SAS, or Scandinavian Airlines, has finally moved over from Star Alliance to SkyTeam. The airline is now fully aligned with its new partners Air France-KLM. A significant change as this also impacts the airline’s loyalty and reward program EuroBonus. Points that could be previously spent on Star Alliance airlines now can only be used as SkyTeam currency. However, it shouldn’t impact the value of the points we have built up over time, right? Well, it seems it did to a certain extent.
Did SAS EuroBonus Points Suddenly Lose Value Moving to SkyTeam?
Building up frequent flyer points and miles isn’t at all easy. We constantly must be on the lookout for offers that accelerate or safeguard our miles, along with booking the right fares to avoid missing out on points. Therefore, it can be quite frustrating if we see the value of our points diminish.
This is what seems to have partially happened with little to no notice with EuroBonus points. SAS’s frequent flyer program, as mentioned, now allows to book reward flights on other SkyTeam carriers. However, for some of the new alliance carriers when booking a flight, we get less bang for our buck.
What do I mean by that? When booking reward flights for 3 carriers in the SkyTeam alliance you will only get half of your miles value. When booking on:
- Air Europa
- China Airlines
- Vietnam Airlines
The price in miles will have a hefty 2x multiplier applied to it. Hence your miles will only be worth half what they normally are worth. You can check it out for yourself at: https://www.flysas.com/it-en/eurobonus/points/use/partner-award-flights/
What Can You Do To Preserve Your Miles?
Well, first of all it never a great idea to be sitting on large amounts of miles in a frequent flyer program. It isn’t uncommon for airlines to periodically devalue in some way their currency. So, if you just have them sitting idle you just lose purchasing power. Better to use them once you reach your aimed goal for a reward flight or experience.
Looking at the case with Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, you have other options to reach many of the destinations served by Air Europa, China Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines within SkyTeam. Therefore, you can just decide to travel with another carrier althoug in some cases it might mean you need to add a stop somewhere on your journey.
