Better Solitaire Benefits Needed

[SMK77]

I was in T2 SKL F earlier this year speaking to a couple of rather wealthy Indian gentlemen who were going from India to the US regularly in First along with various other business associates. They said they had been flying SQ all the time but LH were now US$ 6000 cheaper so they had switched all their future flights over to them.

As well as being $6000 cheaper, they mentioned the FCT in FRA compared to the SKL in T2 and also HON status compared to PPS. Not much of a comparison really......

HON Circle is a lot easier to obtain than Solitaire and is a ways better program:

Qualification for HON Circle is 600.000 miles in two years whereby F earns 325% if you are already *S or *G with LH, so you have to fly only 185.000 distance miles in F to make it and J earns 225%, hence 267.000 distance miles are needed. SIN-FRA-SIN is 12.774 distance miles, 15 F tickets or 21 J tickets will be sufficient. Let's say ticket prices are 16.000 SGD in F and 8.000 SGD in J, total "cost" would be 240.000 SGD for flying in F and 168.000 SGD for flying in J. Status is awarded for at least two years.

You get:
- Booking guarantee for booking classes C and D till 24 hours before departure (equals Z and C on SQ). LH would actually overbook J and then deal with it at the airport (upgrade/downgrade/bump other pax)
- Access to Saver Awards in J as long as there are seats available for sales (on SQ you have to redeem a Full Award). LH will try to do the same in F (but this is not a published benefit)
- 50% off for companion awards in all classes of service.
- 3 international one-class-upgrades upon qualification (nothing on SQ)
- You have 600.000 miles to spend upon qualification (KF would have only earned you 335.000 miles flying in F while redemptions on SQ are same level or more expensive)

What can SQ do?
- Introduce booking guarantee for undiscounted Z fares for Solitaire
- Lower the treshold to become Solitaire
- Raise the threshold to stay Solitaire
- Introduce upgrades vouchers for any 50.000 SGD PPS Value flown
- Have a 24/7 hotline in Singapore (cannot believe they still close at 6pm every day!)
- Give Solitaire members access to saver awards/upgrades as long as booking class D is available

[zvezda]

HON Circle is a lot easier to obtain than Solitaire and is a ways better program:

I agree that having HON Circle status is much better than having Solitaire status, but I disagree that it's easier to obtain. There are far more Solitaire members now (after the requirements were tightened) than there are HON Circle members, despite that one can earn HON Circle qualifying miles on a handful of airlines (LH, LX, OS, LO, et al.).

[TerryK]

I agree that having HON Circle status is much better than having Solitaire status, but I disagree that it's easier to obtain. There are far more Solitaire members now (after the requirements were tightened) than there are HON Circle members, despite that one can earn HON Circle qualifying miles on a handful of airlines (LH, LX, OS, LO, et al.).

Any idea on how many current QPP, TPP, LPP members?

[SMK77]

I agree that having HON Circle status is much better than having Solitaire status, but I disagree that it's easier to obtain. There are far more Solitaire members now (after the requirements were tightened) than there are HON Circle members, despite that one can earn HON Circle qualifying miles on a handful of airlines (LH, LX, OS, LO, et al.).

Solitaire is harder to get nowadays - I qualified as QPP1 and only then can I start qualifying for Solitaire. To make it for the first time, I need 275.000 SGD in revenue with SQ.

Solitaire was easier to make when there still was the sector/miles qualification and the problem (read: the high number of Solitaires) is with the very easy re-qualification: Once you make it, requalifikation is just obtained by flying for 25.000 SGD - once you make it, you never drop off... SQ should change that and double the treshhold to at least 50.000 SGD. That would solve the problem with the high number of Solitaires.

If Solitaire would be granted by flying 600.000 miles in two years, the number of qualifications might be the same - but the existing number of Solitaires would drop significantly...