Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

Rock of Gibraltar

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/gold-circle-members-brassed-off-by-aer-lingus-changes-1.2884059

billy few mates

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/gold-circle-members-brassed-off-by-aer-lingus-changes-1.2884059

Poor show really, don't know what happened to all the points I've accrued but I can't be arsed chasing them up when there are so many other options out there, when smart wants to be pissed off smart flies Aer Lingus....

Tenger

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/gold-circle-members-brassed-off-by-aer-lingus-changes-1.2884059

I read the article, somehow I think the writer is a bit off the mark by referring to the GC program as "beloved by Irish Business"


As for wondering about points accrued in the past, under GC points they had a shelf life. And seasoned GC members (as evidenced by this thread among other online discussions) knew you had to check back to ensure you got credited your points.

wobblemouth

Genuinely don't get the outrage.

Is it people who were applicants and working up to gaining GC membership (2,400), who will lose their points that feel so aggrieved?

CaptainSkidmark

I was on another Return flight to Amsterdam from cork last week, Never got any points for that either and no reply from Aer Lingus.

Im really growing to dislike aer lingus

billy few mates

It's just that as loyalty schemes go the Aer Lingus one involves rather a lot of pain and effort compared to other similar loyalty schemes. I travel a lot on business and am a member of quite a few hotel and airline loyalty schemes and these just work. The Aer Lingus scheme involves an awful lot of chasing around to see if you've been correctly credited with the points or trying to get them added. I took about two flights a week with them for several months recently and many of those flights didn't even qualify for points, (I believe this new scheme will address this), for the rest of the flights I gave up trying to work out if I got the points.
I got an email the other day telling me about the new scheme and what level I'd been given but to be quite honest I just deleted it.

Noxegon

This. There was a period of time when I was doing an enormous number of flights with EI but the majority didn't qualify so I fell out of the programme.

Tenger

Noxegon wrote: »

This. There was a period of time when I was doing an enormous number of flights with EI but the majority didn't qualify so I fell out of the programme.

Judging by the above posts it seems perhaps that GC should have been scrapped years ago as the distance based FFP model wasnt working with their revamped 'value carrier"/yield mgmt strategy. (This is just me spitballing here)
The article mentions how AerClub will be Revenue based so all flights will qualify for points, sale fare or not.
Seems an overall fairer system to me.

Edit; with AerClub being part of the wider Avios ecosystem perhaps it will allow greater earning options and/or use for accrued points for members. The planned BA buy on board menu with Avios being an example.

Locker10a

Tenger wrote: »

Noxegon wrote: »

This. There was a period of time when I was doing an enormous number of flights with EI but the majority didn't qualify so I fell out of the programme.

Judging by the above posts it seems perhaps that GC should have been scrapped years ago as the distance based FPP model wasnt working with their revamped 'value carrier"/yield mgmt strategy. (This is just me spitballing here)
The article mentions how AerClub will be Revenue based so all flights will qualify for points, sale fare or not.
Seems an overall fairer system to me.

Yeah, Im going to sit this out and see how the next few months/year goes with the new points, I occasionally book the Advantage fares, and so with the new scheme there will be even more incentive to do so as well.

AndyBoBandy

wobblemouth wrote: »

Genuinely don't get the outrage.

Is it people who were applicants and working up to gaining GC membership (2,400), who will lose their points that feel so aggrieved?

The issue a lot of people would have is that as members of gold circle, they had the benefits of priority check in/security/boarding as well as lounge access. A lot of these members will have been moved over to the lower tier of Aer Club and the above benefits will be no longer available to them. They'll effectively have to 'get back in' (reach a higher tier), to get those benefits back, and for so many in gc, that has been and is its strongest selling point, and to suddenly lose the above benefits as of today, is a bit of a kick in the teeth for all the years of loyalty they've shown to Aer Lingus.

faceman

wobblemouth wrote: »

Genuinely don't get the outrage.

Is it people who were applicants and working up to gaining GC membership (2,400), who will lose their points that feel so aggrieved?

I have 5,100 points on GC yet I've no Aer Club status. I fly a lot and used to exclusively fly Aer Lingus particularly trans Atlantic. I stopped using Aer Lingus exclusively since December of last year.

L1011

The main issue seems to be calendar vs rolling year calculations putting people out of tiers. The new system is massively fairer but pissing off regulars won't help it's reputation.

Tenger

faceman wrote: »

I have 5,100 points on GC yet I've no Aer Club status. I fly a lot and used to exclusively fly Aer Lingus particularly trans Atlantic. I stopped using Aer Lingus exclusively since December of last year.

This I cant understand, how can they not transfer existing points over, I can understand if they cannot do a like for like transfer but surely they could have in place some sort of 6-8 month phased transfer.
The tier status transfer was always going to be an issue but they have to be black and white on that point. Perhaps the info given out want very clear on the fact that some members would be losing benefits as part of the tier realignment? or perhaps human nature being what it is, some people assumed it didnt apply to them?
The limbo that seemed to exist over the last 6 months appeared to be a huge gaff on their part (Im a member of GC but just about, and got my AerClub email telling me Im in but at the lowest level so doesnt really impact me)

billy few mates

I had 1850 points or it might have been 18500, I can't remember and it doesn't really matter because they didn't transfer across anyway. I don't know if this 1850 (or 18,500) included the missing points I asked them to look into but I know it doesn't include the other missing points I haven't asked them about because I'm still waiting for them to respond to my earlier requests to look into my missing points. As a loyalty scheme it's a total fiasco, almost as bad as the Turkish Airlines 'Miles and Smiles' scheme but at least they exchange bi-monthly emails with me where they ask me to submit the exact same information I submitted two months earlier, and two months before that.
Smart doesn't have time for this ****....

Tenger

In regard to built up points;
-big difference between 1850 and 18500. (Personally I dont know what that means in regard to actual value upgrade/cost/flight etc)
-I do remember that EI were very clear on the fact that existing GC points would not transfer over so no surprise there this week. Member got info on how long they had to redeem their points. This thread had queries on this exact point (BT vouchers)

AndyBoBandy

My points are still in my GC account, when I log in, I'm still logging into GC,

Has anyone been able to log into their Aer Club account? Today is November 29th right?

AndyBoBandy

Tenger wrote: »

In regard to built up points;
-big difference between 1850 and 18500. (Personally I dont know what that means in regard to actual value upgrade/cost/flight etc)
-I do remember that EI were very clear on the fact that existing GC points would not transfer over so no surprise there this week. Member got info on how long they had to redeem their points. This thread had queries on this exact point (BT vouchers)

I was under the impression that points would indeed be carried over,

This from the FAQ page on the aer Lingus website

Will my Gold Circle balance be transferred to AerClub?

If you have Gold Circle tier status (ie. Gold, Prestige or Elite), you will have your closing account balances converted and credited into your new AerClub account as Avios points when AerClub launches.

Ol' Donie

1850points is not a whole heap. 18,500 is worth about 3 return flights to the States (excl taxes)!

I phoned them on Friday. They told me points would transfer, and you would get 2 new points for every 1 old point (i think), but i don't know if this applies if you have less than 2, 400 in the previous 12 mths.

Noxegon

I have to go to London tomorrow. I'm using BA. Sane group, but at least the points I get are worth something.

Simon Gruber Says

Not happening today. Another hiccup it seems.

Dardania

Simon Gruber Says wrote: »

Not happening today. Another hiccup it seems.

I'm looking forward to more and more perks every time they delay. At unicorn levels of anticipation now. Steve Jobs would kill for this level of anticipation!

Simon Gruber Says

If they can delay it by a few months that's fine with me. I have an upcoming transatlantic trip that would bump me to Gold status in GC but will do nothing for me in Aer Club statuswise because all my applicant points will be gone.

billy few mates

Probably gone back for a recount of my points...

MayoSalmon

billy few mates wrote: »

Probably gone back for a recount of my points...

billy few mates

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Shouldn't take too long, just had a look at my account and my balance is zero including the 250 free points they've given me for being a previous GC member...

Rock of Gibraltar

Their page on avios.com went live at some point today, since been removed, you can see the cached version
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MEcGpu1YOXsJ:https://www.avios.com/ie/en_ie/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

Of note, supervalu is a avios partner. No sign of tesco.

djkeogh

So is there anything published on the number of tier points earned for flights - UK/Europe/Rest of the world and confirmation on how many tier points are required to attain Silver memberships? I've not seen any mention on these tier points on the Aerclub information only here. It's clear as mud to me where I stand

MayoSalmon

djkeogh wrote: »

So is there anything published on the number of tier points earned for flights - UK/Europe/Rest of the world and confirmation on how many tier points are required to attain Silver memberships? I've not seen any mention on these tier points on the Aerclub information only here. It's clear as mud to me where I stand

Launching tomorrow I believe, content will be available then

Tenger

Simon Gruber Says wrote: »

Not happening today. Another hiccup it seems.
......

Oh lord

AndyBoBandy

This transfer has been nothing short of farcical!!