A few weeks ago, I wrote about a new status match opportunity with Kenya Airways’ new Asante Rewards program as they suddenly started to accept members of other programs than Flying Blue for a match application as well.
After a bit of back and forth with Asante, I finally received a match to their Platinum level, which is equivalent to Sky Team Elite Plus, based on my British Airways Gold status.
Kenya Airways, which had used Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue frequent flier program for years, launched its own Asante in mid-June (read more here and here).
As it has become quite customary over the years, programs that switch loyalty schemes either due to a change of alliance or simply implementing a new scheme offer their previous customers a status match to move 1:1 into the new benefits portfolio.
The match was first designed to welcome Flying Blue members into the Asante family, but then they also started to accept members of other programs.
You can read up on my article here, where I described the process:
I emailed the Asante team after signing up for an account and then received the reply that my match was currently under consideration:
Dear Sebastian,
Thank you for contacting Asante rewards.
We appreciate your enrollment to Asante Loyalty Rewards and looking forward to you flying and enjoying the benefits.
Kindly note that your status match request has been initiated and this will be confirmed within 7 working days due to the back log of request we are experiencing.
Thank you for choosing Asante Rewards.
Your’s Sincerely,
Winnie O.
This was sent on the 28th of August, and since then there has been no further communication, but I checked on their website again last week and found that my account was upgraded to Asante Platinum, valid until August 31, 2024 (so one complete year):
You can find all the status benefits of the Asante program here. Being matched to Gold or Platinum makes not much difference for those who wish to apply the benefits for other SkyTeam carriers as both tiers are Elite Plus designated.
Those who actually fly on Kenya Airway have lucrative benefits pertaining to each elite level that can be utilized. Mostly related to baggage, seating and of course bonus miles.
Asante Rewards is part of SkyTeam now, but just like with ITA Airways Volare, many SkyTeam Airlines don’t even recognize the SkyTeam membership of Kenya Airways in order to confer benefits.
What’s also quite odd and certainly an outlier these days is that there is no digital membership card provided, so I’d guess at some point, there should be one coming in the mail. Who knows when that’s going to be the case, especially if it comes all the way from Kenya.
Conclusion
Whether it makes sense for you to initiate a match to the Asante program depends on your plan for SkyTeam flights. Benefits are one thing, but then you also have to consider if you’re actually able to redeem the miles at some point. If most of your elite qualifying flying has been on Kenya Airways and you live in Kenya or visit there frequently, it might be a good solution.
It’s still unclear how easy it is to earn and use miles on Kenya Airways and its SkyTeam partners compared to Flying Blue or other programs. The same goes for the application of elite with alliance carriers benefits despite the status being officially Skyteam Elite/Elite Plus. IN any case the match was easy and free.