American AAdvantage is changing the qualification rules for lifetime elite status from 1 December.  Currently they have the most generous qualification rules of all airlines in that all mileage counts, even ones earned through credit card spend.  From 1 December 2011 further accrual towards lifetime elite status will only be for miles earned by flying. 

This is still at the more generous end of the spectrum of airline elite status qualification requirements (some frequent flyer programs have no lifetime status, or only count flights on their home airline).  The notice given for the change has been relatively short, which makes it difficult for some who wish to accelerate their earning to earn lifetime status before the rule change.

I’ve updated the full listing of lifetime elite frequent flyer status.

Qantas has revealed to the world at large the previously hidden top frequent flyer tier (no, not Chairman’s Lounge which is given to politicians and senior businesspeople), and at the same time renamed it to Platinum One.  Platinum One requires 3600 status credits in a year, equivalent to 5 return trips between Sydney and London in first class (or 30 round trips on most economy class fares).

Platinum One status gets special assistance, which I’ve found useful a few times.  Australian Business Traveller has some benefit suggestions for Qantas.

Buried amidst the announcement of upcoming service changes for Air New Zealand Tasman, Pacific and domestic travel is news that a much valued perk of elite status is being removed.  Space+ seating on domestic and shorthaul international flights is considerable extra legroom and is a greatly appreciated status benefit.  On 737s there is currently an extra 5″ legroom (about 35″ total) and similar on A320 and 767.

The new offerings (still called space+) will be about 31-32″ pitch on all three aircraft (and also the domestic configured A320 which arrive soon to replace 737s) and limited to a handful of seats.  Regular shorthaul economy seats are about 30″, although some competing airlines offer considerably more (eg Emirates).

Note there remain a small number of 777 and 747 trans-Tasman and Pacific shorthaul flights which will continue to designate premium economy seating as space+.

Qantas has announced a raft of changes to their frequent flyer program which will become effective over a period of several months.

From 1 October 2010:

• GAIN Silver status requires 300 status credits to earn and 250 to requalify (down from 350 and 300 respectively).
• GAIN (temporary) Partner Gold status can be applied to anyone on reaching 2100 status credits (currently limited to partner residing at the same address).  Offer valid only until 3 May 2011 and cannot be combined with Platinum+ benefit (see next bullet point).
• GAIN (net) new Platinum+ benefit at 2400 status credits – a choice of Complimentary Gold (replaces current Partner Gold benefit), 3 complimentary Qantas valet parking or chaffeured transport invitations, or 50,000 bonus points.

From 1 December 2010:

• LOSS increase in award assistance and change fees (eg from 2500 to 3500 points)
• LOSS increase in points transfer fee
• LOSS removal of option to pay lost ticket replacement fee in points (cash fee is unchanged)
• GAIN reduction in replacement card fee (from A$25/2500 points to A$10/1000 points)

From 1 February 2011:

• LOSS Qantas Club members and Silver lose priority check in on domestic flights (benefit is retained for international).
• LOSS Platinum loses anytime lounge access, but can use lounges on arrival provided flying on Qantas, Jetstar, Jetstar Asia or Oneworld.

From 4 May 2011:

• GAIN Silver gets increased award availability for classic awards flying Qantas (an existing benefit for Gold and Platinum).
• LOSS 2nd increase in award assistance fee for international tickets (to 6000 points, currently 2500)
• LOSS increase in service fee, and these are added to any other applicable fees

From 1 June 2011 (travel date for tickets purchased on or after 1 December 2010):

• LOSS change in checked baggage allowance for domestic economy class from weight concept to piece concept (1 piece with maximum weight less than old limit).
• GAIN change in checked baggage allowance for domestic business class from weight concept to piece concept (2 pieces with maximum weight per piece).
• GAIN Qantas Club members, Silver, Gold, increase in checked baggage allowance for international business and first class (excluding travel via Americas)
• GAIN Platinum increase in checked baggage allowance for international all classes (excluding travel via Americas)

Overall changes are:

• negative for Bronze (no status)
• negative for Qantas Club
• mixed for Silver – lose some benefits and gain others
• negative for Gold (due to the higher fees)
• mixed for Platinum – lose some benefits and gain others
• small positive for Platinum+ even though the threshold is higher there are more options which helps those for whom the current Partner Gold benefit is worthless

From 1 October American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs in USA will have free booze (spirits, beer and wine) bringing them into line with the international Admirals Clubs and lounges of most other airlines (United’s Red Carpet Club now being a notable exception).

So at last it will mean an end to fiddling around with drink chits (available for non-AA Oneworld elite members on entry).

Aeroplan has introduced lifetime elite status for those who’ve flown a lot on Air Canada and Jazz.

1 million status miles for lifetime elite (Star Alliance gold)
2 million status miles for lifetime elite for yourself and a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)
3 million status miles for lifetime super elite for yourself and lifetime elite for a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)

My post summarising all the lifetime elite statuses has been updated.  The new Aeroplan lifetime status levels are relatively difficult to earn (there are easier qualification criteria for some other lifetime elite statuses, American AAdvantage for example counts all mileage earning), but also offer relatively generous benefits.

The next step in the integration of bmi into Lufthansa is the inclusion of each other in the list of airlines eligible for status bonuses from 1 August.  Miles & More elite members can get their 25% status bonus when flying bmi (and they count for HON Circle miles), and Diamond Club Gold status members can get their 35% status bonus when flying Lufthansa (but oddly not for Swiss, Austrian or Brussels flights).

I had to laugh at the wording of the Diamond Club email. Describing the parent airline as a partner is an odd choice of words.

Reader Nun recently made the following comment

I’ve been following “How to get to” for a while. One thing I don’t understand is the strict treatment of the term “alliance.” Just because an airline belongs to an alliance doesn’t mean that’s all the partners they have or that’s all the routes they have. It’s often possible to get somewhere in a codeshare. For example, Iberia has lots of IB coded flights which are actually flown by Vueling. Vueling isn’t part of oneworld but the codeshares are. There are lots of examples. Just a thought…

Good question Nun, and of wider relevance than just for the “how to get to” series of posts.  It is true I base the information on the airline operating the flights, not allowing for codeshare or partner flights. There are reasons for this, which I’ll explain below.

What is a codeshare?

A codeshare is where an airline markets a flight but it is actually operated by a different airline. Eg Air New Zealand codeshares on Aircalin flights between Auckland and Noumea, and Aircalin codeshares on Air New Zealand flights on the same route.  There are different types of codeshare agreements between airlines but that is not important for this discussion.

What is a partner flight?

Most frequent flyer programs (FFPs) also partner with some non-alliance airlines. Sometimes this is limited to a specific route, and other times all routes are included. Some FFPs even partner with airlines that are members of a competing alliance.  For the purpose of this discussion a partner flight excludes flights by other airlines within the same alliance.

Why the operating airline matters (codeshares)

Almost all alliance fare products are limited to flights on airlines within the alliance. There are some limited exceptions (such as Oneworld distance based Global Explorer around the world fare). The fare rules require both operating airline and marketing airline to be within the relevant airline alliance.

For mileage earning and redemption the situation is more complicated, as follows:

• intra-alliance codeshare (eg American codeshare on Qantas flights between USA and Australia) – full earning, status earning, award redemption okay
• marketing airline is the airline of the FFP, operating airline is not in the alliance (eg Air NZ codeshare on Aircalin in relation to Airpoints) – full earning, may or may not earn status miles, award redemption okay
• marketing airline is not the airline of the FFP but is another airline within the same alliance, operating airlines is not in the alliance (eg Air NZ codeshare on Aircalin in relation to United Mileage Plus) – in Oneworld generally earn miles and status miles and allow award redemption, in Star Alliance and Sky Team generally non mileage earning and no award redemption
• marketing airline is not in the alliance but is a partner of the FFP, operating airline is in the alliance (eg Aircalin codeshare on Air NZ in relation to Airpoints) - earn miles, may or may not earn status miles, generally allow awards

Why not include partner airline flights?

Partners of one frequent flyer program are not normally also partners of all other frequent flyer programs in the same alliance.  A Flyer Talk thread on Star Alliance partner airlines illustrates – for example Virgin Atlantic is a partner of several Star Alliance airlines, but others are not partners with Virgin Atlantic.

Going back to Nun‘s question. I haven’t included partner airlines in the alliance listings in the “how to get to” series of posts because they are useful only to some frequent flyer programs and generally not useful for alliance products or awards.  To include every airline flying to a country would mean some long lists and information that would quickly become out of date. I get around this by listing the main non-alliance airlines as “other”. The reader is left to check which ones may be useful for them for mileage earning or award redemption purposes.

As promised, I am answering some of Wendy Perrin’s readers’ frequent flyer questions. This batch of questions deals with which program works best in different circumstances.

Read More…

Last month Air New Zealand announced sweeping changes to their shorthaul product on most flights between New Zealand and Australia plus the South Pacific.  The changes, due to commence from August on a trial route and November for other routes, are intended to help Air New Zealand compete with low cost carriers Jetstar and Pacific Blue whilst also retaining full service options for passengers who want them.  Already business class has been removed from sale on A320 flights from the relevant dates onwards.

Nearly 3 weeks on, there is considerable confusion over some details of high interest to frequent flyers.  Poorly written communications with their Airpoints and Koru Club members contradict other information such as posted on the Air NZ website, and also imply some benefits taken for granted may be removed (such as Star Alliance gold free extra luggage allowance if travelling on the cheapest fares).

There is a bright spot, however.  Thanks to customer feedback Air NZ has reversed their decision to remove space+, although the current proposal is weaker than the existing space+ seating (much fewer seats & less legroom for most of these).  I notice the date from which the new product will be available for sale has been quietly pushed back to May (from April), presumably to allow more time to iron out some of the kinks already identified.

Once we get a bit more detail, I’ll explain the implications and options available for people with existing and future bookings.  Hint: business class and star alliance gold passengers on these routes seem to come off worst with the changes, so hopefully Air New Zealand still has some tricks up their sleeves to retain these high yielding passengers.