Aegean Airlines is changing up their Miles & Bonus program next month. What used to be the easiest way to achieve Star Alliance Gold (and have access to hundreds of airline lounges worldwide) is finally bringing the program back to a more European (and Greek) centric program. There are still many ways to take advantage of it going forward, if you value the access, but it will not longer be a one-and-done type of qualifying.
Since the announcement of the changes, many people have been wondering what will happen to the cards that many of us carry that do not have an expiration date until 2016 or 2017. Obviously, our status will be rolled over into a status that will expire in November of 2015, but the question keeps popping up – what happens if we use our existing cards to access Star lounges after our actual status with Aegean end?
Unfortunately for all those who do not plan on re-qualifying, the news is not good. According to the news spot on their app, current members will be unable to request card replacements until after the switch in November at which point, all Aegean members will be receiving new cards. I spoke with a couple of people about that and, while they did not get specifics, they did say that the new card will have differences that will separate it from the current crop of cards. These new card updates will be sent to Star partners so the chances of being able to use an old card to slip in to a lounge are very, very low.
New cards means no more access to lounges after status expiration
The good news is that now that Aegean’s app has a digital card, we should still have access to the lounges while waiting for the new cards to arrive. I can confirm that the card does work for some lounges outside of Aegean’s own lounges.
Aegean Airlines’ Digital Card
Charles, what is the expiration of the miles that one has in their account? In my case I earned the miles in April 2012, and have not credited to Aegean since. What would I need to do to extend the expiration of the miles and when would I need to do it by? Is a flight on a partner sufficient ? Is there an easier way? How long would a solitary partner flight extend my existing miles for? Thank you
Hi, Andrew, It is 36 months and any fare earning flight credited to A3 will renew that. However, with the changes coming, that renewal will only take you through November 24, 2015 (for status). For the miles expiring, that is also 36 months, but that may change after the new program changes. We will have to see what it looks like.
[…] エーゲ航空がステータス基準を大幅に厳しくするというニュースの続報です． これまでのアナウンスで少し不明確だったのが，すでに最長3年先まで有効のゴールドカードを持っている人たちの処遇でしたが，どうやら新システム移行後有効期間1年間の新しい会員カードを発行することになったようです．これで，来年以降のゴールド維持には新基準が適用されることがはっきりしたと思います．また，新カードは従来のカードとはデザインが大きく違い，それをスターアライアンス各社にも周知するので，古いカードを使ってラウンジを利用することもできなくなるということです． 残念ですが，これで最後の抜け道も塞がれた感じがします． […]