Aegean Airlines Adds 1 Flight Requirement for Certain Transactions

Aegean Airlines took their transfer option offline late last month. I had a couple of theories about it but it turns out, I was not right! Still, they did take the option away so as to update the terms a little bit.

Aegean Airlines Updates Terms for Certain Transactions

Aegean Airlines had long been a favorite of Star Alliance customers for easy elite status (no longer easy to earn but easy to retain) and a gem of an award chart (no longer as good as it used to be). A couple of years ago, they started selling miles cheaper during sales and also allowed non-elite customers to pay a simple €15 fee to transfer miles – up to 50,000 miles in a year.

Add to that the ability to earn miles just for signing up (including the recent deal of 5,000 bonus miles for signing-up) and you have a somewhat generous program. Unfortunately, Aegean determined that it was too generous for people that were signing up just to get the miles without actually using the airline for any flights. So, they made a change to their terms before allowing transfers again.

New 1 Flight Requirement for Transfers or Non-Air Redemptions

From this month, members will no longer be able to redeem for non-air redemptions (things like hotels, car rentals, or experiences) without having at least 1 flight with AEGEAN, Olympic Air or Star Alliance in their Miles+Bonus account. That can be waived if they have an Aegean credit card.

This is not that big of a deal for most of us as we are likely not redeeming for non-air items. But, the mileage transfer is a bigger deal since that is a great way to get miles in a main account for larger flight redemptions. This new requirement means that you will need to credit at least 1 flight to your Miles+Bonus account from Aegean, Olympic Air, or another Star Alliance carrier.

So, if you want to take advantage of the chance to transfer miles at €15 a pop, you will need to credit one flight to your Aegean account. This only needs to be done for the person that wants to transfer the miles. This does not impact the Together Account for pooling miles from 5 different members, if you set it up as an elite member.