Aeroflot airline has decided to extend the elite status of its frequent flyers for a year. Such passengers have received notifications about the extension of their status until February 2022, Travel.ru's own correspondent reports.
Aeroflot said the decision applies to all members with elite status. However, the extension of elite status for different members occurs at different times, not simultaneously.
This is a logical and timely decision by the carrier in the context of the massive disruption of air travel around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is obvious that the majority of frequent flyers in the current conditions of quarantines and mass cancellations of flights by all airlines would not have been able to fulfill the usual conditions for confirming their qualifications for elite levels in 2020, even if they wanted to. The extension of the deadlines will allow Aeroflot to retain and, possibly, increase the loyalty of its passengers in difficult times for all airlines.
Dozens of other airlines around the world are likely to follow suit, and some hotel chains have already adopted the same approach for members of their elite loyalty programs.
At one time, similar measures were sometimes used by various carriers for their own local reasons. For example, several years ago, Turkish Airlines extended the elite status of its Russian clients for six months due to the cooling of Russian-Turkish relations and the subsequent sharp reduction in flights between the two countries. Some airlines apply status extension specifically for certain categories of clients who, for objective reasons, are unable to confirm their status in the usual way - for example, for young parents.
Source: travel.ru