Thai flyer miles?

[thai3]

Does anyone know how the thai air Royal Orchid plus works? For example you only need 15,000 miles( from UK) to get a free internal rtn flight in thailand. Does this mean if you do this that your 15,000 miles is them removed from the total or does it remain so you can use it towards getting gold status? That's another mystery, in the members handbook it says you need 50,000 miles in a year or 80,000 in two years to gain gold status, but on my statement it says I only need 32,000 miles. I thought some VCR manuals were confusing but the thai orchid one seems to be written in double dutch.-peter

[Chanchao]

Good question... Be sure to tell us when you find out.. Miles you use are of course cut when you take a free flight or class upgrade, but it seems they still count towards getting gold status which translates as pigging out on free food in the VIP lounge.

Or perhaps you can just paint your silver card gold colour?

Cheers,

Chanchao

[buffalo_bill]

Pete,

to understand airmiles is the most challenging science after " Should I send money to the Isaan ? ".

You principally have three type of miles :

 

1) miles flown are just a factor to calculate, purely geographical.

2) status miles do only matter to achieve silver or gold. on thai, status miles count: miles flown in economy, plus 25% in business, plus 50 % in first.

 

3) bonus miles are the ones which you can use for upgrades, free tickets, barfine-vouchers or whatever. bonus miles are basically the same as status, but they do all kind of promotions like f.e. first from Frankfurt to BKK at the moment counts triple,

all domestic flights 500 miles minimum and lots of other premiums, this changes all the time. And your hotels,rental cars,etc etc. are here included.

This was the introduction, now to your questions :

They will deduct the 15000 from your bonus miles, for the status miles they stay alive. BUT : having earned 15000 usable bonus miles does not mean that you did also earn 15000 status miles, see above. Eventually less.

I would have to see your mileage statement in order to understand where your 32000 miles comes from. What is your current status, by the way. Does it say you need 32000 to achieve gold within your first year or what is the story ?

Pete, because I am a true European , I will take the handbook with me tom morning and then would be fully geared up for the most awkward of your questions. I love this, took me days to understand what Thai wants to tell us in their book. Lufthansa is not any better by the way. Thai has just won various freddy-awards for their mileage-program. it is the best one around.

cheers

buffalo-bill

on behalf of Thai International

[thai3]

buffalo_bill

thanks for the info but I am still confused.They won an award for best air miles plan? It's a pity I flew with them several times before I joined it. Looking at the statement it does not mention bonus miles at all, so I imagine I am not entitled to anything yet. But it does say 32,000 needed for gold and I will get that many next week. Maybe I will get an orchid they only give out to the girls these days:

Statement activities for 6 month(s): 01FEB01 - 11AUG01

Member name: Mr. P garrity

Qualifying miles accumulated in 00/01 : 23736

Qualifying miles accumulated in 01 : 17802

Minimum qualifying miles needed for next tier membership level: 32198

Miles expiring on 31DEC01: 0 Status: SILVER

Closing balance: 29236

quote:

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Originally posted by buffalo_bill:

Pete,

to understand airmiles is the most challenging science after " Should I send money to the Isaan ? ".

cheers

buffalo-bill

on behalf of Thai International

---

[Guest]

PG - ok, to acheive gold status you must fly 50,000 miles in one year. For 2001,you have already flown 17,802, hence another 32,198 gets you into the gold level and all that entails...

[buffalo_bill]

Pete,

here is your restless airline consultant.

as abot thong says, another 32000 get you into gold-status but you do not have to actually fly 32000 because you receive a premium for business or first.

yesterday I used the lufthansa-terminology, at thai they are called "total miles" ( my "bonus miles ") which are the ones you can exchange for tickets or so , their "qualifying miles" are the ones which determine your status.

You are saying that you will get 32000 next week, that would mean an awful lot of flying because London/BKK one way is 5934 miles and even in first would be counted as 8901 only.

for their freddy awards, look at www.insideflyer.com

cheers

buffalo bill

[Guest]

For those that only fly Thai occasionally you should consider asking them to credit your United Airlines account instead. Thai is a member of United's Star Alliance.

[ranma500]

Aha, an excellent opportunity for me to bitch about Royal Orchid.

1. Miles do not get automatically credited. I have flown British Midland, Lufthansa, United Airlines, SAS, and Singapore Airlines. All should give me my Thai air miles. I give my card number when booking, I show it again on check-in, the number usually appears on my boarding pass, but does it reach my account? No chance. In three years with Royal Orchid, not a single flight from any partner appeared on my account automatically.

2. Thai insist on boarding passes. I recently lost a boarding pass, but sent in the used ticket remains. I was told this would not do, in spite of the fact they acknowledged that I could prove I had made the journey.

3. No hotel or car rental credit has ever reached my account, from the dozens that I have attempted to get. Again, they take the number, but nothing happens. When I asked Thai Airways about it, they said I must refer back to the car rental outlet or hotel. Well, since these have been scattered around the world, the hassle isn't worth it.

4. I recently couldn't get to Thailand on Thai Air, so I requested another flight with Star Alliance so I could at least attempt to get the miles. I booked Singapore Airlines, but of course the miles never appeared. I sent in the boarding pass, and they still didn't appear. Finally after five faxes to them, I got a curt faxed response saying that this journey was a 'Q' class and therefore not eligible for air-miles. Their manual does not clarify this issue, just referring to 'eligible' fares. No-one there can give me any more information about what fares are eligible or what a 'Q' class is. I presume it is a discounted economy fare, but then aren't all economy fares discounted? Who ever pays full economy fare?

5. I did not receive a statement, which should come quarterly. They normally appear within a month of the end of the quarter, but I waited two months, and it hadn't turned up. I therefore requested an e-mail copy. From this, I noticed that a Thai Air flight had not been credited (again in spite of showing my card at every opportunity). I dug out the boarding pass, and sent it within the next month.

It didn't reach my account. I faxed a query through, which got no reply. I sent it four times over the next month, and eventually received a reply saying that my claim had been received twelve days too late. You have to claim within six months of flying.

I don't really understand this.

Surely the point of a 'loyalty' or 'incentive' scheme is to encourage you to use an airline, and to feel rewarded by them. Surely it shouldn't leave you feeling that the airline is a bunch of mean cheats, who use any opportunity to stop you claiming air miles which you have legitimately earned.

Maybe they should call the Royal Orchid scheme a 'disloyalty' scheme.

Anyone else had the same experience?

paul

[buffalo_bill]

paul,

to start with a generalisation, the airlines have made a fundamental mistake to create all this airmiles-business. because now all have it and it causes, I agree , nothing but trouble. the administration costs are so huge that they would be much better off to scrap it all and allow an average 15 to 20 % discount which would result in the same benefit as you have it now.

1) Non-credited miles from partner-airlines : not Thai's mistake, they have not been processed.

2) My experience different. Ticket copy works.

3) same same 1) Hopeless, I agree

4) Singapore Airlines to resolve

5) ROP internet inquiry usually results in a statement within 2 days, my experience.

You are one of hundred-thousands to complain but Thai is not significantly worse than others.

cheers

[USVirgin]

quote:

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Originally posted by ranma500:

4. I recently couldn't get to Thailand on Thai Air, so I requested another flight with Star Alliance so I could at least attempt to get the miles. I booked Singapore Airlines, but of course the miles never appeared. I sent in the boarding pass, and they still didn't appear. Finally after five faxes to them, I got a curt faxed response saying that this journey was a 'Q' class and therefore not eligible for air-miles. Their manual does not clarify this issue, just referring to 'eligible' fares. No-one there can give me any more information about what fares are eligible or what a 'Q' class is. I presume it is a discounted economy fare, but then aren't all economy fares discounted? Who ever pays full economy fare?

---

I am no expert on this subject and I appreciate your frustration. It can be difficult to find info on 'qualifying' fares on many airlines. In this case though, I was able to find the following notation pretty easily on the Singapore airlines website www.singaporeair.com/saa/app/saa?hidHeaderAction=onHeaderMenuClick&hidTopicArea=EarningMiles-Airlines :

* Please consult your travel agent or the relevant airline at the time of reservations to determine mileage accrual eligibility. If any flight sector with Singapore Airlines is issued on V, Q, G or N booking class, the entire flight itinerary will not be eligible for mileage credit. Earn 70% of actual miles flown on qualifying fares on All Nippon Airways and 100% of actual flown miles on qualifying fares on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and all other KrisFlyer airline partners.

Also, if the ticket was from the US, the endorsement box on the ticket should have read 'No FFP Mileage Accrual', not that it would make any sense to the average person and despite the fact it wouldn't be read until after the ticket was purchased anyway.

Sorry I don't have any similar experiences nor any solutions. I'm just addressing one aspect of your post that I have some familiarity with - Q fares from the US on SQ don't accrue mileage.

Cheers.