SAS offers easy elite status match amid alliance shift

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SAS offers easy elite status match amid alliance shift

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By Sky Industry News

Aug 29, 2024

Air France has taken a 20% ownership stake in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which will transition from the Star Alliance to SkyTeam on September 1. In a bid to attract customers from competing alliances, SAS EuroBonus is offering a status match.

A couple of months ago, it was reported that SAS was providing a status match. Initially, some readers noted that it appeared limited to European residents. However, it seems SAS is extending the offer broadly without stringent requirements. The deadline for this status match request is August 30.

"They are not requiring submission of proof of current status," said one participant. "They are not requiring submission of proof of residence."

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During the process, SAS mentioned that they might ask for proof but have yet to do so in many cases. One individual shared their experience: "I submitted a match request on Friday, stating that I have British Airways Silver status (which happens to be true). I listed my address as a prominent hotel in the U.K. Tuesday morning I received an email confirming that I would receive the match."

This participant requested the match as an experiment and noted, "It’s SkyTeam Elite Plus, but I already have that through Air France KLM Flying Blue where I’m a Gold member." They added that SkyTeam Elite Plus does not provide as many benefits compared to similar statuses in Star Alliance and oneworld.

Reflecting on this situation and similar ones with other airlines, they commented on potential vulnerabilities: "Earlier this month I wrote about how United’s status match system was being scammed. MileagePlus stopped verifying that credentials were real. They stopped verifying that the people getting the status were real."

The issue raises questions about fraud management within loyalty programs: "The optimal amount of fraud isn’t zero... But some of the pathways for fraud are just super obvious."