Another Star Alliance Program Devalues

by Gary Leff

tommy777 passes along two articles in Norwegian cover the details of SAS EuroBonus’ plans to devalue their program on January 1.

Changes from January 1, 2015 in brief:

  • Lower point earnings on the cheapest tickets in SAS Go and SAS Plus
  • Europe will be 1 zone (not 3 as before)
  • Higher point earnings in SAS Business to/from the US and Asia
  • Lower point requirements for Gold status: 45 000 Basic points (previously 50 000) or 45 one-way trips* (previously 50)
  • Lower point requirements for Diamond status: 90 000 Basic points (previously 100 000) or 90 one-way trips* (previously 100)

    *Valid on SAS flights and selected destinations on Widerøe.

    • The new earning rates have fixed earn based on where you’re traveling. All of Europe has a single amount of miles earned based on the fare class of your ticket. Transatlantic flying earns less than full mileage on the cheapest tickets.

    SAS has downplayed the earning changes, saying that a majority of customers will be unaffected. They may have tortured data to come up with that claim, but a majority of booking classes have earn rates that are changing.

    For existing bookings that involve travel next year, it sounds as though once you’ve taken the flight you can e-amil for retro credit and get the miles you would have earned under the old chart.

    About Gary Leff

    Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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    Comments

    1. Why don’t you focus on finding the missing ONEWORLD airplane before writing sensational headlines to defame the world’s largest airline alliance

    4. Just to clarify, on the cheapest SAS booking codes, the earning is about 20% lower than before (CPH-JFK: 3800 miles nets 3000 on the earning chart).

      While this is a pretty hefty devaluation, the other booking levels make out higher than before. I agree it’s a deval, but instead of going crazy, let’s post the grid of old v. new EARNING rates and do some thorough analysis of the devaluation. Maybe compare it to the revenue based plans using actual ticket prices sourced on flySAS.com? (You can see the booking class if you click through)

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