Air India (now under TATA ownership) is running a rather strange fast-track campaign for members of their Flying Returns program through June 30, 2023.
The curious thing about this is that the evaluation period for the activity under this campaign is backdated to 01st July 2022, running through 30th June 2023 after which the achieved tier will be good for one year.
Air India never had a very famous loyalty program that actually made sense. They were famous for having tons of elite members, none of which were flying a lot per so but who obtained their status by virtue of being some form of VIP/politician in India – and they had A LOT of them.
Then the performance of the company finally let the carrier collapse, and TATA recently acquired the airline, vowing to bring it back to international standards and once upon a time (a loooong time ago) Air India was, in fact, an actual premium carrier, especially in Business and First Class. It’s kind of sad what has become of it due to corruption and mismanagement.
So now, TATA is trying to turn this around and one idea was this rather odd status fast-track campaign.
I learned about this while reading Ajay’s Live from a Lounge this morning.
These are half the points required, fair enough, that is a significant cut. But why would they backdate this campaign almost a year to July 2022? It’s not like that drums up a lot of new business.
Let’s say you just learned about this now and want to qualify under this promotion, that’s a lot of flying or at least some very expensive flying, such as a trip in Business/First to the U.S. West Coast plus some flights for the required segments.
Conclusion
Air India Flying Returns have opened a rather strangely designed Fast Track campaign, cutting the required points in half and allowing members to obtain a higher tier status for 50% fewer points.
I’m not convinced a lot of members will be able to push for status just because of this promotion unless they have already qualified under these reduced thresholds. Keep in mind that it’s only 7 weeks before the campaign ends.
If you’re a member who has already collected a decent amount of points then this might indeed be interesting for you.
These are the (very sparse) Terms & Conditions for the campaign:
- Fast Track Tier evaluation assessment on 30th June ‘23 for one time entry into tiers with relaxed criterion.
- Evaluation Period :01st July ‘22 to 30th June ‘23
- Validity of the tiers will be 12 months – 1st July ’23 to 30th June ‘24
- Tier FR points will be calculated in retaining/ upgrade of tiers. Points converted from partners will NOT be eligible towards tier progression.
- Bonus FR points will NOT be eligible towards Tier progression.
- It is a One-Time Offer and cannot be combined with any other offer.
- If member does not qualify under the fast-track window,normal tier related rules and Flying Returns T&Cs will apply.