Topbonus sent out an email late on Friday night that the program would be closed for good and the website would be taken offline in the next few days as the investor that had promised to purchase the program was unable to come up with the cash.
The program folded after Airberlin collapsed and Etihad that was the majority owner in Topbonus was unwilling to ensure that the frequent flier program survived. Etihad could have folded Topbonus into its Guest program but didn’t.
Conclusion
Seems that this Airberlin and Topbonus saga is almost over. Topbonus members that got their claims in last month can expect to get some cash out from the administration for their unredeemed miles.
I was already speculating earlier why anyone would buy a “loyalty” program that doesn’t have any major airline backing? Why would you credit purchases to Topbonus without any reasonable redemption options without going any other route such as Miles&More (in Germany where most Topbonus members must reside).
Just cannot understand why Etihad was unwilling to fold the unredeemed Topbonus miles into Guest program? Considering the sky-high redemption rates and fuel surcharges that they charge this would have been win-win for everyone (Guest program has some nice partner redemption options).
I was lucky and ended up with ZERO miles left with Topbonus. Redeemed all my miles for one-way Finnair business class Bangkok – Helsinki flight in May 2017. Topped up my account with some Starpoints from SPG to make it happen.
