With South African Airways under business rescue, there has been concern from Voyager members as to whether their accrued air miles will be valid in the event that the national carrier gets liquidated.
‘The likelihood of members actually being able to redeem these rewards to their full extent in the event of SAA’s liquidation, however, appears fairly slim,’ says Business Insider.
In the meantime, however, Voyager miles continue to be redeemable. The loyalty programme, which remains in the country’s15 top loyalty programmes, according to company Truth, will operate as usual.
‘All Voyager miles that are currently held by Voyager credit card holders, as well as future miles earned, will remain valid for redemption with SAA and its airline, hotel and leisure services partners,’ said Nedbank’s card issuing and payments executive Chris Wood.
According to Business Insider, Nedbank has noticed an increased concern among customers who belong to the national carrier’s Voyager Programme through its credit- and cheque-card partnerships.
‘Nedbank would like to assure members that the SAA Voyager loyalty programme will remain in place while the [business rescue] process unfolds’ said Wood.
However, a partner at Schindlers Attorneys, Lisa-Marie Bowes, says that the business rescue practitioners that control the airline could take a decision on this.
Bowes says that a business rescue practitioner has the power to ‘entirely, partially or conditionally suspend SAA’s obligations in terms of any agreement to which it was a party at the commencement of the business rescue proceedings’. This means that it is possible for the business rescue practitioner to suspend the use of air miles during the business rescue process.
However, the miles do have a monetary value – you can buy 1,000 miles for R250.
In the event that South African Airways gets liquidated, SAA’s could choose to payout the value of the miles in cash, according to its terms and conditions. ‘Miles holders will have to join the queue behind other creditors that take preference in bankruptcy cases.’
Image: Getaway
