gsenthil

Hi, am new here. Thought I would get clarified through seasoned flyers here.

Am in India. And travel often. Been flying AF for the whole of 2007 and was getting nowhere close to Gold when their requirement, I think, was like 100000 miles. Was not able to make it and got a silver. Meanwhile, didnt enjoy transiting through Paris. Well. The truth is I saw someone got upgraded to business class on his first AF flight. And I was told in Warsaw that I will be upgraded at gate in Amsterdam on flight to India, but I was not. Saw someone got upgraded again who was not a AF gold or something. That was the last time, I used them.

Thought I will be smart and become Thai member and become gold quicker with 50000 points instead of miles and more's 100000 points. Became one and am close to Gold but always fly LH; Never flied Thai yet. What are the pros and cons for such an approach. Maybe it was a often discussed topic. In that case, please refer me to that thread. Else, thanks for your time to discuss on this.

yosithezet

Welcome to FlyerTalk, gsenthil!

You would have been better going with BMI rather than Thai IMO.

1) Re-qualification for Gold is only 37K miles.
2) LH is buying BMI which means that you'll have been moved over into M&M as a *A Gold most likely.
3) Airlines upgrade their own program's members before partner program's members.

Thai-Kiwi

Likewise, a warm welcome to FlyerTalk, gsenthil!

Adding to the above, if based in Bangkok the THAI ROP is not too bad. Also, once you make THAI ROP gold, it lasts for 2 years, which is useful if your travel patterns don't support regular annual travel sufficient to maintain status on other schemes (mostly annual requirements).

Cheers, TK

yosithezet

I totally agree that if you are based in BKK the program you want to join is THAI ROP. But being based in Norway and India and not transiting BKK it doesn't seem to make sense. I am not based in BKK but transit BKK very often. My TG *G status is what gets me off the waiting list for TG flights on a regular basis.

A_Lee

Agree with yosithezet. No reason to join ROP if you don't fly TG. The redemption rates are very bad and there's other program with much easier qualifications. BD is good due to great redemption rates right now, though that may change soon. OZ is great for super easy qualification (40K miles) which lasts for 2+ years, but earn/burn rates are not very good for most. TK is another program to look at for easy qualification. There's plenty of threads discussing this in the FlyerTalk Star Alliance forum. If you're looking for opups on non-TG flights, then your chances with one *A Gold card are likely just as good compared to any other *A Gold card. Best if you have the gold card for the airline you're flying, but if not any will get you equal treatment.

anaidross

I know if I could hit 50000 for two consecutive years, I would have my ROP gold status retained for 4 years.

I am just curious, if I hit 50000 for three consecutive years, does it mean I could retain my ROP status for 6 years?

yosithezet

No, the third year doesn't do anything for you so it may make sense to use that year to build status in another *A airline. On the other hand if you do that you won't have as many miles to redeem when deal like the current "redeem 1 get 2" deal.

The 4th year will give you another 2 years though.

gsenthil

BMI: As am flying LH now, wont be able to drive points into BMI I guess, till LH acquires BMI and then drive LH flight points into BMI points or so. Though not exactly similar situation, Air India is part of *A but I am not seeing my points go to ROP even as I told them in checkin counter. Heard that it is not yet in place. Lost points worth a round trip by being a bit ignorant. Moreover, as am flying out of MAA airport out of India, dont think BMI or OZ flies out. Am doubtful if BMI flies out of India at all.

Is it not possible to book reward flights in any *A flights using ROP points. I know it is not possible over their site. But thought it would be possible to say MAA to FRA in a LH flight by using ROP points by calling them. But I grasp that the reward redeeming is not favourable. Moreover, just wanted to become Gold somehow and just looked at Krisflyer and ROP and hoped that when I fly within Asia, would use Thai as I can stopover in BKK; Might happen soon.

Maybe I will do 50K in ROP for this and next year and hold the status for 4 years; Actually there are not many people flying LH out of MAA that are Gold. Quite conservative south indian city unlike BOM or DEL
where there are many. Got an upgrade once on 31-Aug; Was promised an upgrade at Gate on 14th Sep but did not happen... maybe business class was full; Would see if I get one on 28th Sep;

It is nice to see so many people replying. I am happy.

Thanks

brunos

As you suggest yourself, you seem to be a bit ignorant about FFP.
First let me correct you on AF. To get Gold, you only need 40K not 100K, so it seems a bit stange that you were silver and not aware of the requirements. But I agree with you that AF is not good on upgrading its elite pax.
I fail to understand why you want to get ROP given your travel pattern. Any *A flights can be creditedto any *A FFP. I would definitely choose BMI and credit ALL my *A flights (LH, AI, TG, etc...) to BMI DC. BMI does not require that you fly on them to get elite levels.

gsenthil

Is it possible the requirements in Flying blue was different in 2007 ? because, I see I have 100000 points accumulated in 2 years but never crossed silver. I was annoyed with FB because twice I saw non-silvers getting upgraded. Would be ROP Gold by mid Oct, but already seeing LH doling out upgrades, which is nice.

I choose between Krisflyer and ROP as there was a forecast to fly to Korea for the subsequent year, which didnt happen.

yosithezet

Just join BMI's program and credit the LH flights to the BMI program. BMI is a *A carrier.

Air India is not part of Star Alliance. There is no reason to believe that your Air India flights will be credited to TG unless it is a TG code-share of some sort of which I'm not aware.

It is clear that you are losing a ton of points due to lack of knowledge. We are here to help you get up to speed, but you need to make sure to implement what you learn and stick to it. You never need to fly OZ or BD (BMI) to credit miles to their programs. The only reason we are suggesting BD to you is that it will get you to *A Gold re-qualification quicker, enable you to redeem with some good options, and eventually be merged into the LH M&M program which includes the airlines you typically fly.

You can absolutely to this, and if you were to start to fly Oslo-BKK-MAA instead of Oslo-Europe-MAA then ROP might be a good program for you. But you need to be consistent.

What does conservative have to do with anything?

You can use ExpertFlyer or KVS to check the status of flights to know if Business is full or not full.

I'll stress again, whatever you do, make up your mind and stick to it. Flip-flopping will lose you any chance to make status. In your case I'd be doing TG Oslo-BKK-MAA and joining ROP or BD. I had forgotten about the Oslo-BKK route or would have suggested this earlier.

kats

Just making sure you got 5,000 bonus miles from this link.

gsenthil

Thanks Yosithezet. I fully agree with you. I might stick to ROP for now and I have 35000 miles and would be Gold in another 1.5 return trip. MAA to BKK to OSL to BKK to MAA looks extremely expensive if I took at Thai airways site. Expedia is showing some 5500 U$; Will talk to my travel agent. It would provide a nice stopover option...

ExpertFlyer or KVS - they both are paid sites?

ROP Gold is equivalent to M&M FF or Senator? I think it is the latter, when it comes to comparing benefits like extra luggage allowance and M&M lounge access

I meant MAA attracts conservative flyers unlike DEL or BOM as many are flyers who fly fewer times and not much awareness and interest towards flying programs. This means higher possibility of upgrades if Economy is overbooked

cheers.. thanks again

yosithezet

Check prices locally from a TA in MAA. Just be careful of the booking class. I find that buying tickets from an agent locally, usually through the hotel travel desk, is much cheaper.
Both have pay components and both have trial periods. Both post actively here on FT.

M&M SEN

gsenthil

This is regarding my Thai ROP membership. I see 52000 odd miles for Qualifying miles accumulated in 2009; And some 72000 miles for Qualifying miles accumulated in 2008/09; The Minimum qualifying miles needed for GOLD status says NONE; But against my Member ID the status said is SILVER; Breaching of 50000 miles happened only by yesterday's flight. Will it be a while to get status changed to GOLD or do I have to make 80000 miles by end of this year to become Gold ? Thanks.