Qualifying as EG for the first time

[Vtac82]

Hi Guys,

I'm still DAMN confused after reading the forum and was on the phone with KrisFlyer lady on the phone. I hope you guys can help me.


I joined KrisFlyer January 2008 and I have achieved Silver May 2008. I understood that one has to achieve 50,000 MILES flown with Star Alliance to get Gold.

I currently have 46181 MILES, and as a normal human being I would expect 50,000 - 46181 = 3819 to get Gold. So I was getting excited because I am flying from Melbourne to Narita this coming Sunday via Singapore because I knew I would get Gold from that trip. To my horror, when I log in my statement :

I freakin need another 48,064 to get Gold!?!? Wouldn't that mean one has to get 75,000 Elite Miles to get Gold?? Help please!!!


Current Tier Elite Silver

Valid Until 30 Apr 2009


KrisFlyer Miles
Current Balance 46,181


Elite Miles
Current Elite Miles 1,936

Miles required for KrisFlyer Elite Silver requalification 23,064
by 30 Apr 2009

Miles required for KrisFlyer Elite Gold qualification 48,064

[kelvgoh]

ah relax. you can be the perfect test case then.

just fly the narita sector and let us know if it reflects your status as KF Gold or Silver.

What regular forumites believe is that there is a second (hidden) counter behind what appears on the KF account screen that keeps track of actual miles flown in a membership year.

This counter should show that you've flown 50,000 miles in one membership year and qualify you for KF Gold membership, i.e. 50,000 miles flown from a standing start is sufficient to attain KF G.

------------------------------------------

What our initial debate was about is whether there is a "step" approach for KF G qualification, i.e.

25,000 miles - achieve KF Silver - counter resets - new membership year starts - a further 50,000 miles to achieve KF Gold (a total of 75,000 miles)

Let us know what happens in your case and it'll be a debate cleared up for certain (and perhaps we can tack it onto the forum as a sticky), as we are all in a bit of a limbo due to the new KF accrual rules recently introduced.

[Nick C]

There's no need to panic. Been in a similar situation before. What you see on KF is based on what you need to accumulate to renew your KF membership thru April 2009. The system tracks your mileage accurately, you will be upgraded to KF*G after your upcoming trip.

[Vtac82]

There's no need to panic. Been in a similar situation before. What you see on KF is based on what you need to accumulate to renew your KF membership thru April 2009. The system tracks your mileage accurately, you will be upgraded to KF*G after your upcoming trip.

Yeah? What was concerning was that even the lady on the phone told me I had to collect further 48,064 to get KF G.

Anyway, if that's the case , does that mean by transit in Singapore I can get Gold Lounge access?

From experience, flying with SQ, miles are creditted immediately upon departure, that means that by the time I transit in Singapore, I'll be Gold, wonder if I can can gain access to Gold lounge.

Either way, I'll keep you guys posted on Sunday.

[SuperJonJon]

Firstly, Welcome to SQTalk, Vtac82!

Krisflyer miles and Elite miles are actually two seperate things. Elite miles are earned only thru flying but Krisflyer miles can be earned through credit cards, hotel stays, etc.

I am guessing that you have flown about 26,936 miles or slightly more. When you hit 25K or slightly above, you achieved KF Silver in May thus the counter has reset. You have flown 1,936 miles since achieving Silver and would require another 23,064 miles to get Gold.

I hope that I am wrong and you get your KF Gold this sunday.

[SuperJonJon]

Firstly, Welcome to SQTalk, Vtac82!

Krisflyer miles and Elite miles are actually two seperate things. Elite miles are earned only thru flying but Krisflyer miles can be earned through credit cards, hotel stays, etc.

I am guessing that you have flown about 26,936 miles or slightly more. When you hit 25K or slightly above, you achieved KF Silver in May thus the counter has reset. You have flown 1,936 miles since achieving Silver and would require another 23,064 miles to get Gold.

I hope that I am wrong and you get your KF Gold this sunday.

Tier bonuses also does not count towards Elite qualification / requalifications.

[Vtac82]

Firstly, Welcome to SQTalk, Vtac82!

Krisflyer miles and Elite miles are actually two seperate things. Elite miles are earned only thru flying but Krisflyer miles can be earned through credit cards, hotel stays, etc.

I am guessing that you have flown about 26,936 miles or slightly more. When you hit 25K or slightly above, you achieved KF Silver in May thus the counter has reset. You have flown 1,936 miles since achieving Silver and would require another 23,064 miles to get Gold.

I hope that I am wrong and you get your KF Gold this sunday.

Thanks SuperJonJon.

My miles are strictly Elite Miles. I have flown like crazy for the past few months due to work.

Also, I get to fly A380 NRT-SIN, so I'm really excited about that!

[Vtac82]

BTW, are there no KF G members here who can shed some lights on how they achieved Gold?

[Vtac82]

Here's a snippet from Singapore Air Website"


Becoming a KrisFlyer Elite Gold Member

Your membership year will be the 12-month period from the date of your enrolment as a KrisFlyer member [B]or[/B] upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Silver status. During this time, you may qualify for KrisFlyer Elite Gold status by earning the required number of Elite miles.

KrisFlyer Elite Gold status will be yours when you achieve 50,000 Elite miles in any class of service on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir or any Star Alliance airline during your Elite Silver membership year, and credit them to your KrisFlyer account.

If you achieve an upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Gold status, your Elite Gold membership year will begin on the date of your upgrade.

[kelvgoh]

There are plenty of KF G members here. but your query relates to qualifying for KF G from a standing start (i.e. 0 miles). I believe most members here qualified for KF G from an existing KF S status.

Ever since SQ introduced rolling qualification periods for KF tier upgrades sometime mid 2007 (IIRC), the exact qualifying criteria has been unclear.

As Nick C stated, he has had this experience before and he got through it alright. I certainly hope it to be the case for you.

But as your excerpt states, the issue that is giving me (and I believe many others) reason to be uncertain is this clause

"you achieve 50,000 Elite miles in any class of service on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir or any Star Alliance airline during your Elite Silver membership year"

it seems to suggest that only Elite miles earned during an Elite Silver membership year will count towards the 50,000 quota for KF G. This means that you already have to be a KF S for any miles earned to count towards 50,000.

The way i read it, it's directly contradicting the first paragraph of the excerpt. It's very poor drafting but hey I didn't draft it. haha.

I think its important that this be cleared up. In view of the economy over the next year or so, some of us may let our KF statuses lapse and then go on one Banzai year to reattain our KF status. I'm in the middle of a "Banzai year" so to speak so a clarification of the rules will be a great help too.

[SQ Elite Gold]

relac vtac82... no need to panic... if your account does not reflect by the time you landed in Singapore or Narita.. just phone krisflyer and ask them to calculate manually and of course you have to be patient and speak politely with KF representative...and explain the situation... they will be able to do so and if your calculation does match with them then wait for 24 hrs for account being updated.

As far as I am concern.. you are NOT entitle to use krisflyer lounge even though you hit EG by the time you landed in Singapore... need to wait 24 hrs....

Good luck and let us know your account statement once the journey commence.

Many EG and PPS status in here so dont worry we are able to help you somehow....

[Vtac82]

thanks guy.. Will let you know on Sunday

[matt_will_fix_it]

From experience, flying with SQ, miles are creditted immediately upon departure, that means that by the time I transit in Singapore, I'll be Gold, wonder if I can can gain access to Gold lounge.

Your miles might be credited by the time you land, but it takes over 24 hours for the system to update you to Gold status... so unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to use the lounge in SIN.

[Tanandika]

Vtac82,

I also had somewhat similar problems to you, my KF account reset itself to zero a month before my calendar year expires and I just had to call KrisFlyer. I was supposed to fly LAX-IAD to make up for the 174X miles needed to qualify for Gold during the last month of my "year". KrisFlyer noted that and after I flew the sector, I called again and I am now a 14 days-old Gold member.
My advise is to call KrisFlyer, talk to them politely, and magic will happen.

[9V-JKL]

BTW, are there no KF G members here who can shed some lights on how they achieved Gold?

There are quite a few KF EG members here that qualified under the old scheme; myself included; so we may not know fully on the new system as kelvgoh has noted. Having said that, some EG members have now allowed their EG to lapsed and moved on to other programs given the massive devaluation of the KF program.