Jet Privilege gutted? Going back to revenue-based, possible devaluation
Jet Privilege, Jet Airways' frequent flier program, has just announced huge changes that will have significant effects on members, in terms of both earning and redemption of miles. In this, Jet now follows global majors, including many US airlines, as well as its unofficial "parent" company, Etihad. These changes take effect from 17 August 2016, a month from today. Here's more on the announcement.
When it comes to booking a flight, we recognize not every guest has the same needs. Some guests prefer to enjoy the flexibility to be able to make last-minute travel decisions, carry extra baggage or earn more JPMiles while others may prefer to travel light and on a budget.
Keeping these diverse individual preferences in mind, from 17th August 2016, Jet Airways will introduce a new concept called 'Fare Choices' which is designed to provide our guests with tailor-made fare plans thus providing more choice and flexibility for their travel requirements.
With this new concept we have aligned the JetPrivilege programme's rewards and benefits to ensure you enjoy the best value for your 'Fare Choices'
What a load of BS!
Fare choices
Exactly like Etihad did, there will now be different fare classes, each with its own set of inclusions. Jet's announcement was a redux of Etihad's! One or more fare classes (or RBDs) will be mapped to a type of fare, and these vary by whether travel is within the Indian sub-continent or outside. Earning JP miles, tier points and tier miles will now vary by fare bucket, effectively making Jet Privilege a revenue-based earning program.
I'll be dealing with Fare Choices itself in a separate post.
I'll be dealing with Fare Choices itself in a separate post.
Earning JP miles
Earning JP miles will now be based on several factors, including
- Where you travel: Within the Indian sub-continent (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal) and outside
- What fare class you're booked on (refer above
- Distance flown: Which is reckoned as actual distance (in the case of Jet Airways flights >500 miles, or partner airline flights) or 500 miles (in the case of Jet Airways flights up to 500 miles).
Within the Indian sub-continent
| Fare Choices | Booking Classes | Economy | Première | |||||
| Deal ( W, O) | Saver (V, H) | Classic (K, S, Q, L, N) | Flex (U, T, M, Y) | Saver (P) | Classic (I) | Flex (Z, J, C) | |
| Base JPMiles | 25% | 50% | 75% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Outside the Indian sub-continent
| Fare Choices | Booking Classes | Economy | Première | First | |||||
| Deal ( W, O) | Saver (V, H) | Classic (K, S, Q, L, N) | Flex (U, T, M, Y) | Saver (P) | Classic (I) | Flex (Z, J, C) | First (A, F) | |
| Base JPMiles | 25% | 75% | 100% | 150% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
This basically reverses the 100% earning they enabled in August 2014, when you pretty much got 100% of the distance flown (or even more, in the case of flights less than 500 miles), most of the time.
Earning JP tier points and tier miles
Earning tier points and tier miles will now be a bit difficult compared to before, since the fare choices again play a part in this. Mind you, these are what really count when it comes to determining tier retention and tier upgrade.
| Changes in Accrual of Tier Points & Tier Miles | |||||
| Cabin | Booking Class | Fare Choices | Tier Points | Tier Miles | |
| Indian Subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Nepal & Sri-Lanka) | Economy | W,O | Deal | 1 | 25% |
| V, H | Saver | 1 | 50% | ||
| K, S, Q, L, N | Classic | 2 | 75% | ||
| U, T, M, Y | Flex | 3 | 125% | ||
| Première | P | Saver | 3 | 125% | |
| I | Classic | 4 | 150% | ||
| Z, C, J | Flex | 4 | 175% | ||
| International | Economy | W,O | Deal | 1 | 25% |
| V, H | Saver | 1 | 75% | ||
| K, S, Q, L, N | Classic | 2 | 100% | ||
| U, T, M, Y | Flex | 3 | 150% | ||
| Première | P | Saver | 3 | 150% | |
| I | Classic | 3 | 200% | ||
| Z, C, J | Flex | 4 | 250% | ||
| First | A, F | First | 5 | 300% | |
Bottom line: It is going to be much harder to retain / upgrade tier status.
Upgrade using miles or vouchers
Changes again depend on where you travel - within the Indian sub-continent or outside.
From a quick look at the changes, this is actually a positive change for most users. While it continues that certain fare classes of original booking cannot be upgraded, those fare classes have actually been cut down to just W and O (previously, H, V, O, W and B). All other fare classes can be upgraded using miles. For voucher upgrades, the H, V, O, W and B restriction continues.
However the most hit here seem to be JP Platinum members. Previously, they could upgrade using miles or vouchers from any fare class. Now, classes W and O are not eligible for such upgrades.
The number of miles required for a cabin upgrade using JP miles is no longer fixed (ie, irrespective of fare class), but will depend on the fare class of the original booking, and of course, the are of travel. Here's the detailed list.
Redeeming JP miles
The irony is, that the only positive from this particular announcement is actually one where there's no change. Previously, they had simplified redemptions and streamlined the miles required for redemptions, by including the component with the number of miles required.
Thankfully, there are no revisions to the number of JP miles required for an award ticket. Also, after JP has now published a fixed set of carrier charges on award tickets, which will be as below:
| Distance Bands (TPM) | Indian Subcontinent (in INR) | International (in INR) | ||||
| Economy | Première | First | Economy | Première | First | |
| 0-500 | 200 | 400 | - | 400 | 700 | - |
| 501-1000 | 300 | 600 | - | 750 | 1250 | - |
| 1001-2500 | 500 | 900 | - | 1,000 | 1750 | 3250 |
| 2501-4000 | - | - | - | 1125 | 2000 | 3750 |
| 4001-6000 | - | - | - | 1250 | 2250 | 4250 |
| 6001-8500 | - | - | - | 1375 | 2500 | 4750 |
| Above 8501 | - | - | - | 1500 | 2750 | 5250 |
Here is a list of redemption requirements - miles and cash.
Conclusion
Let's be clear - these are absolutely massive changes, gutting the program to a large extent. It was bound to eventually to the EtihadGuest way, but I'd have expected them to make smaller changes over time, rather than one fell swoop, as it has now been done.As an interesting aside, do read Jet Privilege's announcement, and then read this from Etihad. Gives me the creeps!
Naturally, this information came through only a couple of hours back, and so this is only the initial news and my preliminary reaction. I'll do a detailed post (maybe more than one) soon on these changes, once I analyse them in detail.
You're right. Redemptions are X and D classes. Since they don't feature anywhere on fare choices as part of the benefits, you won't get lounge access on award tickets, even if you're flying business class. SHAMEFUL!
ReplyDeleteI'm going out on a limb here and guessing D fare bucket( business class) will still get lounge access. What they are cutting down is lounge access for elites in X bucket ( economy redemption).Would be great to get some clarity from jet.
ReplyDeleteEventually that may be the result, but as of now, T&Cs state: The Revised Eligibility for the Complimentary Lounge Access benefit is basis the Tier of the member travelling and the Fare Choice booked.
ReplyDelete