Start here: China Southern Sky Pearl Club — joining, award and qualifying mileage, the 2025 tier rules and redeeming award mileage

Step 1: What Sky Pearl Club is and who it suits

You will learn: what Sky Pearl Club is, how long the current rulebook runs, and what China Southern keeps the right to change.

The member handbook is the January 2025 revision and is in force from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027 [1].

China Southern may modify the programme and the handbook's terms without prior notice, and continuing to hold the account or use the services counts as acceptance of the revision [1]. The handbook states that the Chinese version prevails where it differs from other language versions, and that any rules not yet updated in the handbook follow the latest rules published on skypearl.csair.com [1]. In practice it suits travellers who fly China Southern flight numbers CZ, including Chongqing Airlines OQ, or the flight numbers of its airline partners [1].

Go deeper: Start here: airline miles for how frequent flyer currencies work in general.

Step 2: Joining and looking after the account

You will learn: who can join, how to join, and the account settings that decide whether you can redeem for anyone else.

Any natural person aged 2 or over who accepts the rules may apply free of charge [1]. Children aged 2 to under 12 may apply for Junior (Little Pearl) membership, which must be tied to one legal guardian's membership number and converts to Pearl Card membership from the child's 12th birthday [1]. China Southern does not accept applications from legal entities or other organisations, nor joint applications or repeated applications by the same person [1]. Applications can be made on csair.com, the China Southern app, the China Southern mini programme, the service hotline 95539 or online customer service, China Southern cabin mobile devices, non-air partners, and China Southern ticket offices or designated service counters [1].

Completing identity verification opens up managing an assignee list, redeeming award mileage for assignees, self-service password reset, service customisation, account merger applications and management of key personal information [1]. Award mileage tickets and other products may be used only by the member and by assignees already effective on the account, with up to eight assignees at a time; a first list takes effect 15 days after the application succeeds and later additions 30 days, while Platinum members have three immediately effective changes per calendar year and deletions take effect at once [1].

Go deeper: China Southern Sky Pearl Club programme hub for the programme's pages grouped by task.

Step 3: How award mileage is earned

You will learn: which of the two earning formulas applies to a ticket, and how long the resulting award mileage lasts.

Award mileage is earned through qualifying spend or activities and can be exchanged for designated rewards but cannot be used for tier assessment [1]. Qualifying mileage, effective from 1 January 2025, is used only for tier assessment and cannot be redeemed [1]. Qualifying segments are flight segments accumulated on eligible flights and booking classes, also effective from 1 January 2025 and used for tier assessment [1].

For travel from 1 January 2025 on flights whose number begins with CZ (including OQ), whose ticket number begins with 784, operated by China Southern, Chongqing Airlines or a China Southern airline partner, and where China Southern can obtain the fare, award mileage = cash spend × ticket product category factor 0.8 × tier factor, where the handbook's reference tables give a tier factor of 1.5 for Platinum, 1.3 for Gold, 1.2 for Silver and 1 for Pearl Card, and China Southern may adjust the category factor from time to time [1]. Where the flight number begins with CZ (including OQ) but the ticket number does not begin with 784, award mileage = standard mileage × booking class ratio × tier factor; standard mileage follows IATA published distances, may be adjusted, and is treated as 500 km where the actual distance is under 500 km [1]. Eligible partner flight numbers operated by that same partner also earn on standard mileage, under the partner rules published on csair.com [1].

Group tickets, award tickets, travel-trade or other special discount tickets, free tickets and charter flights do not earn, and R class (or other product classes) does not earn [1]. Award mileage earned on flights is valid 36 months from the flight date [1]. One segment may be credited to one programme and one account only, and if you buy from China Southern without asking for a partner account the mileage defaults to your China Southern account [1]. Posting usually takes up to 7 days for China Southern flights and up to 30 days for partner flights, and claims are accepted within 6 months of the travel date [1].

Go deeper: Sky Pearl Club earning guide for the full earning picture, and revenue-based earning for the general principle behind spend-based mileage.

Step 4: Tiers: qualifying mileage, qualifying segments and renewal

You will learn: the four tiers, the two calendar-year measures used to reach them, and how a tier is dated.

There are four tiers, in order Platinum, Gold, Silver and Pearl Card, with the first three counted as elite tiers [1]. From 1 January 2025 a tier is assessed on qualifying mileage or qualifying segments earned in a calendar year: Platinum needs 100,000 qualifying mileage or 80 qualifying segments, Gold 40,000 or 40, and Silver 20,000 or 20 [1]. The tier is valid from the assessment date to the last day of February of the third year — the handbook's example has a member reaching Platinum between 1 January and 30 June 2025, valid to 28 February 2027 [1].

Qualifying mileage on CZ or OQ flight numbers with 784 tickets, operated by China Southern, Chongqing Airlines or a partner and where China Southern can obtain the fare, is cash spend × 0.8, with no tier factor; otherwise it is standard mileage × booking class ratio [1]. Qualifying segments are read from Table 9 by booking class: F 3, J 2.5, C 2, D 2, I 2, W 1.5, S 1, Y 1.5, P/B/M/H 1, K/U/A/L/Q 0.75, E/V/Z 0.25 and T/N 0 [1]. That same table's last row, "other classes", lists F, I, O, S, Z, X, G and R at 0, so it differs from the cabin rows above it, which give F 3, I 2, S 1 and Z 0.25; the two readings are as printed and are not reconciled in the handbook [1]. Group, award, special discount, free and charter tickets earn neither qualifying mileage nor qualifying segments, and a claim made within 6 months of travel counts towards the year of travel [1].

Members who reached an elite tier in 2024 get renewal discounts in a trial running to 31 December 2027: 80% / 75% / 70% of the standard for Platinum, 85% / 80% / 75% for Gold and 90% / 85% / 80% for Silver, for the first year, two consecutive years and three consecutive years respectively, available only down to the current tier or a lower one and applying to both qualifying mileage and qualifying segments [1]. Elite tiers also carry bonus award mileage of 50%, 30% and 20%, mileage protection for all three elite tiers, and, for Platinum and Gold members while the tier is valid, lifetime-valid award mileage (ticket portion, including the tier bonus) on CZ or OQ flights with 784 tickets operated by China Southern or Chongqing Airlines during the trial from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027 [1].

Go deeper: Sky Pearl Club status guide for the tier-by-tier detail, the status tool to check progress, and elite qualifying miles for the concept itself.

Step 5: Redeeming award mileage and keeping it alive

You will learn: what award mileage buys, the conditions attached to an award ticket, and when award mileage expires.

Award mileage can be exchanged for China Southern and partner airline tickets; for other designated air service products including upgrades, extra baggage, seat selection, lounge access, priority boarding, special meals and in-flight internet; for goods in the frequent flyer mall; for payment at offline partner merchants; and for unlocking activity eligibility [1]. China Southern award tickets have limited seat numbers, are valid on flights operated by China Southern or Chongqing Airlines and exclude China Southern codeshares other than China Southern–Chongqing Airlines codeshares, are priced per single segment with a return costing twice a single segment and do not support stopovers or connections, and must be booked on a specified flight and date [1]. Changes within the ticket's validity are possible in the same award class where seats exist, with a voluntary change fee set in the handbook's change-fee table; a completely unused ticket is valid for one year from 00:00 of the day after purchase (or after issue of a new ticket number following a change), and a partly used ticket for one year from 00:00 of the day after first travel, whatever later changes are made [1]. A voluntary refund costs 50% of the award mileage of the unused segments (no fee for infants not occupying a seat), an involuntary refund extends the returned mileage's validity by six months, voluntary endorsement is not supported, and refund requests must be made within 13 months of the travel start date (or of the purchase date if the first segment is unused) [1].

During an elite tier's validity, and for the 12 months after it ends, award mileage that would otherwise expire does not expire, and it then expires at the end of that twelfth month [1]. Junior members' award mileage has no expiry limit, and from the 12th birthday the account's award mileage other than lifetime-valid mileage runs on 36 months [1]. Two further lifetime-valid trials, both for identity-verified members, both limited to the ticket portion including the tier bonus on CZ or OQ flights with 784 tickets operated by China Southern or Chongqing Airlines, and both running from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027, cover cash-purchased tickets in original booking classes F, J, C, D, W or Y, and members aged 70 or over [1].

Go deeper: the mileage expiry calculator to date a balance, and China Southern lounge for the lounge product that award mileage can buy.

Step 6: Your first concrete action

You will learn: five actions, in order, that put the rules above to work on your own account.

• Join through one of the listed channels and complete identity verification, which is what unlocks the assignee list and redemption for other people [1].
• Give your membership number when you book; if you do not ask for a partner account, the mileage goes to your China Southern account by default [1].
• Set up assignees early, allowing 15 days for a first list and 30 days for later additions [1].
• Check the posting — usually within 7 days for China Southern flights and 30 days for partner flights — and claim within 6 months of travel if it is missing [1].
• Track qualifying mileage or qualifying segments against the calendar-year thresholds, and note the end-of-February date on which the current tier ends [1].

Next: China Southern Sky Pearl Club programme hub for every page on this programme, and Start here: status and lounges for how tiers work across programmes.