So, now following NZ and SN, LH/OS/LX eliminates extra checked bags on their lowest fare classes. Star G rules are changed to permit this practice, which clearly violates the original intent of the creation of Star Gold tier benefits.
Some might argue, we can't book such fares via OTA, only directly online, they can't be combined etc. so this by itself isn't hugely significant. Perhaps, at this moment, for many of us it's true. For my own SN flight tomorrow, booked via OTA, this is no big deal because it's not in the lowest category. But on discovering this, I had to spend the time today to download and check my receipt from the OTA to verify the booking class and then verify the SN-mapped fare category to be sure I'll be able to check without charge.
The direction of this cut and what it signals is very concerning. For years, *G has been a worthwhile status. The alliance-wide production of benefits and the actual enforcement of such benefit has made the concept work well, for lots of us.
But now, at some point, the effort required to keep track of the differential benefits by fare/booking class, by codeshare/carrier metal, by booking channel etc. overwhelms even those with a stake in maintaining status and the willingness to put forth effort.
What next - elimination of lounge access for Star G members flying on such fares? Elimination of biz class check-in? Etc.
Star should realize, because when the tenuous hold of alliance benefit drops below the threshold, that the temporary incremental benefit of extra revenue could be countered by wholesale patterns in consumer choice. If Star G is not worth the candle, then the alliance as a whole bears the cost of customer switching.
More convenient non-alliance options such as FR, EZ, EK, EY etc. are going to be the beneficiaries of such reductions. On the current itin, if I'd been denied Star G checked bag privilige, I'd have booked on the DILBERTIAN machine instead because for the same price as I've paid, I could have purchased a checked bag fare. I'd receive better mileage on AA for the itin than I do as Star G via MP, also.
A few Star managers will realize that when the Shark talks openly of preferring BA to Star, the end is nigh.
Now, we're not there yet, many of us, quite, but the segmentation of benefits and the hassle of verification is mounting.....
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