How to exchange S7 award miles for a flight ticket. How to spend your S7 bonus miles Upgrade from Economy to Business
S7, like most major air carriers, has its own bonus program, which allows you to receive for the use of the services of the airline and its partners bonus miles, which can then be spent on buying tickets for regular flights, which allows you to fly almost for free. The procedure for accumulating miles and purchasing tickets is quite simple and transparent, however, there are some peculiarities.
S7 Airlines is a member of the Oneworld international alliance, which, in addition to S7, includes 15 other airlines. In addition, the airline's partners are other companies, mainly operating in the tourism business, selling tickets, car rental, accommodation booking services, and so on.
For using the services of companies, customers receive bonuses called miles. In addition, there are special co-branded cards of several banks, for which bonuses are awarded for purchases. If you accumulate enough on your account, you can spend them on the purchase of award tickets and other purposes.
They are status and bonus. The former affect the increase in the status of the client, so you can get increased silver, gold and platinum statuses. When a new level is assigned, privileges are opened, for example, an increase in service at airports, and an increased number of miles for flights is also accrued.
How to accumulate them
There are several options. Among the most popular and profitable are flights with Oneworld alliance airlines, as well as the use of joint partner bank cards. To date, such cards are issued by the Bank of Moscow, Alfa Bank and UniCredit Bank.
For participation in the program and the opening of the card, welcome miles are accrued, in addition, they are given by the airline as a birthday gift, as well as for some flights. For example, children are credited with 1,000 miles for their first flight. In addition, they can be bought on exchanges or transferred from one account to another, and even as a gift.
Another interesting option offered by S7 is the purchase of a package of bonus miles in the event that they are not enough to purchase the desired flight, a maximum of 15,000 can be purchased per year, provided that during the last 365 days there was at least one airline award flight.
In addition, they are also accrued for using the services of other S7 partner companies, in addition to Oneworld airlines. For example, you can rent a car or book an accommodation and earn miles for it, which you can then spend as you wish.
Miles accrual system
S7 company accrues bonuses for each flight. With a standard client status, a minimum of 500 miles is credited for each flight. And the maximum number will depend on the distance of the flight and the selected fare, they will be calculated as a percentage from 50 to 250%.
How can you spend miles
It is important that they cannot be cashed out. You can spend, depending on your own desire, for the following purposes:
- Flight to scheduled flights S7 and 15 other air carriers.
- Upgrading the class of service on the flight.
- Transfer to the account of another client (there are exchanges where miles can be sold).
- Transfer for charitable purposes.
The cost of a one-way ticket on the airline's flights is from 7,500 miles one-way. The same amount is needed to purchase an award ticket from partner airlines. But the increase in the cash desk from "Economy" to "Business" will cost 3,500 miles.
An important nuance: you can pay with miles only for the main cost of the ticket, but fuel, airport and service fees will have to be paid at your own expense when booking an award ticket.
How to buy an award ticket with miles
In fact, the instructions for buying a ticket with miles are quite simple and do not differ much from buying a regular ticket.
Registration in the program
To get started, to start accumulating bonuses, you need to become a member of the program. There are several ways to do this:
- Register on the S7 website in the S7 Priority program.
- Issue a co-branded card in the partner bank.
- Register at the Service Center of the S7 Priority program by calling the hotline 8-800-100-77-11.
Then you just have to accumulate the required number of miles. You can check their status in personal account on the S7 website, or by calling the Service Center. If the required number of bonuses has been accumulated, you can proceed to purchase a ticket.
Online purchase
- Go to the s7.ru website by logging in to your Personal Account.
- Send a booking request in the "Order a Reward" section in your Personal Account.
- Fill in the information about the planned flight: directions, dates, fare, airline, passenger details, and so on.
- If availability is available for the selected dates, the booking will need to be confirmed.
- To pay service fees, you will need to pay through the site in any way convenient for you.
- If the operation is successful, a purchase confirmation will be sent to the e-mail specified during registration, as well as an electronic ticket.
Purchase through the Program Service Center
An alternative option is to purchase a ticket through the Service Center of the S7 Priority program. To do this, you need to call the free hotline at 8-800-100-77-11 and inform the company's specialist about your intention to buy an award ticket using S7 bonus miles.
Large banks and airlines are fighting for the attention of the consumer, enticing him with various gingerbread. From literal sweets to other freebies, they try to win you over and s7 is no exception. So, there are special s7 miles, identical to the bonus programs that almost every major bank has at its disposal. But in their acquisition and use, there are some features that can mislead an unprepared user.
The company itself is a member of the Oneworld international alliance, and what it is and what advantages it brings for you, we will describe below. It already includes over 15 various airlines, but, in addition to them, c7 has other counterparties around the world, most of them travel agencies.
When paying for the services of the company itself or its counterparty, you receive a small percentage deduction - bonuses, which, in fact, are a cashback from each operation performed by the user. It can be combined with bonus cards and get even more benefits, but such credit cards have their drawbacks. Let's figure out what kind of bonus program it is and how to get the most out of it.
Free airfare by s7
Allows you to get a free air ticket by paying the full cost of the ticket at the expense of cashback. However, this is not the only use of the accumulated funds. And here there is a small nuance, because you can pay only 99 percent of the ticket price using miles, the rest will be deducted from your card.
oneworld + emirates ticket
But why do you need a bonus program that will limit you to a single airline, if you can get a card at a bank, with the ability to spend bonuses as you wish?
First, mileage deductions come at much higher rates than you'll find with c7 competitors. Secondly, you can spend bonuses in all airlines and counterparties of the Oneworld program. These are flights to more than 100 countries of the world, as well as 14 other airlines that can be used as a transfer point.
As a result, you get the opportunity to accumulate and use points all over the world and on any air flight. Thus, you can pay for air travel not only in OneWorld, but also the Emirates program, which allows you to travel almost all over the world.
Upgrade from economy class to business
Surely, many people do not like flying economy class for many reasons, but they have to do it because paying a few thousand extra for business class seems like a waste of money. However, you can give away part of the bonuses received from flights, namely 6.5 thousand, and increase the class indicated on the ticket. This allows, having flown on vacation and bought tickets back, to fly home already in comfort.
Especially this feature of the program will be convenient for those who need to travel frequently at the expense of the employer, who pays only for the economy class.
Such a system greatly simplifies the life of customers, because the ability not only to buy air tickets, but also to pay for services within the airline, allows you to literally immediately try out the program.
The higher the class of the ticket you buy, the more status bonuses you will receive for purchasing it. But miles are calculated as 10-15 percent of the purchase amount, and are equivalent to 1 ruble in value. That is, all your miles can be conditionally converted into rubles, and in this case, the operations performed with their help will be much easier to calculate and control.
In addition, you can spend bonuses on any actions within the airline and the airport, which allows you not only to pay for your own food on the flight, but also to improve flight conditions.
Transfer miles to a friend and charity
However, if for some reason you don’t need bonuses or the employer takes all the expenses on himself without any questions, then the received miles can be transferred to another card and to a friend. And for those who are worried about the prosperity of other people and want to do a good deed, it is proposed to transfer cashback to a charitable organization, because it is still money in a sense.
You should not treat miles as something ephemeral and incomprehensible, because these are literally the same rubles as on your debit card. They are simply presented in the form of other units through which the airline provides cashback from the amount of your expenses.
Miles expire when the client is inactive for a long time, but they can always be transferred to a friend's bonus card. And if this function is not required, then you can simply donate the saved money to charity, thereby giving it to those for whom even a couple of hundred rubles will be a gift. All this allows the client to somehow dispose of the funds received so that they do not burn out without a purpose.
C7 itself cooperates with dozens of charitable foundations, including the Red Cross. Therefore, if you go deep into the topic of charity, then in the comments to the translation you can choose what exactly the money should be spent on. It is worth noting that the funds themselves are not delivered to charitable organizations, but only the purchases made on them. This allows both customers and the airline itself to be sure that the money will not be stolen and will not be used for unnecessary things.
Additional features of S7 Priority
When enough bonuses accumulate, you can either spend in one of the partner companies. c7 cooperates, among other things, with services for booking accommodation, as well as car rental, so free air travel is not the only thing you can count on. The bonuses themselves are of two types:
- Status. They affect your conditional level, and the higher it is, the best service and flight conditions will be provided to the client. Naturally, highest level affects the percentage of bonus deductions under the miles program.
- Miles. The cashback itself, which allows you to spend coins equivalent to 1 ruble in any services related to the airline. There is only a small nuance - you cannot pay the full cost of the goods or the flight with the help of bonuses, as this will prevent you from concluding a sales contract. Therefore, only 99 percent of the value of your purchase can be paid with miles, and the rest will need to be laid out from your wallet.
Status points increase your priority as a company customer. The higher it is, the better service is offered to the client. Milli can also be used to extend if you do not use S7 services for a long time, or increase it for a short period in order to experience all the delights of a full-fledged business class in one or two flights and understand whether you need it or not.
I want to tell you one very interesting and exciting story.
How I bought air tickets from s7.
So, I'll start with the fact that I previously preferred to use the services of this particular company. The service was no worse and no better than others, but the fleet consisted only of European aircraft. It pleased. When buying tickets via the Internet, sometimes there were difficulties, but previously they were always solved.
More than a year ago, I decided to join the s7-priority program and started earning miles. The moment has come when the number of miles was enough to buy a ticket. From this moment on, an exciting show begins.
It is impossible to find instructions, a link, and any mention of the possibility of buying a ticket for miles on the s7.ru website. There is a "spend miles" page containing textual information that they can be spent.
After spending 10 minutes searching, using all the options of search queries on the s7 website and Google, having studied the faq section and not finding anything, I called the call center.
After waiting 10 minutes and explaining the situation to the specialist, I received an offer to record the call center phone number s7 priority. He asked me to connect with a new call center. After waiting another ten minutes and talking about my problem, I received a question verbatim: "Have you ever been to our site?!" After some time, they nevertheless helped me and oriented me: we buy tickets for miles on the "Order an award" page.
OK. No problem. Already at this stage, suspecting something was wrong, I asked the specialist in detail about my further actions.
Gentlemen, sit back and listen :-) you will not find this information anywhere on the Internet.
Steps on how to buy a ticket for miles with s7:
1. Enter the interface for buying tickets to the s7 website in the usual way
2. Find the flights you need
3. Call the call center (here it is very useful to write down the direct phone number of the call center. :))
4. Find out if there are tickets under the s7 priority program for the flights you need. If they are not, it is better not to hang up :)
5. Next, go to the site in the section S7 priority to the page "Order a premium"
6. On the page, enter everything manually about the route and the passenger (are you tired yet? Everything is just beginning :))
7. Within 24 hours you will receive a mail containing your details and the cost of the ticket to be paid. Yes! You heard right :) According to experts, this is the cost of airport taxes. In my case, the amount of 1980 rubles was written in the letter. OK. The letter also includes an offer to choose a payment method. There are few options: Call the service center and voice the details of your bank card, or pay the payment in the Svyaznoy salon or at the Qiwi terminal.
I decided not to tempt fate with voicing details over the phone. This method of payment caused me concern.
8. Send an email back with a payment option. Wait for a response with the payment ID.
9. We are trying to pay for tickets through the qiwi wallet website. S7 --> booking payment. Result: System error.
10. We call technical support. We find out that payment via the qiwi Internet service is impossible. Only through the terminal.
11. We go to Svyaznoy. The employee of the Svyaznoy at the checkout is trying to make a payment. Function S7--> booking payment. Result: no connection with the provider. I ask the employee to read the letter. He searches for a long time at the checkout for an opportunity to pay. Booking ID and payment ID contains letters. All Qiwi services support the introduction of only digital identifiers. In the end, he finds an interface where you can enter a payment identifier and announces the cost of the payment 880 rubles. The system interface does not issue any more details. We compare together the cost of the payment from my letter (1980 rubles) and decide that it is not worth paying.
12. I go to the S7 office. 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, 28. There are no signs, banners with a combination of the cherished S and 7 on the house.
13. I am looking for an office phone number on the site - they explain to me that I need to find a store selling kitchen utensils, go through the store hall to the second floor. Office s7 is one of 5 tables different airlines in a small shabby room.
14. I start communication with an employee of the company s7. The employee genuinely wants to help me. In her system, it can be seen that the cost of a ticket is 880 rubles. But the letter says something else. This embarrasses her, and we call the call center. In the call center they explain to us that they cannot accept payment to the s7 office, because this ticket of the s7 company is a priority.
I have a strong feeling that someone does not understand something. I insist on making a payment. To which an s7 employee who sincerely wants to help me explains to me that s7 airlines is a large holding. She has an s7-tickets company that sells tickets, she has an s7 priority, and there is also a company that transports animals. And "s7 tickets" can not deal with the transportation of animals, and tickets of the company "s7 priority". OK.
15. I go to the messenger to try my luck. I hope for a miracle. Alas. Attempts by Svyaznoy sellers to accept payment fail. ISP connection error.
16. In another office of the Messenger, the situation repeats itself.
17. Last attempt - Qiwi street terminal: Pay for tickets --> Air carriers --> S7 --> I enter the phone number (the call center confirmed this method of payment). 3-minute wait and transition to the main page of the service. I make 3 attempts. All end badly.
A curtain.
I want to believe that our wonderful airline has problems only in this process.
Results: 5 hours of wasted time, no tickets purchased.
I'm afraid to use the second payment option - it would be very reckless on my part to dictate the details of a credit card to someone from THIS company by phone.
Now I will tell you how to fly business class and not pay crazy money for it. As you know, almost every airline has reward programs where passengers are encouraged to earn miles, which can then be exchanged for tickets. So, if you approach the accumulation process wisely, you can fly comfortably and practically free of charge several times a year.
First you need to decide with whom to fly and earn miles.
Airlines have miles and banks have miles. For example, Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff Bank offer their customers bonus programs where miles are also accumulated, which can then be exchanged for tickets. But in fact, this is a kind of cashback with a fixed rate.
Airline miles are much more interesting. There are qualifying miles and non-qualifying miles. The first ones are credited to you directly for flights with this airline, and they affect your status. Each airline has different levels of membership (silver, gold, etc.). The higher your status, the more privileges you get. It all depends on the airline. For example, Aeroflot offers you check-in at business class counters, the opportunity to choose a front-row seat with increased legroom at no extra charge, and access to business lounges. Also, a high status will allow you to sometimes get business class seats at no extra charge. For example, if the flight is full, then some passengers may be transferred from economy to business. As you guessed, such a gift awaits the one whose level is higher. I was transferred several times from economy to business.
Some airlines have even more privileges. American "Delta" transfers passengers of elite levels to business class for free, if there are empty seats. This rule is valid only on domestic flights, but still nice;)
Major airlines form alliances. There are three major ones: SkyTeam, OneWorld and Star Alliance. Accordingly, you will receive bonus miles for flights on all airlines of the alliance, even if you do not have their bonus program. For example, if you have an Aeroflot bonus card open, then you will receive miles and privileges for flights on all airlines of the alliance.
Here you need to choose the airline whose bonus program you open. It makes no sense to have cards from both Aeroflot and Air France, since they are part of the same alliance and essentially have the same bonus program.
If you live in Russia, then first of all open an Aeroflot card, since the national carrier has almost monopolized the air transportation market in the country. If you plan to fly frequently, for example, around the States, then you can consider the Delta bonus program (they are also part of SkyTeam) instead of Aeroflot. The rest of the cards also need to be opened. The OneWorld Alliance in Russia presents S7. There are no Russian airlines in Star Alliance, but they include, for example, " Turkish Airlines"," Lufthansa "and many other popular airlines.
Now you have to earn miles. The most obvious way to earn miles is to fly with the airlines you want. As I wrote above, in addition to receiving bonus miles, you will increase your status and have various nice bonuses. But you don't get that much. If you do not constantly fly, then you will have to save up for a normal bonus ticket for several years.
To earn miles more actively, you can contact partners. For example, many banks have joint projects with airlines. For every dollar spent on your bank card, you will receive a certain number of miles.
In addition, many hotels give miles. For example, if you have an Aeroflot bonus program, you can earn 500 miles for staying at Radisson or Kempinski hotels and up to 2 miles for every dollar spent at Marriott or Intercontinental. Miles give and rental offices. For example, "Eurocar" and "Avis" give 1500 miles for the fact of renting a car. Each airline has dozens of partners, so carefully study who gives bonuses for what.
So, you have accumulated miles, and now it's time to spend them. You need to spend miles on the purchase of bonus tickets! And here the most interesting begins. Miles should not only be able to save, but also to spend correctly.
The task for all participants of the competition is this: we try to fly in economy class to Omsk and New York at the end of May for one day (departure on May 28, return on May 29)*. If someone is not able to offer an economy class, we take the most cheap ticket. Then we try to figure out how many miles to spend on the same trip.
*Prices were measured in April, when there was a slightly different exchange rate and tickets were available.
Let's start with Aeroflot! Miles under the "Bonus" program accumulate quite cheerfully, especially if you buy expensive tickets. But you need to understand whether they are easy to use.
For example, you can fly 20,000 miles in economy class to Omsk and back to Moscow at the time of the proposed purchase. 
I hope the designer of Aeroflot, who came up with the idea of writing in blue on a blue background, has already been handed over to crocodiles.
Now uncheck the "Pay by miles" box. We see that the cheapest ticket to Omsk costs 10,000 rubles, and from Omsk to Moscow - 9,000 rubles. That is, the rate is about 1 to 1, but the miles decided to round up to tens of thousands. 
Let's see how things are in New York: 
In economy, the total cost of tickets is 37,042 rubles, fees are taken into account. Business class is much more expensive, 135,637 rubles. 
If you try to buy a ticket to New York for economy bonuses, then the mile rate drops sharply. 
We spend 70,000 miles on round-trip tickets at once! Yes, and separately you will have to pay fees in the amount of 16,477 rubles. For the purity of the experiment, let's calculate the exact course. The fare to New York and back without fees is 18,055 rubles. It turns out that when paying with miles for each ruble, you will have to pay 3.88 miles! 
One of the secrets of flying miles: the higher the class of service, the more profitable it is to spend them. As we have already found out, a business class ticket to New York and back costs 135,637 rubles. The reward ticket will cost 110,000 miles. We subtract fees from the ruble price and find out that the Aeroflot mile rate in this case is 0.92 miles per ruble, this is an excellent indicator. The problem is that such a ticket is very difficult to buy with miles. 
You see, the mile business class is sold out both ways. 
I was just trying to find business class tickets for the summer and found that there was nothing...
Just in case, I checked the Aeroflot mileage for flights to other cities in Russia and neighboring countries.
It costs 7,500 rubles to fly to St. Petersburg on the same days (this is economy). Bonuses - 20,000 miles. And do not forget about the fees, which in the case of miles are always paid separately. But for the business you need to give only 30,000 miles. The course could be around 1.5 miles per ruble, but tickets, again, have already been sold out.
In general, the same rule works in almost all cases: an extremely unfavorable mile rate when buying tickets in economy, and quite profitable when paying with business class miles. Okay, everything is clear with Aeroflot. Let's see what others have to offer.
In addition to Aeroflot, of the Russian carriers, only S7 Airlines (a member of oneworld) is included in one of the three largest international alliances. S7 has a Priority bonus program.
Well, let's try to fly to Omsk. Economy round-trip for 16,200 rubles, very good. 
S7 has a table that shows you how many miles an airline's direct flights cost. Omsk, for example, is included in the Russia 2 premium zone, and a one-way ticket to it will cost 15,000 miles in economy and 25,000 miles in business class. 
Choose to pay with miles. 30,000 miles + another 3.5 thousand rubles in fees. It turns out that the course is 2.3 miles per ruble. 
A ticket to Omsk and back in business class for the same dates will cost 49,200 rubles. 
For the same tickets, you can give 45,000 miles and pay an additional 3,560 rubles. Let's calculate the course. We remove fees and find out that when flying in business class, the rate can be 0.98 miles per ruble. This is a very good course! The cheap business class rule applies here as well. 
The catch is that we are talking about the Business Optimum mileage fare, which implies that the number of seats available on the flight is limited. Airlines will allocate only a few seats on the flight, which can be bought for miles. But still, this is a good option if you are used to planning trips in advance. After all, if you pay in rubles, a business (using the same tickets to Omsk as an example) costs 3 times more than an economy one, and if in miles, then less than 1.5 times. 
Now New York. A ticket to New York is expensive, and the return transfer is inconvenient. 
What about miles? It is necessary to give 75,000 miles at once, and pay 23,495 rubles as fees. The course in this case is 2.05 miles per ruble. There were no business class tickets at all, so I don’t even know what prices are there now. 
Well, we understood something about Russian carriers. Let's find out what Aeroflot's SkyTeam friends are offering.
The American airline Delta has a SkyMiles bonus program, which is combined with the Pay with Miles program. The latter has a clear course in the rules: it allows you to reduce the cost of a ticket by $50 for every 5,000 miles. 
That is, 100 miles cost 1 dollar, or 1 mile is equal to 1 cent. The dollar exchange rate is now fluctuating around the mark of 70 rubles/$1 (we will round for convenience). It turns out that one cent, aka 1 mile, will cost 70 kopecks, and the ruble = 1.43 miles. A very good indicator, the only pity is that Americans also have restrictions on dates and destinations when paying with miles.
In reality, the situation is this. A ticket to New York and back in economy will cost 33,350 rubles, in business class - 142,973 rubles. 
Here is the price in miles, below is the surcharge for fees. The real rate for the economy will be 4.73 miles per ruble, for business - one to one. That is, the story is about the same as with Russian airlines. 
Air France's flight to New York and back on the same dates costs 37,542 rubles. 
The Flying Blue bonus system mile calculator (used by Air France and KLM) assures that the standard economy will cost 50,000 miles. 
As with other airlines, the Flying Blue rules state that the program member pays all additional fees himself. This means that 19,487 rubles must be added to these miles. The fare without fees is 18,055 rubles, exactly like that of Aeroflot. That is, the real rate of a mile will be 2.77 miles per ruble.
Business class will cost 143,168 rubles. 
The calculator requires 125,000 miles. Since the tariff without fees is 109,115 rubles, the mile rate will be 1.15 miles per ruble. 
Let's let down results:
The maximum mile course in this study was found in "Aeroflot". It will work if you take business class to New York and back. It is likely that you can also get into the business class of other international flights at a favorable rate. But Aeroflot has a too blurred low rate boundary. It is practically non-existent, and the worst situation is with the economy on domestic flights: maybe 4 or 5 miles per ruble - try to look for yourself. In this case, you can stumble upon 1 to 1, as in the case of Omsk. In general, be careful.
At Air France and the "brotherly" KLM course will vary from 1 to 3 miles per ruble, in business it is expected to be more profitable to fly. In general, nothing surprising when it comes to international flights.
In the case of SkyMiles from Delta you need to be on the alert, because you can get both on a very profitable course, and on a completely unprofitable one. Roughly the same story as with Aeroflot. In general, if you are flying to the USA, it is better to get a delta card, and maybe more than one - more on that below)
At S7 there is very profitable offer in business class, and the threshold for an unfavorable exchange rate is lower than that of Aeroflot. But, again, I don’t know how the situation is with other cities. Gotta dig. In general, the offer is similar to what Air France has, although it would probably be more appropriate to compare with oneworld partners.
Use on health! But do not forget about a bunch of restrictions when buying air tickets with miles. Sometimes it is more expedient to spend them not on tickets, but on service class upgrades and other goodies, as well as simply on airport transfers.
In general, in the West, and in particular in the USA, it is much easier to accumulate miles than in Russia. My friend levik from New York told me that the best way to do this is with co-branded credit cards.
There, banks, along with airlines, do not skimp on bonuses if you spend a certain amount on the card. For example, if you get a Delta Gold SkyMiles credit card from American Express and spend more than S1,000 on it in the first three months of use, you can earn 30,000 bonus miles. At the same time, in the first year of using the card, the service will be free (hereinafter - $ 95), and you can safely use it.
The secret is that when you close such a credit card, all the miles you have received do not burn out, but remain on your bonus account with the airline. If you carefully follow various promotions and offers, then you can get 100,000 miles quite easily. The Americans even have a special website for monitoring all sorts of card bonuses.
During the year, you can open several cards, after six months close each of them, and the miles continue to live and accumulate.
Every major airline has a partner bank. Delta is friends with American Express, American Airlines with Citibank, and United Airlines with Chase. Leva is subscribed to all possible loyalty programs, and when he needs to fly somewhere, he simply searches through the partners of these airlines, what would be more profitable to spend miles on. For example, he flew to China with Cathay Pacific, which is a partner of American Airlines.
Leva most willingly spends his miles on first-class flights (he says he comes across them on average three times a year). It turns out that it is more profitable this way: if in money business class is twice cheaper than first class, then in miles the difference is only 20-30%.
No, Lyova was not flying in this air compartment. This is a photo from . 
In addition to purely "aviation" credit cards, there is a reason to start regular ones in partner banks of airlines. For example, using American Express or Chase cards, you can accumulate "multi-purpose" bonus points, and when you see that Delta or United sell tickets for miles, these points are immediately converted into miles and buy what you need.
Leva advises to start with the cheapest credit card (often it is "free"). Here is his procedure for earning miles:
1. Get a cheaper card with a free first year.
2. Spend the required amount on it on time, get a bonus.
3. Keep idle until almost the end of the year.
4. Just before an anniversary, call and cancel it
5. After a year (or 18 months) you can try again.
In general, if there is an opportunity to get American mile cards, feel free to start it, just don't forget to close it. Have a nice flight!
Today's review from our reader Sergio, the material of which was being prepared for publication back in November, but it turned out to be published for technical reasons only now. The most recent December S7 program changes have been made to the text.
I have been in the S7 Priority program since 2011, this is my first mile program. Now I have a gold status in it, which I actively use. I also have two co-brands out of three possible. During these four years, I flew a lot, both for money and for miles.
S7 airline overview
S7 Airlines(brand of Siberia Airlines) has a wide network of domestic routes. S7 Airlines also operates regular flights to the CIS countries, Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The S7 fleet consists of 58 aircraft, including 20 A319 (C8 Y126), 19 A320 (C8 Y150 / 156), 4 A321 (it seems that all C8 Y189, but I have not flown them, I heard that there is some kind of economy aircraft only), 13 B737-800 (C12 Y154/156) and two old B767-300 (C12 Y240/C18 Y222). The sides are generally unified, without "surprises". You can in detail.
The route network includes two major hubs in Moscow (Domodedovo) and Novosibirsk and covers about a hundred cities in Russia, the CIS and Europe, as well as several Asian destinations, including Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Phuket, Hong Kong.
Service classes
With this, the S7 is very bad. Bad economy and bad business.
As a status person, I certainly don't complain, always flying for money in the third row in the A319/A320 and the fourth in the B737 and in the front row, flying for miles. But without status, the layout, of course, wants the best. There are generally dead spots, such as a non-folding row in front of an emergency or a second row (this is in business !!!) in the A319
Service in business is always lame (worse than economy in normal airlines), in economy, in principle, quite tolerable crap. Not the worst, of course, but still sucks.
I just want to say: “To hell with this S7, fly Aeroflot planes!”.
// I wrote this with a faint hope for the attention of the S7 management, hear me! I see how AK is changing, “Priority” is now the best program available to Russians, the site has become quite efficient. Train your workers, AK is lame in terms of service. Complete indifference to passengers!//
But, oddly enough, I can’t say anything bad about both sides of the B767, there are very good seats in the economy, and the seats in business, although covered with gray hair, are quite comfortable. But the service there consistently sucks, no surprises. For example, water in the bathrooms can easily run out towards the end of the flight, and caring flight attendants will put a pack of wet wipes. You won’t get extra tea, you have to beg for water.
In business, everything edible can easily run out, and you have to suffer with a brick that was mistakenly put in place of a steak. Any request is a personal favor.
Alliance and partners
//or rather, the only partner for today//
This is where the S7 excels. For five years, AK has been a member OneWorld- the best of the existing three and a half global alliances. The status is fully supported by all participants. And the participants themselves Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Qantas, Qatar Airways are very strong partners. Well, a few other airlines.
Well, the only non-alliance partner - Emirates. What can I say - such a partnership is worth a lot. Although with status support in this case a small, but very offensive embarrassment.
Changes in the S7 Priority program
Behind Last year The program has undergone many changes. Mostly, of course, negative. But there are also pluses. Extensive changes introduced since December 2015.
First, the possibility of registration was canceled transfer transportation for miles. Then they partially returned, but it didn’t get any easier. The list of exceptions is ridiculously short.
Introduced horse fees in some directions. Try to take Beijing-Krasnoyarsk for miles, for example, you will be very surprised.
Introduced a new zone "Near Abroad Countries".
Set up with the introduction of a new zone "Russia 4".
Now you need to fly for money at least once every two years in order to be able to spend miles.
For co-brands, accruals were cut very much.
Promo tickets can no longer be upgraded with miles.
Now it is impossible to convert Svyaznoy Club benefits into miles.
Of the benefits - they introduced an accrual of 300% for business. In combination with a business pass, it was not bad at all. Then cut to 150% or 250%.
There was a discount on the award ticket for children.
Children can now also earn miles for their flights.
You can get an award on the Emirates (but the fees are killing).
It became possible to issue one-way tickets to a number of partners - a very strong step.
We stopped at Domodedovo in the upper hall, which used to be Transaero. This was my favorite lounge. It's a pity that the C7 ruined it. Food appeared, but space completely disappeared. It became some kind of "waiting room for superior comfort."
Various promotions are held, for example, “how many years, so much and a discount” - participants with experience very well added miles for flights on their own flights.
Or remember, they caught planes on iPhones? And now they give out 1000 miles on Facebook (I heard that with cheating, much more was possible).
Or the promotion has just ended - a 10% discount on the tariff for S7 Priority members.
Well, the main changes introduced from December 01, 2015. That rare case when the changes are positive, not negative. A new fare grid has been introduced, now most economy tickets are charged 100% of the distance, at least 500 miles, with the exception of baggage-free fares, which are 50%. Well, these bezbagzhnye tariffs are actually introduced. While the price has become cheaper. Although, of course, low price– only potential for further growth.
Registration in the program
After registering online on the site, you will receive 500 miles to your bonus account. The most interesting thing is that if you register already after the flight, then within 6 months you can restore the flights made earlier. But flights by partners cannot be restored retroactively ( flew S7 to Moscow for Avangard miles - in December they were credited when registering with S7 Priority - approx. Shtirlitz).
After the first flight, you will receive a basic level card in the mail. Taking into account the binding of some shares of the company to the length of service in the program, I recommend everyone to register right now - it will not be superfluous.
Status Benefits
The program has four levels of participation - basic, silver, gold and platinum. Starting from the Silver level, you can get additional baggage, access to lounges, the choice of any seat in the cabin for yourself and fellow travelers, you can get tickets for double pay by miles, even if there are no seats for miles. Well, I will not dwell on this, the status people already know everything.
Earn Miles & Banks
Accumulating miles on flights is easy. Fly and receive. On C7 and alliance partners. In some places and on other partners, you can get miles - when flying to Minsk, for example, on BelAvia.
Accumulation with partners - you can get 500 miles for renting a car, you can also get miles for booking hotels on ostrovok.ru. I'm piling up for renting a car elsewhere, so I can't comment on anything. But "monogamous" is probably convenient. As for Ostrovka, there is a transfer through their internal currency, I think if anyone uses it, it’s better to change their “dreams” at night, and not for C7 miles.
There are also several chains and hotels that I am not familiar with, so I cannot comment.
Another very strong partner is Tripadvisor. Leave reviews on the site and earn miles. The conditions are very good. You can earn money with flight reviews alone. Earn up to 1500 miles per month. There are a lot of restrictions.
There is also an opportunity to open a deposit in alpha and receive miles instead of money. But this is for those who are really bad at math. The conditions are not favorable, I don’t think that anyone uses it at all.
Well, and most importantly - the accumulation of co-brands.
Today there are three co-brands - Alfa-Bank, Bank of Moscow and Unicredit-Bank.
Let's consider each in detail.
Alfa Bank
They issue credit and debit cards. Debit only within service packages.
There is an interesting way to get an expensive credit card by issuing it as a supplement to a cheap credit card. But not everyone succeeds. Perhaps even no one will succeed now, but before such a trick passed.
Accruals: for a standard mile for 60 rubles, gold for 48 rubles, platinum for 40 rubles, black for 34 rubles (for credit, debit for 40 rubles). For all the most interesting they don’t pour, so any 4900, 4814, 4812 - without miles.
Also, for debits, regardless of the category of the card, when linking the card to accounts in euros and dollars, one mile is credited for spending 1 euro or 1 dollar. But no problems with conversion.
I myself have been using the debit golden alpha for many years, in principle, I am satisfied with everything. Everything is logical and understandable, the most convenient Internet banking, it is very convenient to link one card to different accounts - it is strange that all banks do not do this, it is very convenient to connect SMS informing on different cards to different phone numbers.
Miles are reflected in the S7 personal account on the first days of the month, as a total amount for expenses in rubles, a separate total amount for expenses in dollars, and a separate total amount for expenses in euros. Despite the worst of the conditions among co-brands, I continue to use cards from alpha (I have two of them, one in my name, the second one in the name of my wife, with her S7 number), because in terms of service, neither the Bank of Moscow nor Unicredit with Alphas don't stand next to each other.
UniCredit Bank
They issue credit cards. It is possible to issue a credit card with a zero limit. Charges: standard - a mile for 60 rubles, gold for 48 rubles, platinum for 40 rubles (or 48, but with rather stupid "additional benefits").
Internet banking is very inconvenient. Perhaps even the worst of all. In terms of the number of ATMs / branches, everything is terrible. Especially with regard to ATMs with the function of depositing cash.
I can’t cover the topic of accruals in sufficient volume, since I don’t use the card actively and not willingly. But all the most delicious things pass by.
I have a standard credit card with a microscopic limit. Released for free under the action (I don’t even remember whether the action was carried out on Facebook or VKontakte). Given the terrible service and such a small accrual, I don’t think that this card will be of interest to anyone.
Sometimes there are interesting promotions for additional accrual of miles. It is for these shares that I keep the card. Miles in your personal account are reflected at the beginning of the month, as a separate amount for each operation. Another significant disadvantage is the withdrawal of own funds from credit card paid.
Bank of Moscow
In terms of accruals, the bank is the best. Issues debit and credit cards.
For the classics, a mile for 40 rubles, gold for 32 rubles, platinum - ~ 22.85 rubles. per mile (1 , 75 miles for every 40 rubles spent on the card).
I don’t use a card from BM, according to the reviews of the owners, nothing good can be expected in terms of accruals, all the goodies pass by. Well, since I was a client of the bank before, I can say for sure that the bank is absolutely not aimed at the client, the service is terrible.
Promotions are being held for the free issue of cards. But I was not attracted even by these actions. The only interesting option is a card for 20 thousand per year, which can be used to upgrade two tickets to business, and tickets can be on a rather complicated route, with several stopovers. But there are a lot of restrictions on such an upgrade.
Buying miles
On the S7 website, you can buy the missing miles, up to 15,000 miles per year, at the price of 1 mile for 1 ruble, in blocks of 500 miles. To be able to buy miles, there is a condition for a paid flight in the current or previous year.
You can also gift your miles to other members, up to 15,000 miles per year, for a fee of 0.5 r/mile.
Spending miles
For own flights, an award ticket can be issued on the website, both the amount of fees and the availability of seats are immediately visible. It seems that these are the most ordinary things - but a year ago one could only dream of this. For own flights, you can issue a ticket both round-trip and one-way - for half the cost (which is very nice, in the same Aeroflot there is a surcharge for wanwei).
Here is the award table:
Russia 1: Astrakhan, Volgograd, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhnekamsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Rostov, Samara, St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Surgut, Tyumen, Ufa, Chelyabinsk.
Russia 2: Abakan, Barnaul, Bratsk, Gorno-Altaisk, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Nadym, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Novy Urengoy, Omsk, Salekhard, Tomsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita.
Russia 3: Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok, Magadan, Mirny, Norilsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Yakutsk.
Russia 4: Adler, Anapa, Vladikavkaz, Mineral water, Simferopol.
Near abroad countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine.
Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic.
Near East: UAE.
Far East: China (excl. Hong Kong), South Korea(Seoul), Japan.
Southeast Asia: Hong Kong (excl. China), Thailand.
The price is for a round-trip ticket, one segment each way. If the ticket is with stops, then the cost is taken as for two separate tickets (with a number of minor exceptions). For example, GOJ-DME will cost 7,500 miles, and within the same zone, but with a stopover in Moscow, GOJ-DME-AED will cost 15,000 miles. But, according to the additional table, from the same Nizhny Novgorod, through Moscow, but already in a more expensive area, in Tivat, a ticket will cost 12,500 miles.
The most interesting expense (in my opinion) for own flights now is the business from Moscow to Spain (if you find seats available). The cost is 20,000 miles one way.
Another option to spend miles profitably is the OVB-DXB business, 22500 one way.
For triple the amount, you can take a ticket for miles, even if there are no seats in the corresponding classes. And for status members- just double the cost.
Also for tickets for children from 2 to 12 years old there is a 30% discount on the mileage fare.
It is also possible to upgrade for business miles. But there are a lot of restrictions, so it is unlikely that such a waste of miles is now reasonable. A ticket at Promo fares cannot be upgraded, the cost of an upgrade for the Economy fare group is almost equal to the cost of a full ticket for miles, and the cost of Standard group tickets is almost equal to the cost of tickets in Business.
Although situations, of course, are different, and sometimes an upgrade for miles will also not be the worst waste. An upgrade is made upon a written request through the website, an upgraded ticket must be couplet directly to S7, miles for a paid ticket are credited upon request. If you want to fly exclusively for business, then a mile upgrade is the best option for making the necessary paid flight.
A paid transfer of the date of departure is possible (subject to availability of seats in the corresponding fare). No returns, no change of destinations.
Spending miles on partners
Here is the award table.
Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan.
Europe: Austria, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Libya, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Morocco, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Svalbard and Jan Maen, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Faroe islands, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland.
Near East: Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Oman, Iraq, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Yemen.
Far East: China (excl. Hong Kong), Japan, Korea.
Southeast Asia: Hong Kong, Sanya (China), Taiwan Island, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Guam, Palau, Brunei, Christmas Island, Cambodia, Philippines, Laos.
Australia and Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji (Nadi), New Caledonia (Noumea), Vanuatu (Port Vila), Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Islands, Nauru, French polynesia, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Northern Mariana Islands.
Africa: South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Togo, Mauritius, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote d- Ivoire, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comorras, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Reunion, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles.
North America: USA, Canada, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
Central America: Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Grenada, Montserrat, Martinique, Turks and Caicos Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Virgin Islands (UK), Virgin Islands (US), Santa Lucia, St. Kitt and Nevis, Cocos Islands, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Antilles (Netherlands), Anguilla, Hawaii .
South America: Suriname, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Falkland Islands, Paraguay
India: India, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan.
There are a lot of restrictions - no more than two segments in each direction, stopovers are not allowed, OJ is prohibited, return is prohibited, only date change is allowed from changes. A ticket can be issued only for one of the partners, one-way tickets can only be issued for Japan Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas, for all others only RT. There are no discounts for children.
Fees can be both quite humane, for example, on American Airlines and Cathay Pacific (both do not fly to Russia), or simply extortionate, for example, on Emirates. But, flying with Emirates business to the Maldives (DME-DXB-MLE-DXB-DME will cost 75,000 miles in business), it’s not a sin to pay about 50K rubles in fees. Although on this route it is better to choose Qatar Airways, which is not inferior to Dubai, the fees will amount to “only” 24,000 rubles.
Of the economy, the most profitable routes are distant Europe - the Canary Islands, Iceland. From business - as I have already indicated - the Maldives. Residents of the Asian part of Russia may be interesting route PEK-HKG-CEB-HKG-PEK (Cathay Pacific, economy 30,000 miles + 2,000 rubles of fees, business 45,000 miles + 2,000 rubles of fees).
Comparison with other loyalty programs
Here I will write very briefly. In Russia, I see only two competitors for the S7 Priority program - Aeroflot Bonus and Miles&More. I have to accumulate miles in all these programs, as each has its own purpose. S7 miles cannot be used for first class. The S7 route network is much smaller than that of Aeroflot. S7 has far fewer earning partners than Miles&More. Therefore, a lot goes from S7 to competitors.
Well, I will repeat my idea, which I have already mentioned many times in the comments - to accumulate miles - to fly in business. The only way. Otherwise, why is all this necessary? And for economy flights, there are other tools - “pseudo-miles of ticket offices” - the best for today - World Map from VTB24, iGlobe from Gazprom and the Travel option from MTS Bank.