[Anonymous]

[MarcusUK]

Are you managing to hold onto your Premium Frequent Flyer cards this year or not?
I am intrigued with Business / Company funded travel policy changes, & Airlines removals of Business class in Europe, the lesser miles awarded, & more to redeem. What effects are members of the BT Community feeling?

Do you manage to hold onto the Gold cards by number of flights , or by the miles that you complete?
AF / KLM/ Flying Blue re-issue their year cards for the begining of April, & the FB Centre tell me there are a lot of downgradings now each year, many to silver. (Few miles are earned on low cost economy fares in Europe, & you must make 30+ flights to re-gain your Gold Card, as i managed to.
However, there are more personal travel members who self fund their own tickets achieving or maintaining the premium levels, when Business travellers ae getting downgraded they tell me.

However, i have ditched the BMI & Star Alliance in favour of keeping the various Virgin Airlines (soon to be one Global Airline), for my Gold status with them.
I also keep my Etihad Gold, & have held my KLM equivilant Gold for 15 yrs.
But thats it now.

Has anyone considered or changed their strategy with the lesser journeys or class changes in the current climate.
What memberships are you keeping or consolidating & what are you leaving behind?

Maybe a ? for BT to post a survey…
“Have you less premium FF cards & memberships or retained them in the last 2 years?”

It would be very interesting for BT to make some enquiries with the various Airlines or Alliances, where their levels are or have changed in he last 2 years.

[NTarrant]

Interesting question Mark. I read somewhere sometime ago, some guru saying that if you collect points etc stay with those that you are going to use the most. The point being that you will get the most benefit by remaining loyal to a particular brand or group of brands.

I have just acheived Gold on BA, there were a number of circumstances which enabled me to travel more, a family matter which meant I had to come home between visits and having the opportunity to upgrade to First for less than £400 round trip. Otherwise I would have stayed Silver. Looking at travel needs over the coming year in conjunction with current work loads and family holidays, I can see me keeping it for another year beyond the new one that will start now.

So as I go up with one, I go down on Hilton Hhonors to Silver, I missed out by one stay. So I am Silver, which after a stay after Easter will only need me to stay once to retain it, but I would not bust a gut to go for gold again.

I also have FlyingBlue and BMI, but I doubt there will be much activity to get excited about on these this year.

Going back to hotels, over the years my Priority Club yoyo’s between Blue and Gold, although I do pay the $75.00 for the Ambassador which even if one stays once over a weekend it pays for itself.

So I suppose its a case of swings and roundabouts, up with one, down with another.

[SimonRowberry]

Yes, a good question, Mark.

I tend to earn my FF status on mileage flown rather than number of flights, and my hotel status on number of stays (or sometimes overall spend) rather than number of actual nights.

I managed to retain my Star Alliance Gold for the coming year, largely due to Swiss’ cheap Business Class tickets on sale six months ago. I’d hoped to reach One World Gold this year but I may have to stay at silver next year as my year runs out at the end of April and I probably can’t justify a long-haul trip simply for the sake of reaching Gold.

I’ve managed to retain my Hilton Diamond and SPG Gold and should keep those over the next 12 month period too.

So unlike Nigel, rather than being swings and roundabout this year, I’ve managed to stay where I am but not advance at all. I’m anticipating a pretty hectic travelling year ahead, but I think this’ll just lead me to being where I am now at the year end.

I get the distinct impression that some hotels (Hilton for example) and airlines (SK) are showing little or no flexibility and demoting people without any soft landing if the absolute threshold for a particular tier isn’t reached.

Paradoxically, this is the opposite to what seemed to be happening in better economic times a couple or years or so ago, when increasing tier levels as a loyalty tool seemed to be the name of the game if you narrowly missed a threshold. One would’ve thought that this was the time to be instilling loyalty.

Regards, Simon

[batraveller2]

I have had to just focus on my ba executive club card for flights and hiltonhonors for hotels. I used to have Marriot and Virgin cards, but if I split my business, I would end up in silver in all of them.

I should just about retain my BA Gold card at the end of my year, though may struggle to maintain my diamond hilton card, although hope to do so by number of stays (even if it means a couple of nights of moving hotels to gain the extra stay for status). I do not want to move to gold Hilton as there is no longer a guarantee of the lounge access and so am sure that will get enough stays to keep my card somehow.

So, just 1 card for each of hotels and flights for me. I would prefer to be a high status in a few rather than average status in many. Having said that, I think I got more upgrades from Club to first in BA when I was a silver, but guess that may be the luck of the draw!

[MarcusUK]

Thanks for the very interesting responses.

I have been a long standing KLM member, always at gold level, (not enough flights for 60 a year to maintain platinum…but 30 a year is ok in Europe).
They seem to have sent me a steady stream of Gold & platinum hotel cards, including Accor group platinum, Hyatt Gold, & Hilton Gold. My Perks /preferences on the Hilton card, are for a room upgrade if available, & Club floor /Lounge access. Has this changed as recent stays in Dubai, Singapore & Thailand, in the last month, these have always been enabled…?

So the FlyingBlue Companies seem to catch you into their net. I agree though, that the hotel perks are few in terms of free nights now, but like Hilton, you do get some very flexible perks when you stay, & miles to a your Airline at least, thought the points are worth little.

I took advantage of the virgin Silver offer before Xmas, & with just one SQ return to Sydney business, I was fast tracked to gold. In line with this, i took the Virgin Atlantic Amex Black card, which is good in itself for earning miles fro putting all annual travel through there (cautious of those that charge a fee to use it though).
However, on the Flying Club website, you can shop also, & even get miles on Etihad, BMI, KLM, AF, for making each booking, to the Virgin Club. Using the Amex then maximises these as well of course as flights, & credit stays from hotels.
So you earn miles when you buy say a Hilton room via the FC Shop site, then when you stay, as well as on the Amex. Pretty good deal.

It seems as though most of us are juggling a little with our cards, & having to ensure we have one loyalty Airline program at a premium level?
Certainly the days of spreading the loyalty, with less travel, more cost & less value to earning & spending, i feel & see in others a sure change. Earning decent status miles or points in Europe i think is the most difficult now, it is only really on med-long haul travel where you gain any ability to accrue real miles.
I totally agree to keep high status in one or two, those with good Partners, & not just in the main alliances. I think Virgin Atlantic’s is one of he broadest ways to earn miles, & becoming truly global.
I hear they are to amalgamate to one worldwide global Airline end of this year, so this may well be one to try to maintain or attain.

I treasure the KLM FB Gold, as they are excellent in the EU great lounges, aircraft, staff & Schipol then becomes a regular pleasant base for me to use, so this Skyteam one, for KLM alone, is greatest value to me.
Certainly changes are about eh?
It really would make an interesting article in one of the BT issues, & very intriguing to have the major Airlines / Alliances information regarding changing status numbers…?

Anyone at BT know where or can gain access to this?
Thanks all…

[NTarrant]

Interesting you mention about being given hotel cards at a high level Mark. I had a Hyatt card which I never use and only started using Hilton as I was given a Gold card which I have maintained for a number of years, until this year. I have also had a Marriott card of some discription many years ago.

Which Hilton do you stay in Dubai? I usually stay at the Dubai Creek Hilton and have always been given an executive floor and lounge access as a gold member. Ironically I actually booked an executive floor for my trip after Easter, not knowing I was going to be Silver! The only problem I find with this hotel is they have a habit of wacking up the prices at certain times when others are at a much lower rate.

Certainly agree that the subject would make an interesting BT article.

[MarcusUK]

Hi.
The Hilton Jumeirah Beach hotel, not a bad position as very central, lots of cafes & places to wander around & a decent beach area, about as natural as you can get in Dubai!
A decent spa & gym, & was upgraded to a suite.
The cards seem to be generated more by Flying Blue for hotels than others, but i do find Virgins Flying Club are very clever at tailoring offers, with regular less formal updates.
They do influence my choices, the platinum accor had me staying over 30 nights in a year, & the more modern Hilton’s overseas, for city stays, but not for the points, the VIP arrival benefits, & miles awarded for the Airlines…
I dont book the cheapest room, but a mid range, so i pay a fair price, but with the upgrade to give me the top catagory of rooms, with Exec floor access.

I booked Dubai, Singapore & Thailand in the 50% worldwide sale in january, but there is also a 25% offer for booking 21 days in advance.

[SimonRowberry]

Hi Nigel and Mark,

May I contribute to the Hilton Honors debate, please? As I’ve moaned on here before, the ‘new’ owners of Hilton are somewhat more parsimonious than the previous ones. Having changed the qualification period for tiers to a calendar year “by customer demand” – when, by the way, I can’t see how a calendar year could EVER be in the customer’s interest compared to a rolling 12-month period as it used to be – they have now introduced the concept of e-awards. This gives anyone the option to guarantee to pay for an upgrade, if available at check-in. Gold and Diamond members would get a complementary upgrade to the Exec Floor “if available.”

The cynic in me suggests that as hotels strive to improve revenue per available room, it will be the Gold Members who will miss out in particular, and perhaps also Diamond.

Silver membership of HH is, agreed, pretty pointless. Gold membership has lost its edge now that you can only use the Exec Lounge IF you get upgraded to the Exec Floor. I had a period last year of being demoted to Silver, then back to Gold and, when at the latter tier, I don’t think I got upgraded to the Exec Floor once.

I am now back to Diamond, where I have a right to use the Exec Lounge, whether or not on that floor. Last week I stayed at Hiltons in Brussels (NOT the City Hilton – a total horror of a hotel) and Antwerp. At the former I was upgraded gratis to an Exec Room; at the latter I was also upgraded free to the Exec Floor but opted to pay a modest supplement for a suite. The irony was I came back late at night and the room stunk of sewage, so as there were no other Ambassador Suites available, I was downgraded to a more modest suite. I did not get my supplement taken off the bill, though!

IMHO, HHonors Diamond is still well worth having and worth striving for. However, I’m using Starwood increasingly now and it is tempting to go for Platinum there, which also offers the possibility of free upgrades to suites in their properties.

Having said that, even as a humble Gold SPG member, I have recently been upgraded free to suites at Le Bristol in Warsaw (Meridien), The Kamp in Helsinki and the Sheraton Balkan in Sofia (the latter both Luxury Collection). Fair play to Starwood on all occasions.

The negative side of this largesse of Starwood, was being at the Sheraton Stockholm last year, paying for an Exec Floor room, and not being able to physically get into the Clubroom as it was packed, apparently with SPG Platinums enjoying the freebies, according to the lounge hostess. Can’t win ’em all, I guess, lads!

All the best, Simon

[MartynSinclair]

For me SPG Plat rules best but ssssssssshhhh, dont want everyone to know or you’ll all want one.

[SimonRowberry]

I’ll keep it quiet, Martyn…..

[TominScotland]

Interesting thread. Returning to airline FF programmes, I have KLM Platinum for life to can afford not to water that particular garden. I currently have Star Alliance Gold and am watchful of that, choosing a few long-haul C class flights a year to maintain it, largely becauise I find that domestic travel is greatly enhanced with lounge access. I also currently have Emirates Gold which does not have massive utility for me but will probably try to maintain it, if only because it makes the mad world of DXB more palitable. Just a humble Blue with BA because their pricing usually is totally uncompetitive and they give virtually no credit for discounted economy travel.

So will my behaviour change over the next year? I doubt it. I tend to just go with whatever flow gives best value.

[NTarrant]

Hi Simon and Mark

I had a moan at Hilton for not giving me Gold after missing it by one stay, they came back and said it was not financially viable to do so. I replied that if they viewed loyalty as not being financially viable then I would stay more at Intercontinental rather than Hilton. They have now extended my Gold membership.

The upgrade on booking is a strange way to do things I feel and who wouldn’t click the upgrade for nothing button!

I was once a real fan of Accor and was amused that they gave me a Gold A-Club card for this year. I had no way acheived the requirement. I had so many problems getting points added. The worst was the Sofitel in Dubai, 11 months for those. New Century Novotel Hong Kong, four months plus a few others, all in one year. I also was a favorite guest Accor card holder which you paid €130.00 a year to get discounted rates. This was a good deal but when they invited me to rejoin as A-Club the process was so complicated that it would not allow me to have the favorite guest aspect. Dealing with a customer service centre in France was very tiresome and took too long.

The other scheme I have had a bit of difficulty understanding is the Radisson Goldpointsplus. I was told to ask at reception if I wanted either points or BA miles, although you can convert points to miles but you have to have a certain amount. When I have asked I seem to either get nothing or far more than I expected. I don’t think I have been out of pocket, but it does seem strange.

[Senator]

Dear all,
This is an interesting discussion. In an ideal market, I guess we would buy on convenience, quality of service, and “value”. However, the powers of loyalty are strong and we make our choices thereafter.
I’ve been a Lufthansa Senator since 2000, qualifying each year with a low point in 2008 of 110,000 miles (M&M status is valid for two years, and you need only to qualify in one of the two years). Prior to this, I was SK Gold and United Gold. However, I consolidated everything into Lufthansa.

On the hotel side, I have been Hilton Diamond VIP since 2006, and despite the downgrade of benefit still enjoy this. I book all personal travel in Hilton properties unless they are too expensive. Come close to Starwood Gold a few times, had Marriott silver for one year.

I have the luxury of working for a company with a travel policy of Club/Business always. Even my European trips are in Business. Personally, I tend to travel Swiss in Europe on personal trips to take advantage of their business specials. However, for business I am always in the “cheapest” option so I end up on all carriers. Last year I made 30 of which only four were long haul. They were spread across; LH, OS, LX, SK, BD, TK on the Star side. I was on BA, AF, KLM, MH… So, I cleared BA Silver and FB Silver in addition to LH Gold.
For 2010 and beyond, we have agreed to minimise travel on AF and KLM. KLM’s European Select is a joke, and AF is not far behind. My focus is always M&M first, then BA Silver from now on. I probably could go for Hon with M&M but the cost would be too high…

[BABenji]

Similar to Senator, I prioritise. My BA membership year starts in June, so my first goal is to maintain Silver status as a minimum and thereafter look at Star Alliance. My reasoning? My company travel policy is Business only once a flight is 8hours or more (meaning I have to do Dubai in economy…no fun at all). I travel alot to Switzerland and Turkey and so with BA I can at least use use many of the perks of business travel, even if not actually sitting up the front. I am also in Oz 3 or 4 times a year so the Silver Card is great for using Qantas out there as it means I can use Qantas Club on the domestic flights and flights across to NZ.

IHG is my hotel group of choice and the goal is always to maintain platinum status before upping the status/points at Hilton, Marriott, Starwood etc.

[Author]

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