zeer0

All SAS fares credit at least 100% to A3.

Polytonic

I think something like seat selection on partner airlines would be a meaningful elite benefit (isn't that something the lowest OW tier offers?).

Maybe increased access to premium cabin redemptions? e.g. if SQ or LH were to open up premium cabin availability to UA *P or similar.

zeer0

The rest of us would then say goodbye to LH F redemptions.

I do agree that partner seat selection needs to become a *A elite benefit, both at *G and *P if that happens.

GBobon

yup, and for PE and Business Class you get 200%. also you have to fly 2 legs with OA/A3 for Silver (+12k miles - 1 rountrip in Economy with SAS) and another 4 legs (2 will be in Business Class because when you hit Silver you will get 2 upgrade vouchers on A3/OA flights) and 24k miles (a round trip in PE/C with SAS).

Tokyoite

Well well, then sorry to break it to you, A3 is quite easy to get to *G. They credit 100% to most economy fares for most partner airlines (SAS, Ethiopian, SQ, ANA, TG etc.) It is the same route I have maintained *G for only 1500 euro each year.
Back to topic.....
*G needs a higher tier. Most *A airlines already have "higher than *G" tiers, and treat their own elites very well.
Some alliance-wide recognition for these "higher than *G" tiers would be the beginning of a higher tier that some of us can aim for.

LondonElite

What would this higher tier offer that *G doesn't? In order to meaningfully distinguish it from *G, wouldn't you need to devalue *G significantly?

SPlDER

There are no to many benefits which can be reduced. The *G is not worth to much after years of constant devaluation.

- free baggage - not available anymore on basic fares on SK,LH,OS,LX,TP,NZ
- preffered seats at booking - not available
- preffered seats selection at check-in - available only on few airlines (SK,LO,LH ) not available (AC,UA,TG,TP,TK,NZ,CA)
- fastracks - (available only on same airports, not available even on *A main hubs (examples of *G fastrack parasite airlines: AC,SK,TG, partly TK)
- op upgrades (on my last 400 flights I have been upgrades 2 times but as LH*S)
The real benefits are:
- priority boarding (very often no priority boarding at all, sometimes implementation is a joke - like on UA where *G boards on group with half of the passengers )
At this moment the only real benefit is lounge access - some airlines started to "enhance" this last benefit SK , and LH/TG/A3 using dirty tricks with pseudo-*A airlines (Thai Smile, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti , Olympic )
For < 300 USD you can subscribe PP card, and get lounge access on any carrier including low cost carriers. In order to get easiest *G (UA,A3,TK) you need to spend about 3000-5000 USD in best case (only if you carefully select flights and booking cases)

kiwitakingflight

This is an interesting topic.

Loyalty programs exist to extract more revenue from you, not because companies are benevolent and like to say thank you by rewarding you with things that cost real money to reward you with (e.g. an extra bag, an upgrade, lounge access, a dedicated check-in desk or call centre agent etc.)

Customers who fly frequently in first/ business class as the rule and economy as the exception, should expect to get more.
Customers who fly frequently in economy class as the rule and business class as the exception, should expect to be recognised accordingly.
The problem is that Star Alliance Gold status just doesn't really work this way (perhaps unlike Oneworld) so everyone gets lumped in with the rest, ultimately leading to dissatisfaction for everyone.

When the volume of Star Gold customers grows then ultimately the benefits erode, either in service delivery (e.g. crowded lounges, growing wait-lists for upgrades, longer 'priority' boarding lines etc.) or in terms of economic viability for airlines (e.g. these benefits don't pay for themselves, more users, more cost.) at this point changes become essential to be able to sustain any offering at all.

Companies then need to focus on rewarding the truly valuable customers the most (e.g. think SPG/ Marriott Rewards merger, sucks if your a 25 night SPG Platinum but if you're a 75 nighter then you will actually benefit with more chances of upgrades and more exclusivity, without so much as blinking an eye.)

In an Alliance context it is important to remember that what you have paid to UA in 90% of your travels over the past 20 years has not benefited LH economically nearly to the same degree, even thought LH are expected to provide all the recognition benefits to you when travelling on a EUR99 fare (including taxes) meaning their profitability on your business with LH is perhaps non-existent. When more and more of these customers start coming their way, companies need to start putting on the brakes such a limiting baggage benefits on the cheapest fares to ensure they can still get value out of being in the alliance in the first place and offering global benefits, and, well, extracting a premium in revenue from the customers who actually have the money to spend on a slightly higher fare class.

From the consumer side, everyone likes to feel important. Everyone likes to feel they fly or spend more than everyone else... but very few really know or appreciate how they compare on a global level, especially when they compare against millions of others with the exact same status on their card. With 7 billion increasingly 'rich' and mobile people in the world, combined with consolidation of the travel industry, this competition for meaningful status is only going to increase or the benefits of status are only going to decrease.

Hence I personally would love to see more segregation in the star alliance product, perhaps similar to oneworld, where at least there are some benefits when travelling business class that are not included in the ticket already. Then when flying in economy, as an exception and not the rule, I can expect the red carpet treatment regardless of which member I am flying. Alternatively if I am a mostly economy class customer, then having benefits which make my life in coach more bearable will still go along way to capture my loyalty (e.g. priority boarding, priority check-in, fast track security) and I will still, begrudgingly, be able to live without the same luxuries (e.g. premium lounge access, premium seat allocation, additional baggage allowance etc.)

Personally I also feel that airlines need to do more to reward and recognise their own loyal customers, above and beyond the 'basic' alliance benefits. After all, they are the ones that benefit from the most of your spend and should do the most to keep your business.

tya

One interesting observation I'd like to share is that, I am *G and used to have ST EP (for a very short while) and OW SAPH, but *G, across all member airlines I took, constantly delivers my bag the fastest among my 30+ flight experiences last year alone, and I am actually really surprised how they managed to do that.

I had travelled with CI with ST EP TPE/TSA to HND and PVG, and my bags could be as late as the 50th or even behind, and everyone before me were all priority. Whereas when I flew BR, TG, NH, and AC, especially BR on the exact same routes popular for business travelers, mine always came out the among the first 20 bags.

I used to assume *G is diluted status with many (comparatively) easy methods to get status (e.g. TK, and I myself is among them), but it turned out Star Alliance still offers the most consistent quality. Maybe it's just my luck, or the program itself is still not overcrowded yet.

Xandrios

Going one step further, the cabin may not even be the most important part. What is important is the revenue that you bring in. The more revenue you generate, the more the airline is willing to spend on enticing you to fly with them (or; offer expensive benefits).

And this process has already started. Many programs are switching to a revenue model, at least for award miles. The next step may be to also have your frequent flier level depend on your spent with the airline or alliance. Which doesn't even have to be a specific levels - it could go as far as giving you a 'score' based on the dollars spent. Anybody above certain thresholds will get certain benefits. That also allows to better sort priorities in case of an OPUP or other scenario where the most important customers should come first.