I had a cunning plan. It was a good plan. Fly LHR to BUD on MA on a cheap Y ticket. Flash their service centre my NZ Gold Elite card and walk away with MA Platinum (One World Emerald) after just one flight. What's more, I'd get Partner MA Gold (OW Sapphire) for Mrs adl73x who could then ride the Kangaroo Route on the Flying Kangaroo (QF) in style and with elegant efficiency. It failed. Although the MA Status Match is still available, (for a limited time of forever), it now says explicitly, "Platinum Level does not apply". It did work for a select few - the few who tried to match from levels of programs that were CALLED Platinum, like Qantas - yes, MA will match OW from OW. Now the dust has settled. The highlights of BUD have been sampled. Time to look critically at the Duna Club program. Qualification is by miles or sectors, with the miles requirement somewhat steep: MEMBERSHIP TIERSCLUB POINTCOLLECTED SEGMENTSBasic00Blue1 - 39 9991Silver (Ruby)40 000 - 79 99915Gold (Sapphire)80 000 -30Platinum (Emerald)200 000 -80 Having earned those 200,000 miles to qualify (or requalify) for Platinum, you had better use them quickly as they expire after 3 years. There are average tier multipliers (50% for Platinum) that count toward mileage but not status. Now I am BA Gold (OW Emerald) and indeed since being BA Silver, my MA status is completely redundant. But I am interest to hear others' views on Duna Club. Their matching offer remains unparalleled. Are there any other good features?
Without writing 7 pages of text about what I think about them. Unless you fly them heaps, and even then I might not join their program doesn`t stand out as amazing to me, I wouldn`t think joining their program will give you anything of any value but they are one of the few OW carriers to status match so if you were looking for lounge access as you transfer your business from ST or *A then doing a sneaky status match with them would be worth it.
