusively on SAA operating flights*.

The redemption structure for flights within the Star Alliance network, codeshare airline partners, SA Express, Airlink or Swaziland Airlink remains the same.

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RE stands for REmoval of seat complexities

We have streamlined and simplified the SAA Voyager experience for our loyal customers. Under the new SAA redemption structure, we are removing the hassle when it comes to redeeming your Miles. Effective from 1 February 2015, you will be able to spend your Miles for any available seat on your preferred flight, instead of a set mileage threshold with complexities, exclusively on SAA operating flights*, thus confirming your redemption seat request immediately. During the initial phase, you can use your Miles as full payment when redeeming a ticket, inclusive of fuel levy.

During the course of 2015, part payment of Miles and cash will be introduced, where the cash part of the purchased ticket will earn you 1 SAA Voyager Mile for every R1.60 spent. We will update you as soon as the technology supporting this feature, has been finalised for implementation.

The redemption structure for flights within the Star Alliance network, codeshare airline partners, SA Express, Airlink or Swaziland Airlink remains the same.

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Upgrading with your Miles

As an initial phase, we have revised the levels of our upgrade awards on SAA operating flights* and effective 1 February 2015 you will be able to use less Miles for an upgrade. Upgradable seats will be released 48 hours prior to departure. The qualifying classes will remain the same and need to be booked in Y,B,M and K class fares. The relevant levies/taxes and surcharges will continue to be for your account, payable in cash or card payment.

We are however working towards introducing upgrades where you will be able to upgrade using your Miles from any SAA Economy Class revenue seat to any available SAA Business Class revenue seat. The amount of Miles will be directly related to the difference in cost between economy and business class.

We have also aligned our SAA exclusive Upgrade Awards Regions to the Star Alliance Award Chart Regions.

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Current Award Types and introducing our new JourneyBlitz Award

While we continue to honour withdrawn MileageKeeper Awards, SuperPlus Awards and AnyDay Awards in alignment with their validity periods, these Awards will be discontinued effective 1 February 2015.

We understand that some customers enjoy taking advantage of the low mileage threshold Awards such as the MileageKeeper Awards which commanded flexibility and understanding of the restricted capacity.

It is with this in mind, that we are delighted to introduce JourneyBlitz Awards exclusively on SAA operating flights* which will be offered at astonishingly low mileage thresholds and on a promotional basis. The relevant levies / taxes / surcharges will be for your account, payable in cash or card payment.

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Click here to find out more.


RE stands for REturn of 5%

Based on the new SAA exclusive earning and spending structure, we are immensely proud to announce that starting 1 February 2015, your loyalty towards SAA will be rewarded with a leading principle you are guaranteed at least 5% return on your SAA spend when requesting an SAA exclusive Dynamic Award for an SAA operating flight* .

When we are able to implement SAA exclusive Dynamic Upgrade Awards, the same principle will apply.

What does it mean?

If you have spent R5,000 on an SAA operating flight*, you will have a value of R250 to spend towards an exclusive SAA Dynamic Award.

What better way to start off the New Year? At SAA Voyager, we make sure we go 5% further than all the rest when it comes to thanking you for your loyalty to us.

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RE stands for REcognition of loyalty

From 1 February 2015, the Miles you earn from your airfare and fuel levy paid will all contribute towards earning your status, exclusively on SAA operating flights*.

Therefore, Business Class travel will no longer be rewarded as mere Bonus Miles; your loyalty for premium support will count towards your Tier status.

The accumulation of Tier Miles for flights within the Star Alliance network, codeshare airline partners, SAA marketing flights**, SA Express, Airlink or Swaziland Airlink remains the same.

REcreating a whole new experience for SAA Voyager members

We have enriched and revolutionised member benefits to improve your SAA customer experience prior to departure, based on your Tier status.

Starting 1 February 2015, we have also revised the qualifying and retaining thresholds for all our Tier statuses, making sure you are appreciated for your loyalty to us over time.

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Click here to find out more.

Accordingly, all Members' accounts will be reviewed during the first month of 2015 and irrespective of the effective date of change in the qualifying and retaining thresholds, Tier statuses will be amended based on the past four (4) and five (5) years for Lifetime Platinum and Platinum status respectively.

We will finalise the review before the end of February 2015 and new membership credentials, where applicable, will reach Members during March 2015.


Becoming Africa's Leading World-class Loyalty Programme

Whilst earning and redeeming Miles will continue to be foremost about flying, it is our aim to become Africa's Leading World-Class Loyalty Programme.

To this end, we wish to assure you that our SAA Voyager credit card, underwritten by Nedbank Limited, in addition to our SAA Voyager non-airline partner network, will expand rapidly during 2015. As a priority, we will be securing a solid footprint on the African continent and every effort will be made to present you with more choice for your Mile.

We want to be Forever Part of Your Journey!

Back to top
Click here to find out more.

We trust that our SAA exclusive programme changes will be to your benefit and we look forward to receiving your views on our RE5 initiatives.


Warm regards,

SAA Voyager Team








2014 SAA

Privacy Policy | Conditions of Contract | Notice of Liability | Contact Us
South African Airways (Proprietary) Limited Reg. No. 1997/022444/07

brightshark is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2014, 4:20 pm
  #2  
 
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^

Before my discounted economy flights from JNB to LAD at a cost of about $500 a pop earnt 1581 miles (return). Now should get about 3000. Much better for me....
africahand is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2014, 10:50 pm
  #3  
 
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The change will clearly benefit SAA flyers who do a lot of regional flying ... basically SAA will reward yield. This is the new model everywhere now!
evanb is offline  
Old Nov 29, 2014, 1:00 am
  #4  
 
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I have no problem with the model. But I only credit miles earned on my credit card or from 2 for 1 bookings to SA anyway.

And given their inability to issue an award ticket for more than 4 months after I booked it - despite reassurances like "someone will call you before the close of business today" - I'm not sure why I even bother with that.
Cheetah_SA is offline  
Old Nov 29, 2014, 1:12 am
  #5  
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To me it seems that the biggest negative change is the removal of mileage keeper awards. So you'll need an insane amount of miles to get an award ticket (assuming that this remains about unchanged, which is almost a given seeing that earn rates on credit cards and flights on *A partners don't change).
Overall a negative change IMHO, instead of the spin they give to it.
thijsseh is online now  
Old Nov 30, 2014, 8:48 am
  #6  
 
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Thoughts on how this will translate into tier levels and accruing on Star Alliance partners? Or that part remains unchanged?
apkohn is offline  
Old Feb 7, 2015, 9:07 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Originally Posted by thijsseh
To me it seems that the biggest negative change is the removal of mileage keeper awards. So you'll need an insane amount of miles to get an award ticket ...
I dunno, thijsseh. I thought I would try a dummy booking today just to see what kind of burn rates apply under the new rules. I checked a random date in November for a one-way** award for 2 pax in J travelling JNB-HKG.

Oh how I laughed when the answer came up: over 475k miles*! Of course we must take into account that that includes taxes. (At least I think that's what I read - it's pretty academic as far as I am concerned. Using US Dividend miles, for 110k I can do CPT/JNB/HKG/NRT and still be on the same flight!)

Bye-bye Voyager!! It's been an "interesting" couple of decades...



* Earning this would require spending more than R750k on SA tickets and would as promised return roughly 5% to you.

** Because it is pricing actual tickets this makes one-way awards just as bad value as one-way paid tickets.

Last edited by Cheetah_SA; Feb 7, 2015 at 11:30 pm Reason: sp.
Cheetah_SA is offline  
Old Feb 7, 2015, 11:36 am
  #8  
 
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only benefit i am seeing here is 45k miles from hre - jnb and $100. As opposed to the 30odd k in the past and 300+$
zimstyles is online now  
Old Feb 8, 2015, 12:03 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 30
Redemption is just a catastrophe. Check also out this simple analysis:

http://www.globalflight.net/voyager-...n-doesnt-work/

What did they think...?
GlobalFrance is offline  
Old Feb 8, 2015, 1:05 am
  #10  
 
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Key Observations in bold for Harare Johannesburg return


43 725 miles
Your Travel Plan
Harare - Johannesburg
Flight: SA25 - South African Airways
HarareS un, February 22 - 07:20
Johannesburg Sun, February 22 - 09:05

Johannesburg Harare
Flight: SA22 - South African Airways
Johannesburg Tue, February 24 - 10:30
Harare Tue, February 24 - 12:10
Total Fare Breakdown for all travellers
Passengers 1
Fuel Surcharge(YR) 0.00 USD
Taxes 100.14 USD


or

36 800miles
Your Travel Plan
Harare Johannesburg
Flight: SA8103 - South African Airways
HarareSun, February 22 - 18:45
Johannesburg Sun, February 22 - 20:30

Johannesburg Harare
Flight: SA8100 - South African Airways
JohannesburgTue, February 24 - 06:30
Harare Tue, February 24 - 08:20
Total Fare Breakdown for all travellers
Passengers 1
Fuel Surcharge(YR) 150.00 USD

Taxes 100.14 USD



6925 miles to offset 150 dollars

What is the going rate per mile anyway? Are you able to purchase voyager miles?
zimstyles is online now  
Old Feb 11, 2015, 2:09 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Originally Posted by GlobalFrance
Redemption is just a catastrophe...
What did they think...?
You must be missing something. According to Voyager:
Whilst the majority of our members applauded SAA Voyager's bold yet equitable move to change from a mileage-based to a revenue-based frequent flyer programme...
I just hate it when PR people spin something so outrageously. Who do they think actually believes that?
Cheetah_SA is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2015, 2:17 am
  #12  
 
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Redemptions at old rates extended to 28 Feb

That previous quote was part of a communication from Voyager about extending the window for redemptions at old rates:
Whilst the majority of our members applauded SAA Voyager's bold yet equitable move to change from a mileage-based to a revenue-based frequent flyer programme, some members appealed that they were at a disadvantage in terms of redemption of Miles for SAA operated flights, as their Miles were awarded on the old mileage-based structure. We have accordingly extended the MileageKeeper and AnyDay Awards until 28 February 2015 at 23H00 South African time, to allow you more time to make use of the previous Award thresholds. This is over and above the 64 day notice SAA Voyager had given on 28 November 2014, allowing you to exercise your right to redeem Miles as per the mileage-based structure by 31 January 2015.

As you are aware, MileageKeeper Awards are capacity controlled, which means that seats will not always be available on your preferred flight.

You can withdraw an Award certificate, which will be valid for 6 months from the date of issue. Your ticket must be issued before the Award certificate expires. Validity of Domestic and International tickets is 6 and 12 months, respectively, from the date of first departure.

Effective 1 February 2015, mileage thresholds for future travel using SAA Voyager Miles for SAA operating flights is dynamically priced as per the available fare class and will be applicable to the base fare and fuel levy of the requested flight(s). These redemption seats will not be capacity controlled and Miles will be converted as form of full payment for the base fare and fuel levy at a set conversion. We have furthermore, negotiated discounted fares for our Members.
No idea what that last sentence means in practice. Given that the pricing is so opaque, how will one know if those discounted fares are available?
Cheetah_SA is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2015, 2:24 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 30
Originally Posted by Cheetah_SA
You must be missing something. According to Voyager:


I just hate it when PR people spin something so outrageously. Who do they think actually believes that?

Yes, shame on me. You are right. How can I dare not to believe what PR tells me...?
GlobalFrance is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2015, 6:29 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 62
Originally Posted by africahand
^

Before my discounted economy flights from JNB to LAD at a cost of about $500 a pop earnt 1581 miles (return). Now should get about 3000. Much better for me....
How did you calculate the 3000 miles? The exchange rate is currently about 11.75, so $500= ZAR 5875= 9400 miles.

The reason I ask is that I just flew DC-DKR on SAA on a Q class ticket at $1700. I credited it to UA, but doing a very quick calculation, that would be $1700*11.75=19,975 ZAR * 1.6= 31,960 (instead of the 8000 miles I got). Obviously this can't be right, so I'm curious what I'm missing.
TandroyFoty is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2015, 1:49 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by TandroyFoty
How did you calculate the 3000 miles? The exchange rate is currently about 11.75, so $500= ZAR 5875= 9400 miles.

The reason I ask is that I just flew DC-DKR on SAA on a Q class ticket at $1700. I credited it to UA, but doing a very quick calculation, that would be $1700*11.75=19,975 ZAR * 1.6= 31,960 (instead of the 8000 miles I got). Obviously this can't be right, so I'm curious what I'm missing.
You should be dividing by 1.6, not multiplying.
evanb is offline  

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