Article: Terms and Conditions of BalticMiles
Get rewarded for flying airBaltic with the BalticMiles frequent flyer programme. We've provided a breakdown of the terms and conditions here which tells you about earning miles, how to redeem rewards and how the programme works in general.
The important definitions
1. "Card" means the BalticMiles membership card (this includes virtual cards) that Air Baltic issues you.
2. "Membership Status Miles" means miles which determine your Card level, i.e. Executive or VIP.
3. "Reward Miles" means miles which can be exchanged for award flights, hotel accommodation, car hire and other items offered as part of the BalticMiles programme.
4. "Award flights" means flights completely or partially paid for by Reward Miles.
1. Membership
1.1. Eligibility
Anyone, at any age, can be a member as long as that person lives in a country where BalticMiles is available. Whatever address you give as a member will be considered your home address, as long as it's your primary geographical residence.
1.2. Commencement of membership
Your membership begins as soon as you enrol in the program and open your personal mileage account with BalticMiles. Each member is limited to a single account. As proof that your account is open, you'll receive a BalticMiles card number which entitles you to earn miles. Once you accrue the certain number of miles stated in the BalticMiles communication media, you'll be sent your BalticMiles card. The BalticMiles card is still the property of Air Baltic and must be handed over to Air Baltic or one of its joint operators, if it is requested. There is no legal entitlement to join the BalticMiles programme. Air Baltic and the joint operators can reject applications without providing a reason.
1.3. Membership conditions in general
Membership is only open to individuals and is not available to companies, partnerships, unincorporated associations or other similar entities.
By using the Card you accept the Terms & Conditions, the membership benefits guide, including the 'how to spend miles' guide, and all the terms and conditions that are included as part of these guides. You also agree to the terms and conditions when they are changed from time to time by Air Baltic.
You as a member are the only person who can use your Card. In other words, membership is not transferable.
You can only enrol once and be accepted for membership in the BalticMiles programme, and you can only have one Card at any given time.
When taking advantage of any of the services and benefits offered under the BalticMiles programme (including earning miles, spending miles, booking flights, using lounges and other services) always have your Card ready to present (or if you were issued a virtual card, you'll need to have your membership number on hand to present). If you don't present your Card, you may not receive the benefits and services. So remember to have it on you at all times.
All communication (including your new member's pack) will be sent to your last mailing address and Air Baltic will consider it received by you, as long as it is posted to that same address.
Sometimes the services and benefits BalticMiles offers to you as a member are provided by organizations which Air Baltic cannot directly control. Air Baltic will try its best to make sure that the services and benefits as advertised will be available, although it cannot guarantee any of those benefits or services in any way whatsoever. Plus, agreements you make with an organization outside of Air Baltic will be subject to that organization's terms and conditions.
On award flights or with other services and benefits offered to you through the BalticMiles programme you can take full advantage of all the privileges you would normally enjoy as a Card holder, except earning miles on those award flights.
In the case that your card is lost, stolen or used by someone else (or the details of your BalticMiles account are used by someone else) without your authorization, you must immediately contact BalticMiles and inform them about the situation. Until you tell Air Baltic, when any of those three things happen, you will be responsible for any use of the Card and for the details of your BalticMiles account.
2. Miles
2.1. General
BalticMiles calculates the mileage credited to your member account. These miles may only be used in the ways stated by the terms and conditions or in other BalticMiles communication media. Unless BalticMiles has an agreement with that frequent flyer programme or operator, you may not use miles or points from any other programme in BalticMiles. Your miles and your mileage account are non-transferable and, unless explicitly stated, you may not exchange them for cash.
2.2. Account balance
You can check how many miles you have in your account online by entering your BalticMiles card number and password. Account information may not be sent by post, wherever BalticMiles generally limits giving this information only through online communications. Unfortunately, it is not possible to replace or duplicate account statements. If you find any errors in your statement, you must alert BalticMiles by filing a concern within two weeks of receiving your account information or of the first time it appears online in your personal account. After that, the account balance as stated is considered approved by you.
2.3. Mileage accrual
You may earn miles from the very start of your membership. The number of miles credited to your account depends on whichever programme conditions were valid at the time you were using the service. For all flights or partner services eligible for earning miles that occurred during the period between the time you applied for membership and the time you opening your BalticMiles account, your miles will be credited in the way explained in item 2.3.4 of these rules. BalticMiles also allows you to earn miles through its partner companies. BalticMiles, however, has no direct control over these companies, and neither Air Baltic nor the joint operator concerned may be held responsible if any of the services provided by partner companies (e.g. flights, hotel stays, rental cars) is unavailable. Nor is Air Baltic responsible for companies fulfilling the promises made in their contracts with you. No matter what, the general terms and conditions of the specific partner company will always apply.
2.3.1 Flights
Miles will be credited to your account for each fully flown segment of a fully paid scheduled flight by Air Baltic or by a joint operator or a BalticMiles partner company, not code share flights. The number of miles credited for direct flights depends on the Region between your departure point and your destination, as shown in the BalticMiles communication media.
2.3.2 Other ways to earn miles
Any announcements about other ways that you can earn miles will be posted separately in BalticMiles communication media.
2.3.3 Exclusions from mileage credit
You will not earn miles for your account for certain booking, special tariffs, e.g. industry discount tariffs, award services, free flights or services for which you receive benefits from another bonus programme. For other specific services that may not earn you miles either, there will be an announcement beforehand in the BalticMiles communication media.
2.3.4 Crediting procedure
Whenever earning miles through using an eligible service, you must present your BalticMiles membership number and/or BalticMiles card or other card that qualifies you for earning miles, in order to have miles automatically credited to your account. If miles are not automatically added to your account, they will be credited within 6 months of the date you earned them. You may request missing points online from your BalticMiles profile. If you are newly enrolled, miles will register in your account for travel or activities that took place up 30 days before you enrolled. In order to do this, BalticMiles needs your tickets and the electronic receipts of your purchases. You name, ticket number, flight number, booking class and date must be clearly visible. You must also present the Air Baltic offices with a copy of the invoices or receipts for your hotel stays and/or your car rental agreements.
You will not earn miles for unused, reimbursed, expired or unlawfully obtained documents (tickets, flight coupons).The same applies to other unused or refunded services that qualify for mileage accrual.
2.4 .Mileage redemption
2.4.1 General
You may redeem your miles and order awards as soon as you have taken first AirBaltic flight and reached the necessary balance in your account for that award. You can find award offers and the specific number of miles required for every award stated in the various BalticMiles communication media.
2.4.2 Award flights
When you have enough miles earned, you may choose a reward flight that is available for scheduled Air Baltic flights. You can rebook (depending on availability and the terms and conditions applying to the award flight). If you have any questions about the terms and conditions or the availability of these flights, you may direct them to the BalticMiles Service Team. All other conditions of the original award flight ticket continue to apply following any rebooking you may make. The flight you choose and take as your award flight is subject to the operating carrier's general conditions of carriage.
2.4.3 Other awards
Other awards, their conditions and the other ways to redeem your miles will be announced separately in the BalticMiles communication media.
2.4.4 Ordering awards
You may order an award from your BalticMiles on-line profile or at any Air Baltic office in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and you must state your BalticMiles member or card number and your must provide the answer to your secret question. In addition, you must place your order either online or by telephone at least 1 working day before you use the award.
2.4.5 Award conditions
The availability of awards can vary depending on date, season and destination. For this reason, certain awards may not always be available for you to enjoy. You may not combine your award with specific services that have reduced tariffs. More information concerning the availability of awards as well as special conditions may be found at www.airbaltic.com under the BalticMiles section. Such conditions are published along with their respective award offers.
2.4.6 Award documents
If an award you order is available, BalticMiles will provide you with the award documents (award tickets and/or certificates for other awards). Award tickets and upgrade award vouchers are electronic. When you request a refund, there will be a certain fee. Information on the conditions of return as well as on the service charge may be found in the various BalticMiles communication media. Any questions regarding these topics may also be directed to the BalticMiles Service Team.
2.5. Mileage expiry
Your Status Miles are good for 365 days. Reward miles are good for 3 years from the day they are first earned (i.e. from the date of the flight), unless there are other arrangements published in the BalticMiles communication media. Your attention will be drawn in good time to when and how many miles have expired in your personal online BalticMiles account.
2.6. Taxes, surcharges and service charges
You are responsible for paying all additional costs such as taxes (e.g. airport taxes, security fees), surcharges (e.g. insurance surcharges) and service charges (e.g. rebooking penalties) that come along with cancelling your award or ordering new plastic card. You may find information about the amount of taxes, surcharges and any service charges in the BalticMiles communication media.
3. Breach of terms and conditions, termination of contract, programme amendments
Whenever you wish, you may write to tell BalticMiles that you would like to end your contract and you do not have to give a notice period. If Air Baltic ends the contract, you will be given two weeks notice, unless this termination was made without notice. Air Baltic or a joint operator will end the contract without notice if you purposefully provide false information, or in the case of harassment or damaging behavior towards employees or passengers of Air Baltic, a joint operator or a partner company. This will also apply if you do not obey the instructions of the Air Baltic staff in charge, particularly on board or in the lounges. Further legal claims (specifically claims for damages) are also possible, even with these arrangements. In the above-mentioned cases, AirBaltic or a joint operator reserves the right to refuse a frequent flyer status such as Executive, VIP and may terminate an existing status unilaterally, without further notice. In the cases mentioned above, Air Baltic also reserves the right to freeze your membership account. You cannot make any claims against this kind of freezing of your account. Once Air Baltic or a joint operator has terminated a membership, renewed participation in BalticMiles is no longer possible. While your membership is winding up, after this conclusion of your contract with Air Baltic, these terms and conditions continue to be the rules for your membership.
3.1. Mileage validity in the event of termination
If you, Air Baltic, a joint operator or a partner company properly ends a contract, your miles will still be good for six months after you receive the notice of the contract conclusion, unless those miles expire earlier, as it states under the terms of item 2.5.
3.2. Program termination
Air Baltic reserves the right to cancel the BalticMiles frequent flyer program at any time or replace it with another program and to properly terminate all membership contracts. Items 3.1 and 3.2 shall apply accordingly to such terminations.
4. Miscellaneous
4.1. Data protection
Personal information relating to your participation in BalticMiles is first processed and then used in order to put this frequent flyers' programme into action.
For advertising or promotional purposes, your information may be sent to partner companies and other third parties to in as far as you allowed BalticMiles to in your registration. For more information about protecting your personal information, please see the guide about online data protection at the BalticMiles website. This guide also contains particulars related to your right to object and your agreement to share this information.
4.2. Loss, theft
You must immediately report loss or theft of, or damage to the BalticMiles card in order to be issued a new card.
4.3. Changes to the program, amendments to the terms and conditions
BalticMiles, acting in good faith, reserves the right to change or add on to these membership terms and conditions, the awards, award scales or any other BalticMiles procedures described in
the program documents at any time, wherever such changes are considered necessary. You may not make any claims Air Baltic based on changes required by country-specific statutes. You will be notified in writing of any changes or additions to these terms and conditions. Such changes and additions are considered approved if you continue to use your BalticMiles member number, or if you do not file a written objection within one month of being notified. These consequences will be mentioned in the notification. If you do not accept the program changes, your membership may be properly ended according to item 3.1 of the terms and conditions.
4.4. Applicable law and jurisdiction
These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of Latvia. If you have no legal residence in Latvia, the courts of the Republic of Latvia will have jurisdiction. In addition, you may also be sued at your place of residence or at another place where statutory jurisdiction exists.
4.5. Severability clause
In the event that any provisions of the above arrangements are legally invalid, either wholly or in part, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The parties involved within these terms and conditions will be responsible for replacing any invalid, incomplete or missing provision with a provision that comes as close as possible by routine estimate to the commercial intentions of the parties. |
