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How to get SkyTeam Elite status with one Vietnam Airlines flight

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If you enjoyed our recent reviews of Vietnam Airlines, this offer may be of interest.

The Vietnam Airlines frequent flyer program, Lotus Miles, has a new promotion to earn instant status.  You can get SkyTeam Elite in two ways:

Lotus Miles Gold with a business class flex roundtrip to Vietnam (booking class J/C)

Lotus Miles Titanium with a premium economy roundtrip to Vietnam

Confusingly, Gold is a higher status than Titanium. Flights must be booked and flown from the UK, Germany, France or Russia. You must complete the journey before 31st May 2020.

To be clear, Lotus Miles Gold and Titanium BOTH translate to SkyTeam Elite.  This includes priority services but does NOT give you SkyTeam lounge access across the full alliance.  Lotus Miles Gold card holders DO get access to Vietnam Airlines’ own lounges, however.

The only Vietnam Airlines status level which gives SkyTeam Elite Plus status – which would get you alliance-wide lounge access – is Platinum, which is not available via this deal.

There is some sense in making use of this offer if you are planning a trip to Vietnam – especially if you don’t want to connect – since Vietnam Airlines is the only airline to fly direct from the UK to Vietnam. If nothing else, you’ll get some additional benefits – albeit not lounge access – across all of the SkyTeam airlines which includes Delta, Air France and KLM.

You can read our review of long haul business class on Vietnam Airlines here and premium economy here.

You can see the full details on the landing page here.

Comments (95)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Tim says:

    One flight is misleading when a round-trip would require two flights.

  • TokyoFan says:

    OT: Avios (via BAEC/Iberia) are back on the revamped e-rewards. Hurray!

  • BJ says:

    O/T: Any news on a Hilton sale? Holding back bookings under the amex offer for something. Normally they are not usually any good but the last two were exceptions to the norm.

  • Nick M says:

    OT – I was looking to book a Hilton for a speculative reward night in July last night… luckily I checked the cancellation options as it wasn’t refundable.

    Is this becoming fairly normal now? In my mind I always assume redemptions are cancellable…

    • BJ says:

      It is not common but it pays to always check. It tends to be at peak times on very popular hotels or in any hotel on days leading up to and including a special event. For example, Hampton Newcastle has such terms for Magic Weekend. Sometimes the redemptions are totally nonrefundable and sometimes the cancellation rules are more stringent, such as a week before arrival. I almost got caught out on the app once, where it seems even easier to ignore or overlook the rate rules before confirming the reservation.

      • Nick M says:

        Thanks – Yes, I’ve seen a few with 48 hours/a week before arrival, but not aware of any that were totally nonrefundable. Admittedly it was something like 50k points or £400 for the night…

        I almost always book via the app, so yes easy to miss!

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      I didn’t know this was a thing. I thought all were refundable 24hrs in advance. Good job Liverpool will be in Istanbul in May to defend their trophy.

      • BJ says:

        Hope so 🙂 I remember Bill Shankly visiting his sister who lived next door to my gran when I was a boy. His sister-in-law was my primary 1 teacher, and his great nephew was one of my two closest friends at primary school before moving away. Thus, I’ve always had a soft spot for Liverpool, going to be a great year!

    • Kai says:

      They have the same cancellation policy with BFR, which of course, can be non refundable at busy time.

  • Rob says:

    It’s on the sale landing page, but the honest answer is that I didn’t spot it until after the article was done. Will drop it in somewhere.

  • Princess says:

    OT: am i right thinking that the expiration date of my Shangri-La points (that is at the end of the year) will not be extended even if I buy some points? I checked the website and it seem that I can’t neither merge them with my husband account… I only have few but planning to stay in a Shangri-La hotel next year so try to keep them alive…any suggestion?

  • youngtraveller says:

    I found the offer for the Vietnam Airlines on their website https://www.vietnamairlines.com/gb/en/lotusmile/news-and-promotion/promotions/2019/nov19-fly-EU-VN-get-higher-tier it is interesting that there is no cut off date to buy the tickets

    • Rhys says:

      aha! Not the first time something mysteriously appears after we mention it….

  • pommy ray says:

    good spot!
    may apply to existing bookings?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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