HSBC Star Alliance credit card in Australia

[mikedesign]

Got mine as well. I checked on the Air Canada app first and it wasn't showing, tried through the website and the points were showing – app updated shortly after.

 

[burningrage]

Hope it works out - let us know. My gut tells me they won't issue Express Path for Star Alliance Golds though, unless they are flying J/F. There's too many eligible pax. oneworld airlines don't issue these for their Gold status equivalent (Sapphire) in Australia; only to the top tier, Emerald.

Another publication that explicitly said Star Alliance Gold can use express path.

Your guide to Star Alliance Gold Track - Point Hacks

Speed your way through airport formalities and into the lounge faster.

www.pointhacks.com.au

 

[dairyfloss]

Another publication that explicitly said Star Alliance Gold can use express path.

Your guide to Star Alliance Gold Track - Point Hacks

Speed your way through airport formalities and into the lounge faster.

www.pointhacks.com.au

Great... but I'm afraid it's not me you need to convince!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmmm… so local government rates appear to be excluded from ‘eligible spend’. Strata fees went through ok and counted.

Unless I somehow paid the rates as BPAY

 

[Trin Trin]

Hmmm… so local government rates appear to be excluded from ‘eligible spend’. Strata fees went through ok and counted.

Unless I somehow paid the rates as BPAY

It seems so. My VicRoads spend didn't count towards eligible spend and no SA points either. Just used Sniip for council rates which should count as eligible spend.

 

[AGSA4727]

Hello everyone,

Actually a past user of AFF but for some reason, it couldn't find me anymore so started a new account.

I posted this in another forum as a warning but essentially this.

Those with HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card & Have Chosen Singapore Airlines As Your Star Alliance Status Airline - Read on​

This warning is for those who have taken up HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card and have chosen Singapore Airlines as your chosen Star Alliance Status Conferral Airline AND you have now passed the one year anniversary.

I got this Credit Card back on 25/11/2022 and chose Singapore Airlines as the Star Alliance Gold Status Conferral Airline.

Obviously it has been a year and the whole experience with this credit card has been… experimental at best. With three parties involved in this, there will bound to be stuff-ups and as many of you have experienced dealing with international helpdesk, they can be quite… scripted and indifferent at best even if the flaw has been demonstrated crystal clear.

And so this is what happened.

25/11/2023 - Credit Card statement arrived. Confirmed requalification for Star Alliance Gold Status for another year.
28/11/2023 - Email from Star Alliance arrived. Saying I am eligible for Gold Status Star Alliance. Choose your airline by 12 December 2023 (14 days). After this, Star Alliance will request for the Status to be conferred to you (the Star Alliance Gold Status in the form of the KrisFlyer Gold Elite)
02/12/2023 - Received email from Krisflyer saying I have been downgraded from Gold to Silver because of lack of miles. This is the WTF moment.
02/12/2023 - Emailed Star Alliance which said I have to wait until 12/12/2023 (the 14 days changing FF period) and then the request will be sent to SQ which then will take somewhere between 1-14 days to confer the status. Last year, I nominated on 17/12/2022 and was conferred on 29/12/22, so a horrifying 12 days. So in total, from 25/11/23 (last Anniversary Statement issuance), up to 31 days between your eligibility and conferral of status.
17/12/2023 - Travelling overseas while the status is yet to be conferred. Big red flag!

So the blind spot is, as you can now see, is that despite requalification, they won't re-confer it to you for up to 31 days (3 + 14 + 14). If you are flying within these 31 days, you are screwed (for reasons including having already paid the whole airfares with free seat selection due to status and now suddenly you lost that status - will they stop me at the airport?)

So the lessons learned here (if you have this card and want to be with SQ and want to make the full use of it) are:
1. If you haven't applied for this card and wants to apply, DON'T DO IT CLOSER to your normal holiday flying schedule (eg: Christmas). Leave a space up to 2 mths prior. OR
1. You do not travel so close to your requalification month (in my case, I would never be able to travel as Gold in Christmas). Leave a space of up to 2 months. OR
2. You do not choose SQ as your Star Alliance Status Conferral airline (They take up 14 days to confer the status) OR
3. You do not get this card at all because they are being run by quite frankly, sub-par officials and for $450 per annum, hardly worth it.

So afterwards, I decided to move to Air Canada within the 14 days Star Alliance gave me and within 2 days (not 3), I regained my Star Alliance Gold which I can use on my SQ trip and obtain the benefits.

So the message for those who are requalifying and still sticking with SQ is that you WILL be downgraded to Silver and to regain you would have to wait up to 31 days. If you are travelling within those 31 days, you are at risk of not having status at all. Furthermore, even if you do get it, the T&C for choosing Krisflyer means you can only get maximum of 11 months worth of membership vs AeroPlan which will give you remaining of this and next year membership.

They are actually breaching their own T&C and I pointed this out explicitly but as I said, being international helpdesk, they have none of it. I am planning to escalate this to higher management later. The fault lies with Star Alliance and KrisFlyer, not HSBC.

I had a similar issue with you, except I didn’t need to wait for 30 days to get the KF Gold back.

My status expired on 23 November 23, but didn’t receive any email to re-qualify. I sent an email to *A to enquire about the renewal status and got the re-qualification email to choose my preferred airline on 26 November.

Noted my KF gold status dropped to silver on 29 November, I sent another email to Star alliance to enquire about the status dropped. I was told that is the process as I didn’t reach enough KF miles in the past 12 months and KF would provide about a week holding period before they downgraded the status. In my case, I would need to wait 14 days after re-selected the preferred airline, then wait another 14 days for KF to process the re-qualification request.

I responded with a long complain email that their renewal process is irrational as I need to wait for almost a month without Gold Status, and if I had known about the status drop during the renewal period, I would have never spent the $60k threshold in the past 12 months and would have cancelled the card after the first year. (which it true for me). From their response, I was basically told that’s their current process with SQ, and it’s in the T&C. There is nothing they could do, but they would take my feedback and work with the airline to improve the process going forward.

Surprisingly, I got confirmation that I have requalified to KF gold on 10 December. Unlike what I was told - to wait for 28 days after I selected my preferred airline to requalify. Not sure if they have expedited the renewal process for me due to my complaint?

But I totally agree with you, one should try to avoid to have a travel plan during the renewal period (or don’t choose SQ) with the aim to use the gold status benefit. I was lucky that I didn’t need to wait for 28 days to get the status back, but it was still a 10 days without Gold status and could have an impact if I was to travel during that time.

 

[burningrage]

I had a similar issue with you, except I didn’t need to wait for 30 days to get the KF Gold back.

My status expired on 23 November 23, but didn’t receive any email to re-qualify. I sent an email to *A to enquire about the renewal status and got the re-qualification email to choose my preferred airline on 26 November.

Noted my KF gold status dropped to silver on 29 November, I sent another email to Star alliance to enquire about the status dropped. I was told that is the process as I didn’t reach enough KF miles in the past 12 months and KF would provide about a week holding period before they downgraded the status. In my case, I would need to wait 14 days after re-selected the preferred airline, then wait another 14 days for KF to process the re-qualification request.

I responded with a long complain email that their renewal process is irrational as I need to wait for almost a month without Gold Status, and if I had known about the status drop during the renewal period, I would have never spent the $60k threshold in the past 12 months and would have cancelled the card after the first year. (which it true for me). From their response, I was basically told that’s their current process with SQ, and it’s in the T&C. There is nothing they could do, but they would take my feedback and work with the airline to improve the process going forward.

Surprisingly, I got confirmation that I have requalified to KF gold on 10 December. Unlike what I was told - to wait for 28 days after I selected my preferred airline to requalify. Not sure if they have expedited the renewal process for me due to my complaint?

But I totally agree with you, one should try to avoid to have a travel plan during the renewal period (or don’t choose SQ) with the aim to use the gold status benefit. I was lucky that I didn’t need to wait for 28 days to get the status back, but it was still a 10 days without Gold status and could have an impact if I was to travel during that time.

So it sounds like you only had to wait 1 day for Krisflyer to confer you the Gold status right after the expiry of the selection period (14 days)?

Btw they actually breached their own T&C, I think i have posted above the link but the T&C essentially states the 14 days waiting period of Krisflyer to confer the Gold is only applicable if you are a welcome offer customer ($4k spend customer) and not applicable for requalifying customer.

 

[AGSA4727]

So it sounds like you only had to wait 1 day for Krisflyer to confer you the Gold status right after the expiry of the selection period (14 days)?

Btw they actually breached their own T&C, I think i have posted above the link but the T&C essentially states the 14 days waiting period of Krisflyer to confer the Gold is only applicable if you are a welcome offer customer ($4k spend customer) and not applicable for requalifying customer.

That’s correct, it took KF 1 day to confer the Gold Status.

 

[burningrage]

That’s correct, it took KF 1 day to confer the Gold Status.

That is excellent. They did say to me they would try to keep track of it but with only 3 days before I had to travel I was not going to risk it so I switched to Air Canada and I got the status within 48 hours.

Not ideal because now I dont know what to do with these Star Alliance points I have but I am leaving the program anyway by the end of this year.

 

[blacksultan]

That is excellent. They did say to me they would try to keep track of it but with only 3 days before I had to travel I was not going to risk it so I switched to Air Canada and I got the status within 48 hours.

Not ideal because now I dont know what to do with these Star Alliance points I have but I am leaving the program anyway by the end of this year.

What do you mean you don’t know what to do with the SA points ? You can transfer to any of the airline partners .

 

[SeaWolf]

I'm wondering if with TK about to enter the Australian market if they'll join the options for crediting points from the card.

 

[burningrage]

What do you mean you don’t know what to do with the SA points ? You can transfer to any of the airline partners .

So my chosen airline partner is now Air Canada but I dont fly with them. Previously I credit all my points to Krisflyer but since I am forced to move to Air Canada for 1 year, all SA points would go to Air Canada points. Or am I missing something here?

 

[N860CR]

So my chosen airline partner is now Air Canada but I dont fly with them. Previously I credit all my points to Krisflyer but since I am forced to move to Air Canada for 1 year, all SA points would go to Air Canada points. Or am I missing something here?

From my reading, you can send them wherever you want regardless of your chosen status airline?

 

[burningrage]

From my reading, you can send them wherever you want regardless of your chosen status airline?

Is that so? I will give it a try later. I have been transferring my SA points via the SA Portal and it always went to my chosen airline. If that can be overriden, that would be good!

 

[Danger]

Is that so? I will give it a try later. I have been transferring my SA points via the SA Portal and it always went to my chosen airline. If that can be overriden, that would be good!

Yes. The airline you choose status with and the airline(s) you transfer points to don't have to be the same.

 

[burningrage]

Yes. The airline you choose status with and the airline(s) you transfer points to don't have to be the same.

Awesome. Will give it a shot. Thank you so much! Shows how much more I need to learn

 

[blacksultan]

Is that so? I will give it a try later. I have been transferring my SA points via the SA Portal and it always went to my chosen airline. If that can be overriden, that would be good!

Points are not transferred automatically . You can select any airline any time for a conversion for as little as 100 points .

Post automatically merged: Dec 27, 2023

So my chosen airline partner is now Air Canada but I dont fly with them. Previously I credit all my points to Krisflyer but since I am forced to move to Air Canada for 1 year, all SA points would go to Air Canada points. Or am I missing something here?

Besides you don’t have to use Aeroplan flights for air Canada flights only - Aeroplan points can be redeemed for flights on any of their multiple partners !

 

[Ausbt]

Well, just like that and without much ado my card turned up. Applied online, they asked for the usual docos and viola it was here about a week later. Now, my plan is to activate it on 1st Jan and go down the Aeroplan route to try for two years of Gold. I am flying ANA on 26 Jan but I don't think I can reach the $4K spend or even if I did, realistically hope for Aeroplan to activate in that time frame.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well, just like that and without much ado my card turned up. Applied online, they asked for the usual docos and viola it was here about a week later. Now, my plan is to activate it on 1st Jan and go down the Aeroplan route to try for two years of Gold. I am flying ANA on 26 Jan but I don't think I can reach the $4K spend or even if I did, realistically hope for Aeroplan to activate in that time frame.

Me too. I’m sitting on about $3400 of spend, will wait till 1 Jan and use the remaining $600, triggering the request to nominate star gold! Hopefully 2 years!

 

[Jacques Vert]

I am flying ANA on 26 Jan but I don't think I can reach the $4K spend or even if I did, realistically hope for Aeroplan to activate in that time frame.

Pre-pay health insurance, buy some WOW e-gift cards, stock up on wine, etc.? You should be able to manufacture $4,000 if you really try. You could even pre-pay your rates by using a payment service (YakPay, Sniip, etc.). Just don't use BPay or pay Govt agencies directly.