Air Berlin topbonus

[Buzzard]

Has anybody purchased miles from Air Berlin to use for reward redemptions?

I just received the following email but have never looked into the program to see if there are any sweet spots for us Aussies.

From now on you can buy missing award miles from topbonus and enjoy award flights even more quickly.

How it works:

• Log in to your personal topbonus profile.
• Buy a miles package from 2,500 to 50,000 miles in value. The award miles are available immediately upon purchase.
• Use these miles for your next booking, such as for an award flight or XL seat.

Did you know that award flights are available at last minute and always cost the same amount of miles? An award flight within Europe is available from just 10,000 miles* and worldwide from 20,000 miles*. Simply buy additional miles and book your award flight here!

Our tip: Pay for the miles package with the airberlin Visa Card and collect additional award and status miles with each purchase.

 

[hossein_au]

Has anybody purchased miles from Air Berlin to use for reward redemptions?

I just received the following email but have never looked into the program to see if there are any sweet spots for us Aussies.

From now on you can buy missing award miles from topbonus and enjoy award flights even more quickly.

How it works:

• Log in to your personal topbonus profile.
• Buy a miles package from 2,500 to 50,000 miles in value. The award miles are available immediately upon purchase.
• Use these miles for your next booking, such as for an award flight or XL seat.

Did you know that award flights are available at last minute and always cost the same amount of miles? An award flight within Europe is available from just 10,000 miles* and worldwide from 20,000 miles*. Simply buy additional miles and book your award flight here!

Our tip: Pay for the miles package with the airberlin Visa Card and collect additional award and status miles with each purchase.

i must admit I have never looked seriously into their program, but as I spend a reasonable amount of time in Europe, I am interested in any insights.

 

[Mattg]

I haven't looked at this program in terms of buying miles in a great amount of detail. But nothing strikes me as particularly good value.

 

[whatmeworry]

Allegedly their is a sweet spot from Germany to Easter Island (35K points for Y, 70K points for J one way) with a stop over in South America but IPC doesn't show up in Air Berlin's awful online booking engine.

Also from looking at Flyertalk their is a lack of status recognition from AB for QF Gold or Platinum (i.e seat selection, extra baggage) and a lack of agents that speak English or a willingness to transfer to someone that can, which definitely would impact on booking difficult award bookings.

 

[Mattg]

Also from looking at Flyertalk their is a lack of status recognition from AB for QF Gold or Platinum (i.e seat selection, extra baggage) and a lack of agents that speak English or a willingness to transfer to someone that can, which definitely would impact on booking difficult award bookings.

I've never had any real issues getting AB to recognise my QF Gold status. Can always select a good seat etc. Perhaps these people are complaining that they can't use the Exclusive Waiting Areas? These are really a non-benefit anyway...

 

[hossein_au]

I've never had any real issues getting AB to recognise my QF Gold status. Can always select a good seat etc. Perhaps these people are complaining that they can't use the Exclusive Waiting Areas? These are really a non-benefit anyway...

Same here; I have never had any issues AB recognising my status with QF. I usually get access to the Exclusive Waiting Area as well, but I have to ask for it (they add a barcode to the boarding pass that one has to scan to gain entry access. I agree that the waiting areas are terrible (I would have rate them well below domestic lounges in the US if it wasn't for the free water, coffee, and soft drinks there).

 

[tyrolean]

AB offers quite some good features if you are based in Germany. The German credit card gives status miles. You need a German bank account for that.

I get my AB Gold at the moment soley from my credit card turnovers. Since I drive a lot and spendings at Shell give double to tripel miles, the status is very easy to get.

So my AB Gold card gets me into the Waiting Areas and in QF as well as DJ lounges in Australia.
Yes, the Waiting Areas are no lounges, but you can access Lounges in most airports as Oneworld Emerald. The only airports I frequently travel that are bad are CGN (no lounge, but waiting area) and MUC (lounge in the wrong module).

When I book a flight with QF, I put in my AB Gold card number and select a seat. Just before flying I change it to my QF-Plat number.

When you only have a QF status, you have to call to get the seat reservation. Seat blocking seems to work either with QF-Plat or with AB-Gold.

Be arware of the problematic financial situation of AB.

 

[hossein_au]

AB offers quite some good features if you are based in Germany. The German credit card gives status miles. You need a German bank account for that.

I get my AB Gold at the moment soley from my credit card turnovers. Since I drive a lot and spendings at Shell give double to tripel miles, the status is very easy to get.

So my AB Gold card gets me into the Waiting Areas and in QF as well as DJ lounges in Australia.
Yes, the Waiting Areas are no lounges, but you can access Lounges in most airports as Oneworld Emerald. The only airports I frequently travel that are bad are CGN (no lounge, but waiting area) and MUC (lounge in the wrong module).

When I book a flight with QF, I put in my AB Gold card number and select a seat. Just before flying I change it to my QF-Plat number.

When you only have a QF status, you have to call to get the seat reservation. Seat blocking seems to work either with QF-Plat or with AB-Gold.

Be arware of the problematic financial situation of AB.

I love NUE (the town, not the airport!). The Waiting Area in NUE is very "interesting" though... scan the bar code and you'll get an L-shaped room of about 3x6 meters with just few seats (I think 4-6 seats or thereabouts). At least the construction at the airport has now completed.

Would you please elaborate on the credit card earns? I have a bank account but no credit card; happy to apply for one next time I'm there. Maybe we can PM some of the details if you prefer?

Thanks.

 

[kevrosmith]

I've got upcoming AB flights, via QF reward redemption. Can't select seats and it has allocated seats down the back. Tried QF call centre, and they couldn't help. I rang the AB call centre and the agent refused to allocate a seat further forward even though I'm QF WP (OWE) unless I paid. Indicated the benefit only applies to Topbonus members, and not a One World benefit offered on AB. Did I do something wrong, the way I went about asking? Did I ring the wrong call center? (I couldn't find a direct international number for Topbonus, only what seemed to be a pay-per-minute Premium German phone number). Should I just wait until checkin and ask for a seat closer to the front then? (Got a tight connection in TXL).

 

[hossein_au]

I've got upcoming AB flights, via QF reward redemption. Can't select seats and it has allocated seats down the back. Tried QF call centre, and they couldn't help. I rang the AB call centre and the agent refused to allocate a seat further forward even though I'm QF WP (OWE) unless I paid. Indicated the benefit only applies to Topbonus members, and not a One World benefit offered on AB. Did I do something wrong, the way I went about asking? Did I ring the wrong call center? (I couldn't find a direct international number for Topbonus, only what seemed to be a pay-per-minute Premium German phone number). Should I just wait until checkin and ask for a seat closer to the front then? (Got a tight connection in TXL).

Sorry kevrosmith, I have flown AB many times but I cannot recall what I'd done for choosing seats. Have you tried AY or RJ websites to allocate seats?

 

[kevrosmith]

Sorry kevrosmith, I have flown AB many times but I cannot recall what I'd done for choosing seats. Have you tried AY or RJ websites to allocate seats?

No luck on either of those sites.

 

[hossein_au]

No luck on either of those sites.

A left field idea: can you put a AB Gold number in the booking (on AY or RJ), select seats, and then remove AB number and put your own QF number in the booking? You might have to ask around for an AB Gold number though ;-)

I have never tried this, so I am not sure if this is even possible. By the way, I don't have any status with AB.

 

[Buzzard]

AB offers quite some good features if you are based in Germany. The German credit card gives status miles. You need a German bank account for that.

I get my AB Gold at the moment soley from my credit card turnovers. Since I drive a lot and spendings at Shell give double to tripel miles, the status is very easy to get.

So my AB Gold card gets me into the Waiting Areas and in QF as well as DJ lounges in Australia.
Yes, the Waiting Areas are no lounges, but you can access Lounges in most airports as Oneworld Emerald. The only airports I frequently travel that are bad are CGN (no lounge, but waiting area) and MUC (lounge in the wrong module).

When I book a flight with QF, I put in my AB Gold card number and select a seat. Just before flying I change it to my QF-Plat number.

When you only have a QF status, you have to call to get the seat reservation. Seat blocking seems to work either with QF-Plat or with AB-Gold.

Be arware of the problematic financial situation of AB.

Imagine if Australian credit cards gave status

 

[Mattg]

I've got upcoming AB flights, via QF reward redemption. Can't select seats and it has allocated seats down the back. Tried QF call centre, and they couldn't help. I rang the AB call centre and the agent refused to allocate a seat further forward even though I'm QF WP (OWE) unless I paid. Indicated the benefit only applies to Topbonus members, and not a One World benefit offered on AB. Did I do something wrong, the way I went about asking? Did I ring the wrong call center? (I couldn't find a direct international number for Topbonus, only what seemed to be a pay-per-minute Premium German phone number). Should I just wait until checkin and ask for a seat closer to the front then? (Got a tight connection in TXL).

You should be able to pick an up-front seat when OLCI opens. They do make it difficult to select the premium seats in advance (for free), but the upshot of this is that they're usually wide open when OLCI does open.

On my last AB flight, I got to the airport about 45 minutes before departure and the agent was still able to get me 5A (with a shadow) on an almost full flight. (I hadn't checked in online.)

 

[hossein_au]

Imagine if Australian credit cards gave status

Do you know which cards are best for earning AB status?

 

[moa999]

Imagine if Australian credit cards gave status

Imagine if you could earn lifetime status using US CCs... no more however

 

[nicky286]

AB offers quite some good features if you are based in Germany. The German credit card gives status miles. You need a German bank account for that.

I get my AB Gold at the moment soley from my credit card turnovers. Since I drive a lot and spendings at Shell give double to tripel miles, the status is very easy to get.

So my AB Gold card gets me into the Waiting Areas and in QF as well as DJ lounges in Australia.
Yes, the Waiting Areas are no lounges, but you can access Lounges in most airports as Oneworld Emerald. The only airports I frequently travel that are bad are CGN (no lounge, but waiting area) and MUC (lounge in the wrong module).

When I book a flight with QF, I put in my AB Gold card number and select a seat. Just before flying I change it to my QF-Plat number.

When you only have a QF status, you have to call to get the seat reservation. Seat blocking seems to work either with QF-Plat or with AB-Gold.

Be arware of the problematic financial situation of AB.

how do you changed to you QF ? assuming that you gave your AB in the check in counter and printed in your boarding pass