It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

http://www.skywards.com/Member_Benefits.aspx?SkinID=2

Suddenly being merely gold feels so declasse...

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

I'm a bit surprised nobody has commented on this as there was a thread about the prospect many months ago which attracted quite a bit of comment and this latest development seems to have sprung from the ether (announced in an email to gold card holders from what I can tell).

The tier miles threshold is an eye-watering 150k so only those already flying fully paid in the front of the plane very frequently have any hope of qualifying. According to the chatter on FlyerTalk, about 5% of the whopping 110,000 current Gold members are likely to have qualified. Main benefit seems to be use of First Class lounges and better availability of mileage award seats. Hardly worth having to endure that many EK flights in any class I would have thought...

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

I saw 150,000 tier miles and switched off.

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

Seems to be yet another step in the erosion of the value of Gold and Silver though... And anyway, you'd have to be flying F much of the time to qualify anyway so what use are the benefits?

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

I got silver from a standing start in 7 months, never paid to fly in business (had a few upgrades mind you). Currently sat at 35,000 with May 31st limit to get the extra 15,000 for gold.

Will it happen? Probably not then it's back to square one.

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

My old boss has millions of points, well maybe not millions but a lot! He very regularly travels to the US and NZ. At one point the other year he had Emirates call him up and congratulate him on his points total then gift him free a free 1st class flight for him and his family back to NZ.

Not to shabby!

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

I guess no more First desk check-in for Golds then...

The 75% miles bonus is not bad for Plats, but that's a very high threshold. Gold was once ridiculously easy to reach but the Flex/Saver fiasco made it rather harder.

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

Hardly noticed by most, but as MAT suggests, the reduction of Gold benefits is the big story here. Deanetta has been Gold for years, but has now been told she cannot take our (now adult) son in to the Lounge with her even if she is flying First. That has always been possible, even if he was flying Economy.

Note to EK staff: she is flying out on the 26th Feb - prepare your eardrums for a concerted assault.............. she doesn't lose arguments, so it might be better to surrender quietly as soon as she comes into view............ ;)

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

............ and welcome back, by the way.............

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

Thats surprising. I have been gold for quite a few years now and I know they took away signing people in to the lounges but i was always under the impression that if you were business or first and they were flying on the same flight, you could still do so?? (last year was told this when trying to get my g/f into the lounge en-route to Maldives).

I normally only fly economy so whilst i have managed to keep my gold status (told my company to book flex tickets and i would pay the difference), its very unlikely i will ever get to platinum (last year around 75,000miles)

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

what?!

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

The gold card offers no tangible benefits, why would you do this?

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

haha. you beat me to it!

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

so as to keep my gold card. I fly around 20 return flights a year for work and for leisure.

I have a good record of free upgrades on my flights to and from south east asia (where my ship is at present). This has been because of my gold card. (estimate around 1 in 3 flights an upgrade). If i was silver, its extremely unlikely i would get this so often.

I agree, its rubbish that i have to do this as was so much easier before they changed the rules but to me it is definitely worth it to pay another roughly 2000 USD per year (i normally only do it on the work flights depending on the fare difference)

Re: It's finally here - Skywards Platinum
 

It does if you are flying in economy but not if you are in J. Same way those who qualify for Plat are probably going to be mainly flying F anyway so minimal value of benefits.

Apparently Emirates were forced to introduce Platinum to align with a similar tier that Qantas has. I hadn't realised the full extent of this new deal until recently but it seems pretty clear that EK is eventually going to swallow Qantas or at least suck all the life out of it until only Jetstar is left. Alan Joyce - my hero!! (:unsure:)