Aeroflot Bonus Loyalty Program

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Aeroflot Bonus is a loyalty program for frequent flyers of the Russian airline Aeroflot. For each flight taken, program participants accrue bonus points – miles – depending on the class of travel and flight distance. However, miles are not accrued for tickets purchased at special fares or in classes E, O, R, X, and Z (on international flights). For N and G fares, miles are only accrued at 25% of the actual distance. In other words, you won't get miles for the cheapest flight tickets.

There are two categories of miles:

Qualifying Miles – these are miles earned by a participant for flights on regular Aeroflot flights or Program Partner Airlines, depending on the distance and booking class. Qualifying miles can be used to obtain awards or elite “Silver” or “Gold” status for an Aeroflot Bonus participant. Non-Qualifying Miles – these are miles additionally earned by a program participant for partner services, special program offers, as well as miles accrued for flights by gold and silver level participants. They can only be used to obtain awards and are not counted towards status qualification. If you fly infrequently, it's not worth specifically buying tickets at more expensive fares just to earn miles. If you want to become a program participant, get a co-branded card with an Aeroflot partner bank (their list is available on the airline's website). Currently, cooperation is maintained with the following banks:

Sberbank
Alfa-Bank
CitiBank
SMP BANK

Typically, for every dollar spent, you receive one mile, and some banks even offer welcome miles when opening an account. The higher your card level, the more miles you will receive for each dollar spent. Which bank's card to choose is up to you; each has its own conditions and additional bonuses, such as discounts at certain restaurants and stores. However, getting a card solely for accumulating miles doesn't make sense, as you'll also have to pay for its maintenance. In addition to banks, the program's partners include several hotel chains and individual hotels:

Marriott International Hotel Chain
Radisson Blu Hotel Chain
Kempinski Hotels and Resorts Group
Park Inn Hotel Chain
AZIMUT Hotels
Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport
Maxima Hotels Chain in Moscow
Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg

In most of them, you receive 500 miles for each night of stay. And miles accumulated through the Aeroflot Bonus program can be spent on hotel accommodation. If you fly frequently and use the services of the aforementioned hotels, a bonus card can help you save significantly.

To calculate miles for Aeroflot flights, we recommend using the calculator on their website: http://www.aeroflot.ru/cms/calculator

Three levels of program participation:

Even a child over 2 years old can become a program participant. Children under 12 receive an Aeroflot Bonus Junior card. By accumulating 25,000 miles in one year, you will receive a silver level card. Holders of such cards have privileges:

free carriage of 10 kg of baggage in excess of the norm,
priority during booking and check-in,
accrual of additional non-qualifying miles for each flight (+ 25%).

To advance to the gold level, you need to accumulate 50,000 miles in one year. Holders of these cards receive the following privileges:

priority service during booking and flight check-in,
free baggage allowance increases by 20 kg,
mileage credit of up to 5,000 miles when purchasing an award ticket,
access to 415 comfortable waiting lounges (lounge) worldwide,
accrual of additional non-qualifying miles for flights (+50%).

The highest is the Platinum level. Here, the accrual of additional non-qualifying miles for flights is 75%. And to learn how to become a member of the Elite Club, read here. These privileges are provided not only on Aeroflot flights but also on most flights of SkyTeam alliance partners. If, after a flight, you find that miles have not been credited, they can be restored. How to do this is described in the post "How to restore miles under the Aeroflot Bonus program".