Is it possible to buy a mile ticket for someone else? Aeroflot Bonus program: how to accumulate miles and what can you spend them on? Procedure for donating award miles from Aeroflot

" has introduced the ability to transfer miles between the accounts of members of the Aeroflot Bonus loyalty program. This greatly simplifies the task of issuing awards for participants who do not have enough miles to reach the full cost of a bonus ticket or other award, reports Aviablogger.com.

Earning miles for an award is one of the main problems for passengers who fly infrequently. Often they only need a few hundred or thousand miles to obtain the desired award ticket, and until now this problem has not had any solution in Aeroflot Bonus. Families, for example, found themselves in a particularly stupid situation where each member had, say, 19,000 miles in their account for an award ticket price of 20,000 miles: although the total amount of miles was more than sufficient, it was impossible to use them.

Transfer of miles is allowed between any accounts, except recently opened ones (participants do not have to be, for example, relatives). However, you can transfer no more than 5,000 miles at a time. In addition, there is a limit - you can receive no more than 10 such transfers per calendar year, that is, the total annual maximum is 50,000 miles. You can also transfer no more than 50,000 of your miles per year.

In addition, the transfer has its own price - 600 rubles for each transaction. Payment is made by credit card on the Aeroflot Bonus website or at mobile application. Elite members can pay this fee in miles instead of money - 20% of the transfer amount, that is, for example, 1,000 miles for transferring the amount of 5,000 miles. Paying for a transfer with miles is therefore especially beneficial if the transfer is a small number of miles. However, there is a limit: you can transfer no more than 10,000 miles per year from Silver level accounts, no more than 20,000 miles from Gold accounts, and no more than 30,000 miles per year from Platinum accounts. (If Aeroflot Bonus had developed this principle and provided the opportunity to pay fuel surcharges with miles, the program could have become even more attractive to many participants.)

There are a number of additional conditions. The number of miles to be transferred must be a multiple of 500. Miles can be transferred by members who registered in the program at least 90 days ago and who have had at least one paid flight on an Aeroflot flight (or its subsidiaries Rossiya and Aurora on an Aeroflot ticket in the last 24 months) ") with miles credited to your account. These last two conditions are introduced to prevent the creation of fake accounts, the only function of which is to transfer miles due for registration in the program.

The miles transfer service is available in the program participant’s personal account in the “Spend miles” section. Miles transfer cannot be cancelled. Transferred miles are non-qualifying but can be used towards any program award.

You should also keep in mind that transfers are prohibited from being used for commercial purposes, including for selling or buying miles. There are known cases when Aeroflot Bonus canceled the accounts of participants who practiced selling or buying miles. The company identified such cases by monitoring advertisements on specialized Internet forums and other methods.

It is possible that the presence of this “black market” for miles was one of the reasons for the emergence of a legal way to exchange miles. Another possible reason is the increased competition of loyalty programs - not so long ago the S7 Airlines loyalty program was radically improved, and a little later Utair and " Ural Airlines"Maximize the use of awards from their programs by rare flyers.

It's finished. Aeroflot allowed participants of its bonus program to transfer bonus miles each other. Now, if you don't have enough miles, you can always take them from another member. Let's take a closer look at how this works.

How to transfer miles?

A section “Spend miles” - “Transfer miles” has appeared in your personal account. Here you need to indicate the participant’s number, after which his name and the first letter of his last name will be displayed. You can select the quantity from the drop-down list transferred miles- from 500 to 5000 in increments of 500 miles (i.e. 500, 1000, 1500, …, 4500, 5000). Next, you need to choose how you want to pay for the transfer: miles or money.

That is, the translation is paid? What is the price?

There are two payment options. Either in miles (the commission will be 20% of the transfer amount) or in money: in this case it will be 600 rubles. Since the monetary “price” of a mile when exchanging for goods is no more than 30 kopecks, it is more profitable to pay with miles. True, there is a trick here: when paying with miles, a silver member can transfer a maximum of 10 thousand miles per year, gold 20 thousand, platinum - 30 thousand. The rest is for money.

Oh, can I legally sell miles now?

Well, that's it. As before, you are not allowed to use your miles for commercial purposes, including selling/reselling miles to third parties. Aeroflot reserves the right to cancel accrued miles, block a participant’s account for any period of time, cancel an account, cancel the elite level of both the program participant and the recipient, without reimbursement of any expenses or amounts. And there are many known cases of mileage sellers getting caught up. For example, one of these flew to platinum, then decided to sell the gold card he received for 40 thousand rubles - and in the end, no miles, no status, nothing.

How will Aeroflot know that I have sold miles?

There are many ways. For example, specially trained people monitor private classifieds sites. We are aware of “test purchases”. Finally, this may come to light if something goes wrong for a passenger flying with your miles, he starts demanding compensation and accidentally lets slip that he paid someone. It is relatively safe to send close friends and relatives across miles. But would you seriously charge your mom for a mile ticket at sea?

Are there any restrictions on transferring miles?

Yes, and there are many of them. This is done so that it is impossible to accumulate accumulated miles in one account. The mile owner can transfer no more than 50 thousand miles per year. The recipient can also receive no more than 50 thousand miles from one or more other people’s accounts, but in no more than 10 transactions during the year. At the same time, in order to transfer miles, you need to have at least 3 months of experience in the program (this is done to combat fraud - there is a known method of registering a new account with the victim’s full name and substituting its number in the PNR of this victim). You also need to fly for money at least once within the last two years, that is, inactive miles cannot be withdrawn from your account by transfer.

Oh, 50 thousand! So, can you collect it for gold?

No you can not. Miles received by transfer are not qualifying, even if you initially earned them for the flight and did not receive them from the bank. So you can’t increase your status, there is such an opportunity. And thank God: Aeroflot already has too many status holders, there is no need to distribute statuses to everyone.

Does it make sense to buy miles? Or sell them? What to do if your miles are about to expire? The answers are below.

Let's look at the situation using the Aeroflot Bonus program as an example. The main points also apply to other airline mileage programs.

Program Rules

We carefully read the program rules.

So, let’s assume that you have accumulated many Aeroflot Bonus miles and they will soon expire, and there are no flights in sight. What to do? How to save miles accumulated over the years? Can they be transferred or sold to a third party? We look at the Aeroflot bonus rules from 08/01/2016 http://www.aeroflot.ru/ru-ru/afl_bonus/rules

4.1.7. A participant in the Aeroflot Bonus program can transfer an Award in the form of an Award ticket, an Award upgrade to a class of service for flights of Aeroflot and Partner Airlines, as well as a Partner Award to any person no more than 10 (ten) times per calendar year. Premium upgrades with the transfer of the Award at the check-in counter are not included in the designated limit (10 awards per year).

Thus, you need to have enough miles for an Award ticket or for an upgrade to a class of service. You can transfer/sell them to a third party. If there are not enough miles for the flight, then you can spend them with partners or for charity (see clause 4.11 of the rules). Or, you can also use the miles left over from selling your main miles.

How to buy/sell miles?

Aeroflot does not regulate in any way how you will negotiate with each other (who gives and who receives miles). This happens in a purely private manner. There are so-called exchanges on the Internet where you can find people willing to buy miles for money. Now, in the fall of 2016, the average price per mile on such exchanges about 0.6 ruble. From an economic point of view, this price for miles is beneficial for the buyer when purchasing business class tickets. The price of economy tickets will not be much more profitable, and often even unprofitable, compared to direct purchase of tickets. Therefore, they are taken by those who fly on business or by intermediaries who make money on the difference between a business ticket and a ticket purchased with miles. So, It’s profitable to take miles for business class flights. Selling is always profitable, especially when your money is about to expire :)

You can also buy a ticket for another person using miles through the website. This is only if you completely trust each other. In order for the transaction to be completed safely, it must be carried out at the Aeroflot office by filling out the appropriate application. But it is safe from the miles buyer's point of view. The buyer, theoretically, may not pay you back after transferring miles and purchasing a ticket. To avoid this, you can draw up a contract in simple written form or rely on the buyer’s integrity by establishing confidential communication with him before transferring miles (promise that you will bring many more miles in the near future and you don’t need to be scammed now))).

Instructions for mile buyers.

According to Aeroflot bonus rules:

4.3.2. To issue an Award ticket with the transfer of an Award at Aeroflot's own sales offices/branches/representative offices, you must provide an original or copy of the Membership Card, a completed and signed Application for Transfer of an Award by the Participant - the account holder, originals/copies of the passports of the account holder and the passenger to whom the Award is transferred. The Participant - the account holder or his authorized representative - can issue a Reward ticket with the transfer of the Reward. The powers of the authorized person must be confirmed by a power of attorney. If a ticket is issued to a third party, and not in the name of the Participant-account holder, the power of attorney must be notarized.

In practice, it is enough to provide your Aeroflot Bonus member number and provide your passport with the application.

Some exchanges write that Aeroflot does not welcome the transfer of miles for money, allegedly with the risk of losing status in the seller program and complete cancellation of miles. I didn't find this information anywhere in the rules and FAQs.

Buyers are also advised not to be fooled by cheap miles, as they may be stolen. The risk is that the owner of the miles may discover they are missing and revoke them before departure. This was especially true until the spring of 2016, when Aeroflot introduced two-factor authentication on the site using SMS and the task of hacking accounts has since become much more complicated.

The price of an air ticket consists of the fare and taxes. Aeroflot gives its frequent flyers the opportunity to save on the fare component. Having joined the Bonus program and accumulated the required amount of miles, you can use them to issue an award ticket, paying only the cost of taxes in cash. How to register for the Aeroflot Bonus program and create a “personal account”?

Anyone over 2 years old can become a member of Aeroflot’s loyalty program. During the registration process, the user receives a unique number. It must be indicated when booking/purchasing a ticket. A few days after the flight, miles will be credited to the passenger's account. Their number depends on the flight distance and the fare at which the ticket was purchased.

It is important to know. Accrual is made upon completion of the flight. If a passenger buys a ticket but does not show up for the flight (even without canceling the flight in advance), the miles will not be credited to his account.

Every year, company employees review accounts. If a program participant does not have a single paid flight registered in his profile over the last 2 calendar years, the miles on his account will be cancelled.

It is important to know. Children over 2 years old can participate in the program. There is a special Junior Bonus program for them. It differs from an adult in some restrictions on the use of accumulated bonuses. Having reached the age of majority, the participant automatically becomes a user of the main project, while maintaining his number and mileage balance.

There are three ways to register for the program:

1. Fill out the form on board the plane.
2. By ordering a card from the bank, jointly with the project.
3. On the official website of the company.

The last method is the simplest, most convenient and fastest. In addition, in this case, the new user will immediately receive 500 Aeroflot gift miles to their account.

To register yourself:

• you need to go to the website www.aeroflot.ru;
• select the “Bonus Program” section in the menu and go to the “Join the Program” subsection;
• follow the link “Become a member” at the bottom of the page;

• On the page that opens, carefully enter all the information requested by the system.

Attention. The user's last name and first name must be entered exactly as in the passport. When purchasing a ticket and entering a bonus number, the system will check the spelling of personal data, and if it does not match, the number will not be recorded. This will cause some difficulties for the user, since automatic miles accrual will not be available in this case. The user will have to seek help from company employees in the offices or by calling the contact center.

After filling out all the fields and submitting the form, the user will see a system report on his screen stating that the registration was completed successfully and his number. A letter with the same data will be sent to your email address.

Attention. Only one participant can be registered per email address. Even if parents register their own minor children, they need to create their children's personal mailboxes.

How to earn miles?

How to get Aeroflot miles:

1. When flying on Aeroflot flights and airlines participating in the Skyteam alliance.
2. Having issued a co-branded bank card. When paying for purchases with this card, miles are also transferred to the member's account.
3. Staying in partner hotels of the Bonus project.
4. Buying real estate from partner companies.
5. Ordering a car rental.
6. By purchasing certain products from certain companies.

There are quite a lot of companies cooperating with the Bonus project. Full information You can find out about them on the official Aeroflot website: www.aeroflot.ru/partners/partners# !searchType=A

Ways to spend Aeroflot bonuses

There are several ways to spend Aeroflot miles:

• acquisition award tickets for flights of Aeroflot and companies participating in the Skyteam alliance;
• upgrading the service class on a ticket;
• accommodation in partner hotels hotels.aeroflot.ru/
• purchasing goods on the Aeroflot website rewards.aeroflot.ru/?_ga=2.103883136.1609656916.1512616493−159941049.1507404355
• participation in charity projects. By transferring miles from your account, you can help sick children purchase a ticket for a flight to the place of treatment. www.aeroflot.ru/ru-ru/afl_bonus/mercy_miles

It is not difficult to track the status of your account. This information can be obtained in your personal account on the website.

Aeroflot contact center employees (8−800−444−5555) can also provide the necessary data.

Attention. When contacting the hotline, you must tell the operator your participant number, first and last name, and date of birth. An employee can find information about a user simply by last name, but in this case, you must be prepared to answer additional questions based on the data from your profile. Otherwise, the call center employee has no right to provide the requested information.

Employees of the company's direct sales offices can also check the account status. To do this, when contacting the office, you need to present your passport, the number of which is entered in the user profile.

You can purchase an award ticket:

• at the Aeroflot direct sales office;
• by phone hotline;
• on the airline's website.

The passenger comes to the office with his passport and Bonus project participant card. The card is sent to the user by Russian Post to the address specified in the profile after collecting 2000 miles. If you don’t have the card on hand, for example, it’s lost, you can print out a temporary one from your personal account.

A reservation is made over the phone, which can be redeemed directly during the call. Taxes and airport taxes paid by bank card. To do this, the contact center operator will transfer the passenger’s call to a secure voice platform. Hotline employees instruct customers in detail on how to use this service. Miles will be debited from your account automatically.

You can issue a ticket yourself on the website. To do this, in the “Buy a ticket” section, enter data about the required flight: dates, direction, number of passengers, class of service. Below you need to check the box next to “Pay with miles”.

After clicking the “Find flights” button, the system will check the availability required quantity tickets for a given direction. At the same time, the status of the user’s profile is automatically checked for compliance with the terms of the program (whether there is a sufficient number of miles in the account and their activity). If all requirements are met, the booking proceeds according to the usual algorithm. If not, the system will refuse to purchase a ticket. Details can be clarified by contacting the contact center (open 24 hours a day).

Taxes and airport fees are paid by credit card on the website, miles are debited from the participant’s account, and the ticket is generated within one to two minutes. An itinerary receipt is sent to the passenger's email address almost immediately after payment.

Attention. If taxes and fees were paid with a co-branded bank card, miles will be credited for the purchase. There are no accruals for flights using an award ticket.

About the Aeroflot Bonus program on video:

Aeroflot is considered one of the largest air carriers in our country. The company was founded in 1923 as JSC Dobrolet. Today the company is equipped with 120 modern aircraft. Passengers can enjoy lucrative discount offers and many benefits. Aeroflot offers a bonus program to its clients. How to spend miles and airline bonuses? This will be discussed in the article.

What bonuses does the company offer?

Miles from Aeroflot is a company program offered for regular customers. To register for it, you need to fill out a form on the official website or on the plane itself. This can also be done by designing a special bank card partner banks. The number will be indicated on the plastic, which is very convenient. After receiving the card, you must take it with you everywhere.

You must indicate your participation in the program when registering your card, otherwise the bonuses will not be used. If you often use the services of partner companies, you will accumulate many miles. After that, they are available for various expenses.

Advantages

The program is very popular among the company’s clients, and it is valued for its advantages:

• bonuses are awarded for private and business flights;
• makes it possible to return a ticket;
• you can choose any partner company;
• You can buy a ticket with miles;
• you can purchase goods using miles;
• the program is free.

The service allows you to regularly take advantage of discounts, since bonuses are intended to pay for a certain part of the tickets.

Differences between a temporary card and a permanent one

Upon joining the program, the client receives a temporary card. Usually a printout is issued indicating the account, number and surname. A little later, the company sends the permanent card to the client. But often, to obtain it, you need to meet several conditions, for example, accumulate 2,000 miles.

A temporary card is practically no different from a permanent one, since it also provides the opportunity to accumulate bonuses. The main thing is that you must indicate the number correctly when purchasing a ticket from a cashier or online.

Kinds of miles

It is necessary to take into account that miles are:

• qualifying;
• unqualified.

The first type of miles is credited for each flight on Aeroflot flights. The number of bonuses is determined by the flight range, as well as the fare. Each participant has the opportunity to join an elite club, which provides additional privileges.

What can you spend Aeroflot miles on? Non-qualifying points are earned through purchases from partners. These could be hotels, online stores, car rentals. Such bonuses do not count towards member status.

Who can participate?

Anyone can register for the program. This is not affected by age or citizenship. Children under 12 years old can take part in the Aeroflot Bonus Junior subprogram. The terms and conditions are no different from bonus system adults.

Accumulation of bonuses

Bonuses are provided in the form of miles for regular flights. They can vary in size, it all depends on the tariff and distance. If you use economy class, then bonuses will be provided in the amount of 25-75%. When choosing business class, up to 150% is credited. If you have accumulated Aeroflot miles, you can find out how to spend them on the airline's website.

Bonuses are also provided by partners who are part of the SkyTeam alliance: 25-100% for economy class, and up to 300% for business class. In order for miles to be credited, you must provide your card number when purchasing a ticket or when checking in for a flight. If you do not do this, you can receive bonuses within 6 months. To do this, you must send printed tickets and copies boarding passes to the Aeroflot Bonus system.

Partners

Miles are awarded to clients of partner banks. It is enough to be the owner of a debit or credit card. Such organizations include:

• Sberbank;
• Bank opening";
• "Alfa Bank";
• Citybank;
• "SMP Bank"

Usually 1 mile is issued for every 60 rubles, although prices may vary slightly. There are conditions for participation in the program: at least 1 flight must be made in 2 years, otherwise the bonuses cannot be used.

Extra miles

If you accumulate many qualifying miles, you will receive additional benefits. Among them:

• visiting business lounges;
• convenient check-in for flights;
• more luggage space;
• ticket upgrade.

Where can I find out about the number of miles?

Each airline has for users " Personal Area", where you can view all the necessary information. In it you can find information on where to spend Aeroflot miles. Each time you log in, you must enter your number and password. There is information on flights, the number of miles. You can find information on where to spend miles " Aeroflot", for example, to purchase a ticket.

Buying and selling miles

There is an exchange that works with many companies. It is used for selling and purchasing bonus miles. Many people use this service so that their accumulated points do not disappear. After all, if there have been no flights for 2 years, then the miles cannot be used. It turns out that to receive discounts you need to use the services regularly.

Donating miles

If Aeroflot paid out a lot of points, how to spend miles? They can not only be sold, but also donated. But in the second case there will be no reward for this.

If points have accumulated, they should be reissued for any person who would like to give such a gift. The procedure is performed 2 days or earlier before departure.

Using bonuses

A member becomes a full-fledged member only when at least 2,000 miles are credited to his account. After this, a plastic card is issued with a number and last name. Now you can actively use the accumulated bonuses.

The number of miles is determined by distance and class of service. All participants bonus program receive a certain status, according to which the amount of bonuses is approved. Conditions change frequently, and to accurately determine how you can earn miles, there is a special calculator.

How to spend Aeroflot Bonus miles? To do this, you must present your card every time you travel or use various services. Many companies have joined the program. Sberbank offers for this special services. Bonuses will be received for opening a new card.

If Aeroflot has received a lot of bonuses, how to spend miles? They are spent in the classic way: when flying with partner companies, to obtain a higher client status, for hotel reservations, and car rentals. The program works in almost all countries.

Other ways to spend miles

The question arises with the accumulation of bonuses from the Aeroflot company - how to spend miles profitably. You can take part in charity by sending points to those in need. Miles are used to purchase award flight tickets. All fees are paid by the passenger.

If you purchase an economy class discount ticket, you will receive business class benefits. Clients of the program can pay bills from partners.

Aeroflot provides its customers with many advantages. If you regularly use the company’s services, you will always have privileges in the form of discounts. And how to spend bonuses is up to everyone to decide for themselves.