Royal Orchid Plus Elite Status
Thai Airways elite status. Image courtesy of thaiairways.com.
The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus program has 3 elite tiers that members can earn.
For flyers who can earn the higher elite tiers, Thai Airways will award you with a host of benefits that focus on lounge access, removal of mileage expiration, and complimentary upgrades.
Silver: Royal Orchid Plus’ lowest elite tier provides these benefits:
- Priority reservation wait-listing
- Priority airport standby
- Additional checked baggage allowance
- 3,000-mile tier status bonus
Gold: The middle elite tier in the Thai Airways program comes with the following perks:
- Priority phone number when calling the Thai Airways Contact Center
- Guaranteed economy availability when contacting Thai Airways reservations
- Access to the Royal Silk Class lounge with 1 guest
- Priority boarding
- 5,000-mile tier status bonus
- Complimentary upgrades on round-trip Thai Airways flights
Platinum: Thai Airways’ highest elite tier offers members the following benefits:
- Fast-track security clearance
- Access to Thai Airways Royal First Class lounge with 1 guest
- 10,000-mile tier status bonus
- Waiver of program booking fees
- Miles don’t expire
- Multiple complimentary upgrades when accumulating 50,000 tier miles
- Unlimited changes to a platinum member award nominee list
If you’re interested in a deeper dive, check out the full list of program benefits for more information.
Bottom Line: Thai Airways is enticing for those who want elite status with lounge access, removal of booking fees, no mileage expiration, and complimentary upgrades.
Value of Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Elite Status
The Platinum tier comes with first class lounge access, a 10,000-mile tier bonus, waiver of booking fees, miles that don’t expire, and complimentary upgrades as perks members can attain.
Below the Platinum tier is Gold – it has interesting benefits, but it’s helpful to ask yourself if the benefits offered at each elite tier are valuable to you. If you decide to earn elite status, try to earn Platinum status as the benefits at this level will give you the most in returned value.
Hot Tip: Other Star Alliance member airlines like United Airlines will provide more elite status value for travelers based in the U.S.
Earning Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Elite Status
Elite status in the program is earned by the number Q Miles flown. Q Miles are determined by the distance flown plus any additional class of service miles.
Note that you must earn Thai Airways elite status from flying — miles earned from credit card spending do not count as Qualifying Miles.
Silver
Silver status requires 10,000 Q Miles during a 12-month period, or 15,000 Q Miles during a 24-month period.
Your Silver status expires at the end of the 12-month or 24-month period, whichever is applicable, unless you earn it again during that time period.
Every time a member attains or retains Silver status, a 3,3,000-mile bonus is credited to the member’s account.
Gold
Earning Gold status requires 50,000 Q Miles during a 12-month period, or 80,000 Q Miles during a 24-month period. In addition, you’ll need to fly 40 Thai Airways international flight segments in any 12-rolling-month period.
Gold status expires at the end of the 12-month or 24-month period, whichever is applicable, unless the status is earned again during that time period.
When a member attains or retains Gold status, a 5,000-mile bonus will be credited to the member’s account.
Platinum
The highest elite status, Platinum, requires 80,000 miles flown on Thai Airways Royal First Class or Royal Silk Class flights every 12 months on a rolling basis.
Platinum status expires at the end of the 12-month or 24-month period, whichever is applicable, unless you earn it again during that time period
If you earn Platinum status again, you’ll earn a 10,000-mile bonus credited to your account each time.
Bottom Line: Unlike some award programs, Thai Airways doesn’t offer a way for its customer to earn elite status from credit card spending.