Targeted to residents of Hong Kong and mainland China, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is offering a hassle-free status match to EuroBonus silver or gold status through June 30, 2012. The matched status will be good through April 2013. Simply join EuroBonus here (it’s free), then send a status match e-mail request to mystatus@sas.dk with a copy of your elite card or a recent account statement.
Here’s a summary of what the status will get you:
- Silver members enjoy Basic benefits plus Business check-in, 15% more points when flying, one extra piece of checked baggage free, priority on waiting lists and special privileges at hotel partners and on car rental.
- In addition to Silver benefits, Gold members have access to our Business lounges and Fast Track, 25% more points when flying, access to Star Alliance lounges worldwide, check-in, exclusive offers and more.
Full detail here, but note there is no mention of upgrades for even gold elites–that’s a big gap in the program. Then again, you will probably only want to use this status for lounge access–including domestic lounge access in the United States for EuroBonus gold members.
I’ve booked a number of EuroBonus frequent flyer awards for clients, and while their award chart is competitive and the carrier has eliminated fuel surcharges on SAS-metal flight redemptions, there are still fuel surcharges on Star Alliance partner flights. In addition, while SAS flights can be redeemed on a one-way basis for half the round-trip price, partner awards are only available on a round-trip basis (unless you want to pay the round-trip price for a one-way award).
Unlike some status match offers, SAS will match you even if you have elite status only with another Star Alliance carrier. The terms and conditions of the offer are relatively simple:
Terms & Conditions
1.Offer only valid for new member of EuroBonus.
2.Offer valid for cutomers who have registerd [sic] their frequent flyer program in mainland China or Hong Kong only.
3.The enrollment date of your EuroBonus account will be the actual registration day, not the submission day.
4.SAS cannnot be held responsible for unsuccessful registration because of wrong information offered.
5. Please allow up to 10 business days processing time for registration and a further 30 days for physical card receipt.
6. This offer is subject to change and/or withdrawal without notice.
Note that the fine print only states that you must register your program in mainland China or Hong Kong, not that you must actually live there…
Agean Airlines and Turkish Airlines, both Star Alliance members, are offering status matches as well, which I will outline this week. For Chinese readers, this is the easiest of the three offers. One colleague from Beijing told me that he was matched within 48 hours of sending his request.
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