Thai Royal Orchid Plus has made changes to their mileage expiration policy. Now, miles will expire on a quarterly basis every three years. In the past, all miles due for expiration expired Dec. 31 of the third year. Furthermore, members can now extend the validity of miles during the quarter in which they would normally expire. For example, miles expiring on Dec. 31, 2013, may be extended any time during the quarter, October through December, and are valid for use until the end of the next quarter, which would be June 30, 2013. The cost is THB 0.50 per mile, and a minimum 100 miles must be extended.

The way in which members obtain elite status has also changed. The amount of qualifying miles for each tier remains the same but the timing has changed. Qualifying miles include those earned on Thai and Star Alliance flights. To earn Silver status, you must have 10,000 qualifying miles during the past 12 months or 15,000 qualifying miles during the past 24 months from the last activity date. For Silver to Gold, you must earn 50,000 qualifying miles in 12 months or 80,000 qualifying miles in 24 months, or fly 40 international sectors on Thai during the last 12 months. For full information about these recent changes, visit http://www.thaiairways.com/rop