Thai-Kiwi

Hi all,

back in NZ after an interesting time in BKK and CGK 14-31 May (18-24 in CGK).

Excellent work by THAI ROP service centre to accommodate changes on my flights BKK-SIN-BKK due to the situation in BKK.... but another report on that in due course.

Whilst I have good enough Thai language skills to get by quite well in Thailand (yosithezet to confirm ), the google translation can be quite a giggle - and so the translation is offered in the link below is in that vein - a bit of a goggle giggle. http://translate.google.com/translat...2F&sl=th&tl=en

ขอบคุณมากครับคุณ joy16 !!

Cheers all, TK

MAN Flyer

It's a hell of a lot of benefits for just 100K, which is very easily achievable for a lot of regular flyers. Five years *A Gold status for just 100K is bonkers. The F lounge would be swamped, which would spoil it. The Spa would get much busier as well but don't forget J pax can already use it anyway so I don't think it would be as bad as what would happen to the F lounge.

A lot of airlines do not allow their top tier FF'ers into their best lounge if they are not flying F and this should stay the same imho.

kittiyut

[QUOTE=
A lot of airlines do not allow their top tier FF'ers into their best lounge if they are not flying F and this should stay the same imho.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree with you. Even Global Services on United does NOT entitle you to use the F lounge (but you can check in using F line regardless of the ticket class). And 5 year Gold for just flying 100K? Geez, that's waaaaaay generous!

hgp

Actually, the speculated Platinum benefits are about normal in terms of generosity.

OneWorld emerald (their top level equiv to *A Gold), for example, gets you into F class lounges regardless of class of travel. And someone who flies 100k in a year is probably going to fly a lot the following year... so 5 year validity really doesn't mean too much (unless you suddenly stop flying).

Truth is, with the lower earn rates on ROP*G compared to BMI/LH/UA etc, the speculated Platinum level may be a way to balance out rewards for top fliers?

kiam

I don't feel any of the new benefits are that generous (one can argue +40kg allowance on Thai flights is great, but I always got above 20 kgs (once up to 30 kgs extra with no additional charge) anyway with ROP Gold when flying Thai).

Someone who flies 100K in Year 1, will likely fly similar miles or not much less again in Year 2. So, if you fly 100K 3 yrs in a row, are you *G for 15 years? How does this work? Like with ROP Gold, if you fly 50K miles two years (except dead year) in a row, then you get total 4 yrs Gold status.

The real extra, in my opinion, is the nominee Gold card. To me, this is generous. The two GUPs are expected considering you fly 100K, you deserve them.

Fundamentally, they need to come up with a better structure to prevent us from banking miles in other program during the dead year. For example, bonus miles for elite, extension of mileage expiration for ROP Gold members (say 2 more years)...etc. That will be the real bonus, I think.

Sam Drucker

(my bold emphasis)


When I joined ROP several years ago, I noted that they did not give out any bonus mileage for Silver or Gold, as I was accustomed to with other carriers.

However, as far as using awards goes, ROP is wonderful! Any time I have wanted to use an award or an upgrade, they have been SO easy to work with. I usually can get my first choice for booking. Compare this to the hours spent trying to come up with a workable itinerary that allows you to use your miles for awards in some of the other airline programs.

THAI doesn't have multi-tier awards (and thus does not play the games about lack of availability) that goes along with them.

I'm still not happy that THAI raised the mileage "price" of awards twice in the last three years, and used the same lame excuse both times (about doing it because it is an upgraded cabin product now.) But, I do realize that I have much greater ease to actually use my miles as I want to with THAI, and I'm grateful for that. So keep in mind that while earn levels are lower on THAI, the mileage is more valuable because of the ease of using it for awards.

I'd rather maintain the status quo, than to have them align it more with the other airline programs (which raises the stress and tension levels when trying to book your awards!)

RipperDoc

For me, choosing between TG and SQ FFPs, I just find SQ considerably cheaper in terms of awards, both savers and Star Alliance awards. With the SQ +25% earnings after Silver, earning rate seem higher as well. But if it is as you say, perhaps it is worth more to be able to get almost guaranteed awards from TG at a higher price than having to fight SQ to get the cheaper awards...

brunos

We had that discussion many times before on this forum. Again, a major point is that for PREMIUM travel on TG, it is better to credit to another FFP.
As BD Gold, when I pay F on TG, I get 625% miles, while a ROP Gold only gets 150%; and award levels are often lower. And the miles+cash BD program allows to get awards with half the miles needed in ROP. So I end up with many, many more F awards than if I was using ROP (which I used to). I'd rather have 4 (or 8) F award tickets on TG than just 1, even if I need to lose a few minutes of frustration with the BD call center. And TG award availability is the same whether you book awards with BD or ROP. I know that some posters suggest that ROP assist them in unblocking award seats, but the price paid for such a service is just to high.
My point for this thread: it is about time that ROP introduces a truly valuable Plat.

bkkman

Agree 100% with the points why BD is far better than ROP.

Aussie_flyer

I too agree, there is absolutely no comparison! Even for Full Y pax. The ROP Gold free upgrade is nowhere near enough of a benefit to bring it up to BD.

flyin�ruddl

This statement can not be stressed out too much. I, like many others, don�t bother to credit a single (premium) flight to the ROP program anymore for the many reasons mentioned before and in various other threads.

F.R.

Rambuster

What does the equation look like once BMI is merged in LH M&M ?

BKKROP

When LH took off a couple of years ago in Australia we all moved over, it was great, naturally then we moved to BMI, now it's anyone's guess, mine has been to return to TG and put pressure on them to reward me for my flights "in the manner I have grown accustomed to".

LH is very good, but IMO you have to be a SEN or HON, which means you have to fly one hell of a lot of miles. Now what I liked were the upgrade vouchers, the bonus mileage, but the feature that was so good is the 50000bank of miles you can overdraw.

They also had a series of other features that I found interesting. No airline wants to lose premium class business, TG will reward you for flying 100,000 per year, you will get your Birthday return trip upgrade and you will get another upgrade for flying 50000 per year. You can also pursue this an extra step.

TG have come to realise they have to give their good customers 50% redemption, that is good, but the critical point is the bonus miles. They tried it this year, bonus miles for flying in May, then a bonus mileage for booking on line, so it is obviously in their minds.

It is horses for courses, return trip upgrades work very well for Australians who have to fly to Europe, whereas if you were doing only Asian hops it's not worth much. We are at time able to buy economy tickets to London for 1500, also combo economy/business tickets, this is an extremely cheap way for us to fly in comfort to London. If we are able to pick up 2 or 3 of these a year, sure beats the daylights out of any other program that will be out there in 12 months time.

Depending on your ticket purchases, I would say that LH is better than TG, if you are unable to capitalise on the upgrade benefits

A_Lee

Any more updates on this rumor? I presume if they create a platinum level, it will go into effect Jan 1, 2011. I need to start soon planning which FFP to bank the miles from some of my upcoming trips and if TG will offer a platinum level next year, that will affect what I do now.

Just for the record, I don't really see what's being proposed as being overly generous. OZ for example gives F lounge access for their Diamond Plus members who fly 100,000 miles in 2 years, even if flying in Y. If TG did something similar to that, it would certainly be enough for me to strive for Platinum. Giving F lounge access only if flying in C would be of little value to me as I don't fly TG in C very often. OZ status is good for 2 - 4 years, depending on when you sign up and how long it takes you to reach the status level. TG is maybe being a bit generous for giving 5 years status, but if that's only *G status, but the additional platinum benefits expire after only one year, then most people would strive to fly the 100,000 miles each year.

If they were to give F lounge access to their Platinum members, but maybe restrict it to only the lounge with spa access only granted if not busy, and only to those flying TG and not any *A passengers, then I think there wouldn't be much problems with overcrowding in the F lounge. As it is now, the F lounge whenever I've been there has been quite empty. For the record, F lounge access is the single most important thing to me in a top-tier FFP. Without that feature, I likely wouldn't bother trying to reach that level unless I didn't have any better place to park my miles.

I also think that giving more miles to their top-tier members is very important. The earn/burn rates with ROP are near the bottom of the barrel. Even giving double miles for top-tier members would still be less than what some FFPs do. Only giving an additional 25% or something like that would be of little incentive. Of course we'd all take whatever we can get, but it wouldn't be enough I don't think for anyone to seriously consider ROP based on that alone. If they were to give double miles to platinum members, then it would be a good incentive for many I think.

Beyond F lounge access and higher earn rates, other very important features I'd like would be:
* F check-in / fast-track immigration
* Miles don't expire as long as platinum status is maintained
* Priority op-ups for platinum members

Features mentioned that are of little or no value to me personally would be:
* nominee ROP/*A gold card
* nominee upgrade
* additional baggage allowance

Being not everyone is the same, it would be nice if they made a flexible platinum level, where the member could pick a certain number of features from a list. So for example, I'd choose F lounge access in exchange for the nominee. With everything being computerized these days, it shouldn't be difficult to offer such a customizable top-tier program. If they did that, they'd be able to offer something to almost everyone. And I think they'd be a whole lot more successful with their new level and in attracting more business to their airline.

BKKROP

Hi A_Lee, These things are normally planned 12 months out and the whispers started early this year as i recall, so I guess the same. It is a gamble but I am ensuring my ROP level is 150,000 this year, if nothing happens what do I lose, a hell of a lot, , then it's a game and I love flying anyway

Whilst I do take into account the difference in fare prices (something that is always thrown back at me by THAi officials), I still want more. There are some great programs out there, TG can pick them to pieces.

I am well looked after in Australia and Thailand, but put me in LHR or CDG, even HKG, I battle the system like everybody else. Somehow the op-ups don't work for me nowadays, if I am flying non stop through to Europe, I need the certainty beforehand that I will be in comfort. A system like Hyatt where they give you 4 suite upgrades a year, a room class upgrade on booking, bonus nights and points and free breakfast, I can deal with. Now I use Hyatt more than I ever did.

If THAI were to work the same system, they would have a winner