:D!

What route did you fly?

giovannikoll

Hello everybody,

I recently flew in H class with LH from ZRH to TSE via FRA, surprisingly I was credited more miles with A3 than if I would of my Miles & More card. 3672 instead of 3424 shown on the M&M calculator.

thskyisthelimit

I'm going to travel a lot on SQ and i've booked the flights that will always be overbooked in Y.

Let's see if A3 Gold will bump me upwards, though SQ is known for their stringent upgrading policies.

arbutus

Is there a minimum requirement of miles earned on A3 metal to reach gold status? Or is it a straight 20,000 on any elgible *A flight? Just seems too good and too easy (i'm primarily interested in rejuvenating my *G status after missing out on AC 50K by 2k.)

Sorry if I missed it in the FAQ (I read it twice, but ya never know).

Thanks!

Edit: I've read FAQ No.2 and I guess I can assume there are no mandatory flights on A3 metal to qualify?

c0untryb0y

Eligible Star Alliance miles earned. It is too good and too easy.

This is because Aegean is only a regional carrier in Greece and on paper would appear to be harder to earn miles on Star Alliance metal over there.

Keep in mind it's easier to earn miles on Star Alliance in North America, being served locally by so many flights with United, US Airways, Lufthansa, Air Canada, whereas (with the exception of maybe Lufthansa) Greek hubs are served mainly by Olympic, the big Sky Team airlines and regional carriers. From experience, transatlantic flights departing from ATH are usually going to be easiest and cheapest on Sky Team and Olympic, so we are using Aegean mostly domestically and short haul. Aegean's fares I find are also among the lowest.

KLouis

Not that it matters much as far as the original question is concerned, but:

1) Olympic Airways (a new company!) has no TATL flights.
2) DL will no longer fly to/from ATH (at least not in 2013)
3) AC seems to be the only one that will offer TATL flights this year, unless I'm really mistaken.

In other words, most people flying to the Americas (and, by the way, Asia, Africa and Australia too), have to fly with a non-Greek airline to a European hub and change there.

c0untryb0y

Exactly. AC I think will fly direct to Canada (I think) but I've found it to always be more expensive than KLM/AF/AZ. Cheapest flights out of ATH will usually be connecting flights through Europe and not on Star Alliance unless you are lucky with days and sales. This makes it harder (seemingly) if you're based out of ATH to earn on Star Alliance if you fly exclusively TATL. Not sure if Swiss Air flies TATL from ATH, but they are really expensive.

KLouis

Well, I flew 4 TATLs out of ATH last year, all in business: LAX with AF, GIG with BA, JFK with LX and ATL with AZ. In three cases, the flights were chosen on the basis of price, with the exception of LAX (AF because I wanted to fly the A380). In previous years I flew twice to ORD with TK and very often with LX and AF. You can often find cheap flights with both LH and LX, this varies during the year and you never know in advance, while TK seems to have risen a lot their prices out of ATH. Still, there are enough choices for TATL flights out of ATH if you want to be on a *A flight, and the partner airlines are not really that much more expensive than the other alliances, at least in business.

c0untryb0y

Yeah, I find it's hit or miss from ATH depending on what time of year and when you book and destination airport. And even from your experience, 3 out 4 were not Star Alliance. Whereas on the other side of the ocean you have almost no choice but to be on Star Alliance.

oliverckhaas

Thank you Richelieu for this fantastic FAQ covering a lot of the common questions that us A3 *G status holders frequently encounter.

Just to let you guys know that I have heard of an issue with the situation described above. I have a friend currently battling a case with LH who are not crediting miles from a TK flight on to his Miles and More account after using a A3 *G card to access the TK Lounge Istanbul. The original boarding passes indicate LH * status. LH claims that TK is not confirming the miles were earned.

I will let you guys know when I find out more/if the situation gets resolved.

hugolover

The M&B call center is really just the reservations call center and can only book awards, retroclaims etc. Is there anyway to actually reach the M&B people except via email? I don't know many full service airlines that do this.

:D!

What are you trying to do?

KACommuter

Can you tell us if you got bumped up? And if SQ honours A3 Gold?

I ask as I oscillate between KF silver and gold due to my flying patterns (priority goes to maintaining CX DM) but would like a programme that will give me *G so am considering going with Aegean.

Jasper2009

I´m curious whether anyone has actually been successful in booking a Europe-Israel award for 25k in Y / 42k in C as Israel is not technically in Northern Africa, but in Asia?

KLouis

Technically?