A Long, Long Luxury Journey (Second)
– How to travel faster and smarter –
When traveling, airports and airplanes are generally unavoidable. And the stress of congestion is enormous. So many people are struggling, sweating, and brainstorming to get lounge access to avoid congestion and hardship even for a moment. Airlines around the world who are aware of these people's feelings are running special "mileage programs" to attract loyal customers. This loyalty program allows most people to save up their mileage right now and try to get free flights. When you use it, you can experience premium benefits that ordinary travelers do not enjoy. However, it is not easy to achieve high-end ratings in a short period of time. Let's find out how to enjoy luxury travel by increasing airline mileage ratings efficiently.
Pay Mileage Tier Upgrade Program
The airline's paid mileage tier upgrade program is a different concept from tier matches, where customers pay a certain amount of money or use additional mileage to increase their membership rating.
Key features of the program include:
◆ Options for customers who lack flight performance but want higher grade benefits
◆ Increase the rating by paying a certain amount or using additional mileage
◆ Some or all of the regular flight performance requirements are replaced
There are three main types of paid upgrade programs:
1. Mileage Boost: Make up for insufficient qualification miles by paying for them
2. Buy tier points: Buy tier points directly for maintenance/upgrade
3. Fast-Track Program: Fast-track promotion to upper ranks when you pay a set amount and complete a certain number of flights
Korean Air offers the option to make up for the lack of boarding mileage by using mileage under certain conditions, and Emirates is operating a service that allows you to purchase tier miles using Skywards miles. In the case of Delta Air Lines, the Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) waiver system allows you to replace your revenue requirements with spending on certain affiliated credit cards.
Major Airline Pay-Mileage Tier Upgrade Program
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam Airlines offers differentiated membership rating benefits through the Lotusmile program. This program operates a total of four membership grades: titanium, gold, silver, and Lotus.
Lotus Mile's most distinctive feature is its flexible "Cash & Miles" option, which allows you to immediately purchase seat upgrades, additional baggage allowances, lounge tickets, and more at the airport by mixing cash and mileage even when mileage is scarce. In particular, upgrades from a premium economy to a business class provide the flexibility to replace the rest with cash, even if you only have 70% of the mileage you need.
Vietnam Airlines also provides an option to immediately advance to a higher grade regardless of flight performance if you pay a set amount through the Fast Track Tier Upgrade program. For Gold members, paying annual maintenance costs will allow them to enjoy benefits such as priority boarding and allowing additional luggage when using Sky Team-affiliated airlines such as Korean Air and Delta Air Lines.
In the case of titanium members, a "mileage boost" option is provided to purchase annual mileage shortfalls, providing a safety device to maintain ratings by supplementing shortfalls up to 5,000 miles.
Vietjet (Vietjet)
Vietjet Airlines offers the option to purchase Gold Membership Pass Sky+ through its SkyJoy program and upgrade to Gold Membership Rating immediately.
Activating this pass will provide you with the following benefits:
◆ Immediately upgrade to Gold Membership Rating
◆ Earn 30,000 bonus SkyPoints
◆ Benefits such as priority check-in at the airport, priority baggage claim, and priority boarding on domestic flights
◆ Earn 6x more SkyPoints than Red Membership Rating
Gold/Diamond members also have the benefit of being upgraded first to a business class if a flight is overbooked.
T'way Air
T'way Airlines provides a subscription-type membership service called T'way Plus. The service has subscription options in several price ranges, of which PREMIUM PLUS (premium plus) option is offered at 299,000 won for you and 399,000 won for you + 1 person.
T'way Plus membership consists of the following grades and prices:
◆ LITE (light): 6 months (180 days) valid, 29,000 won for yourself, 35,000 won for yourself + one companion
◆ BASIC: 1 year (365 days) valid, KRW 79,000 for yourself, KRW 99,000 for yourself + one companion
◆ PREMIUM (premium): 1 year (365 days) valid, 159,000 won for yourself, 209,000 won for yourself + one companion
◆ PREMIUM PLUS (Premium Plus): 1 year (365 days) valid, KRW 299,000 for yourself, KRW 399,000 for yourself + 1 companion
If you sign up for this subscription service, you can get a refund of up to 97% of your subscription fee with a T-way-e card, and you can enjoy a variety of benefits, including free pre-seat purchases, exemption from travel change fees, and pre-providing special fare. For example, in the case of PREMIUM (premium) rating, 149,000 won out of 159,000 won in subscription fees can be returned to the T-way-e card, and benefits such as two free online travel change fees, 10 discount coupons for in-flight meals, and a 25% discount on pet transportation fees are provided.
Korean Air Cash and Miles
Korean Air provides the option to use cash and mileage together when purchasing tickets through the Cash & Miles service.