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Two Years of Star Alliance Gold Status US$10,000 (A$14,583) + Get US$10,000 in Travel Credit @ Thai Airways

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This deal may be best suited for opulent Ozbargainers, as it involves a lot of money. Though, even without this deal, you might be able to get the Star Alliance Gold anyway if you spend US$10,000 worth of flight tickets. But this deals gives you the Star Alliance Gold upfront for 2 years, and you can use the travel credit for friends and families too.

Star Alliance member Thai Airways now selling a full two years of Gold status in its Royal Orchid Plus rewards program (which is directly equivalent to Star Alliance Gold ) for a flat US$10,000 through its Time to Gold promotion – and you get that same US$10,000 back in travel credit.

That travel credit is issued in the form of 350,000 Thai Baht (or equivalent in your local currency), and can be redeemed against flights on Thai Airways and its regional arm Thai Smile through to December 31, 2023.

You can buy tickets for yourself, a friend, relative or work colleague – or even a perfect stranger, should you feel so inclined.

As long as you’re in a position to spend the equivalent of US$10,000 on those airlines across the next 18 months, then you’re essentially getting two years of Star Alliance Gold status for free. That’s two years of lounge access, an extra 20kg of checked luggage, priority services and other VIP perks across Star’s 26 member airlines – an impressive roster including heavy-hitters such as Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

Buyers obviously need to be a member of Thai’s Royal Orchid Plus loyalty scheme (which is free to join), but even if they have not a single frequent flyer mile or status credit to their name, Time to Gold catapults them from a no-status zero to a Gold-plated hero (with an actual physical Gold card, not one of those digital ‘save-the-planet’ virtual cards). The Time to Gold promotion is available in Thailand, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

Disclaimer : The long-beleaguered Thai Airways was forced to enter a court-supervised rehabilitation after reporting its worst-ever net loss – US$4.1 billion – in 2020 due to the global pandemic. However, the carrier chalked up a net profit of US$1.6bn 2021 – its first net profit in five years – after restructuring efforts which included selling assets and “improving management efficiency”.

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closed Comments

  • +71

    Might clean out the coins in my car for this one

    • +33

      You might need a bit more. best to cash in your shopback and cashrewards credits as well

    • +4

      Might need to sell the car as well

    • +2

      before selling the car?

      Edit: too late. must read comments before posting.

    • Yes Master Bruce.

  • +76

    Thanks, got officeworks to pricebeat.

      • Gave you an up doot for your updooting. Not sure why negged.

  • +7

    Very tempting but I still remember the cash grab AirAsia did at the start of covid.

    • +1

      The one they refunded to everyone even though they didn't need to?

      • +17

        That's better than Qantas!

        • +5

          I remember all the travel agencies issuing travel credits with short expiry instead of full refunds…

          • @ATangk: Flight centre didnt even give me voucher

            • @HG Dendrobium: STA just took the whole lot by going bust.

              • @t25: Ah yes, STA took all my money also, wouldn't risk anything like this with any airline or travel company ever again given the current state of the world.

          • -1

            @ATangk:

            I remember all the travel agencies issuing travel credits with short expiry…

            Who even uses travel agents in the age of Google?

            • +3

              @1st-Amendment: Someone who can give me a better price than Google.

              • +1

                @t25: You:

                Someone who can give me a better price than Google.

                Also you:

                STA just took the whole lot by going bust.

                Taking all my money doesn't sound like 'a better price'…

                • +1

                  @1st-Amendment: Yes but back in October/November 2019 no one has heard of the term COVID. In fact many were laughing about it when the term “Wuhan Flu” was used in December 2019, wasn’t until the WHO declared it a pandemic (four months after it was first acknowledged in China) did borders lockdown in March 2020.

                  • @t25: yup, I laughed about it and was planning to go on my Eu trip in June 2020, but guess what :)

                    @1st-Amendment: as t25 said, precovid flight centre had better price than going traight to airlines. For that Eu trip, i bought 1 ticket with FC, 1 with Thai Airway. FC kept beating around the bush until i decided thatt $300 isn't worth wasting my time to chase them, Thai Airway on the other hand pretty much issued voucher as soon as they could, around May 2020, not long after the borders were closed.

      • +2

        I did not get a refund. Did anyone manage to get a refund from them?

        • +1

          I didn't even apply but I've got the cash in travel credits now without doing anything. Maybe check your email?

      • Everyone? ive still got 2 flights not refunded from Mar 2020 dipshit.

        cash grab alright. limit flight capability at the moment so yeah need the cash to basically start up the engines

        Its a gamble

        • You sound very angry

          • @Nand0sx: Do you blame him/her? I much rather Thai Airways being honest and tell me that "we are going to keep your money!", but promising to refund, declare bankruptcy then drag their feet is very dishonest.

          • @Nand0sx: I’m angry too.

            Why you think ‘everyone’ got refunded when airasia went bust doesn’t make sense.

            Scoot, on the other hand, gave refunds. (At least to me).

      • What refund?

        I’ve got credits now. That I can’t actually use.

        Get your facts straight.

    • +1

      So it's not ok if a company does it but for scalper's like yourself, buying 11 PS4's for your own cash grab is fair play? 🙄

  • +1

    Not for me but if you were considering a round the world trip in first or business then this could be a look in.
    Bear in mind that RTW fares work on mile brackets and are limited to 16 stops.
    That's assuming they allow RTW booking via Thai

    • +3

      For round the world, unfortunately Thai airways don’t have any destinations in Americas. Their destinations are Asia, Europe and Middle East

      • +9

        Doesn't sound like a total loss to me then!

    • +4

      Silly question: if you were doing RTW business wouldnt you not need gold status since you would get lounge access with business class flights anyways?

      • +1

        You'd easily be spending that amount to book a RTW in J, so why not take the 2 years of status for free?

        • +5

          Because it's not a given that you'd automatically choose Thai for a RTW in business. So your tradeoff may be worse prices, limited routes and stopovers, and/or worse flights.

          Of course, if you were choosing Thai already for a RTW then getting status may be a bonus.

          • +3

            @odysseus: Exactly. This is the only scenario where this deal makes sense - that you are already very likely to need to spend $14k on Thai Airways over the next 18 months. Otherwise the loss of flexibility is too significant for not much gain (unless the need is to spend $14k on economy tickets for whatever reason).

            • +1

              @Jinster:

              need to spend $14k on Thai Airways over the next 18 months

              I read it as needing to spend $14k on the Star Alliance network which is a lot of airlines. Maybe OP could clarify…

          • @odysseus: Can't you book a thai codeshare RTW?

          • +2

            @odysseus: But it's still not great because if you book your RTW in business you are treated like gold or better the whole time anyway and you would earn enough status credits to be Gold anyway. I guess this locks in a second year for you. It's not stupid but it's certainly not a massive deal.

    • +3

      Having Star Gold status buys you very little when travelling in business class. You'll already have lounge access, priority check-in/etc, and generally enough baggage included that you don't need the extra.

      To make best use of this deal you would need to spend most of your time flying Thai itself (potentially connecting to other airlines, but you're not going to be able to use this credit to buy a Australia->US direct ticket, for example), and doing it in economy.

  • Thanks OP, bought 2

    • +3

      Rookie numbers

    • But did you use Coles MasterCard gift cards??

  • +14

    I don't quite understand how this is a deal. You're paying $10k to get a gold loyalty status (which gets you larger luggage allowance, lounge access) and you get $10k in flight credit's. Seems like you're just getting a free membership to a loyalty scheme and locking in your $10k as flights. Am I getting this all wrong? Is there significant value here?

    • -1

      It is similar to this

      • -4

        What is similar about A$399 and US$10,000?

    • +2

      I guess it’s good for them getting the cash up front and they can earn interest? Looks better on the books?

    • +2

      $10k USD

    • +7

      Yes, you're paying $14k upfront for gold status. It you travel a lot (particularly Thai airways) and expect to use all that $14k worth in flights in 2 years, then it's a pretty good deal in my opinion.

      • +1

        Yupe. Not too bad. One return trip to Asia for a couple.

        Precovid used to be a return trip to Europe on business class sales.

        • +9

          If you're paying 7k for a return business flight to Asia, you're paying too much.

          • +1

            @odysseus: Not sure. Haven't been flying since covid. But heard from colleagues booking last minute flights is about right.

            Precovid, regular price for CX and SQ were anywhere from $5-8k. Many were booked last minute. Can imagine now being more expensive due to pend up demand, particularly corporates are using their travel budget for this year.

            The most crazy one was 12k to Europe via Seoul with KE.

            For a period working in Asia, used to fly back to Syd every fortnight. Worst yet, paid $800 one way on scoot economy being the only option available. (Which is a full service return ticket when they are on sale).

            Agree that it is alot (or even too much)… But what is the value of money?

  • +9

    Finally, something to spend my 300k PA salary and crypto millions on.

    • +3

      where are the emojis?

  • +1

    Used discounted gift cards and free delivery. Cheers

    • Which gift cards?

  • +24

    Thai airways can’t even refund my brother $3000 in credits they promised. I wouldn’t be so confident to put another $10k into their coffers.

    • +7

      No wonder they reported profit for the first time in a while.

    • +3

      That is usually the same with all airlines, hard to get refund. Even Qantas is same https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-16/customers-still-waiti…

      • not really with the situation of Thai. If u bought a ticket after they went to rehabilitation plan, you can get a refund but if u bought it before, they will send the email saying they are short in cash bla bla and cant promise ETA for the refund. It's pretty dodgy move though

        • +3

          Charge back.

          • @Domicron: tried it, didnt work
            i bought through flight centre, they said its a thai issue. I said stiff shit, i got told no

            • @Fizzydrink: Well. Chargeback works, your CC provider will claw back on what's paid, and goods/services not provided.

      • China mandated refunds for all travel arrangements. So it was super easy to get a refund there.

      • Not "the same with all airlines". Though it is/was with some - including Qantas. But others were more forthcoming with refunds.

      • Singapore Airlines was rather quick with refunds.

        Garuda is another dodgy one. Asked me to pay US$100 to extend the date, then ate the whole lot once because you can't extend the date again.

    • But maybe with the $10k, they can pay back your brother's $3k

      …or C suite annual bonuses, depending where their priorities lie.

  • +4

    What sort of job you have to be in where you have an easy $15k cash lying around for an impulse purchase like this one - asking for a friend.

    • +22

      Concreter

    • +3

      Bricklayer

    • +6

      Construction "wink wink"

      • +4

        Electricians.

    • "poolboy"

    • Escort

    • Ladyboy!

    • Lollipop person

    • [Walter White voice] I'm the guy who knocks.

    • +2

      Onlyfans

    • Solicitors / Notary Public in NSW

      • That's a false belief. A sparky will easily have more spare cash.

    • +1

      I'm in waste management

    • +4

      Flag Installation Engineer

    • boytoy!

  • +1

    Can you get Qantas to price-match?

    • +47

      yah sure - but you'll be on hold on the phone for about 7 hours, then get disconnected

  • +1

    You would surely make gold status just by booking business fares and accruing the status credits to become gold and you may not even need to spend $10k US to make it?

    • No. 10k USD will get a silver (sometimes not even).

    • Probably come up short. Regardless this way you can get that status even if you are purchasing tickets for family members. Seems a good deal if you travel Thai or have some planned holidays.

  • +1

    I’m still waiting for my refund from Thai for flights booked 2020, just before they went into administration.

    • -1

      Charge back seems to be your best option at the moment

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