Other European Frequent Flyer Programs - SpanairStar Gold - segments to be flown

Hi,

does anybody have experience with SpanairStar (how reliable is points registration from other airlines LOT, Lufthansa )?

They listed on web-page two conditions to reach Star Gold level:
"To reach the Gold level, within a period of 12 months you must:
Take a minimum of 30 flights with Spanair and/or Star Alliance airlines.
Earn 30,000 points with Spanair or Star Alliance companies."

My doubt is if both conditions must be fulfilled, or 30 intra-european segments on LH, LX or LO is enough to become Gold.

Thanks

Raf

About the program - Some years ago it had some problems when crediting *A flights, but in 2011 i had no problem with points accrual in any *A flight. Either 30,000 points or 30 segments will get you Gold status, you don't need both.

Beware but that the value of a spanairstar point has been divided by 3 and that the value in points of spanair flights has been multiplied by 3, but the value in points of a *A flight stays the same - so it's nearly impossible to achieve status by "points" with *A flights, you'd actually achieve status sooner by flight segments even if flying a lot of long-haul. The model is totally broken IMHO, and that's the main reason I've stopped crediting flights to it.

I would also not recommend to join the Spanair program now. The company is not very stable, they're bleeding money. Right now I'm finding myself with a lot of spanair "points" which I need to burn preemptively just in case the company doesn't do well in the next months. They're negotiating a deal with QR but it's not closed and, until then, the company has a very dark future.

Thanks for a brief answer, flozano.

I will probably fly next year short distance sectors (c.a. 300 miles) on cheap LOT fares (L,T) and look around for alternative to M&M (they also credit 125 miles p/sector) - so not much to loose on my base FF programme:cool:.

Based on your Spanair situation description - I will re-consider other options...

Raf

Raf, most people go for A3 (Aegean) or TK as their secondary StarAlliance program these days.

A3 is arguably the most generous with status. You earn 50% on LO T and 25% on LO L fares.

TK has set the bar for status a bit higher. They credit 100% or min. 500 miles for LO T fares - but nothing at all for LO L fares!

As you can see, it will be rather difficult to achieve anything with those cheap LO tickets and earning rates are highly variable between the different programs ...

I find 30 segments to get Gold rather interesting though! Most destinations from (for example) AMS are also available through LH, LX and others, so with 4 segments per roundtrip that only requires 8 trips.

Are there any requirements in terms of booking class, or do all fares count towards the segment count?

While A3 is very interesting for longer distances, when flying many short hops its often easier to qualify on segment count. Interesting..

[edit]
Nevermind, found the (rather large) list of non-earning classes. Thats a no-go for discount economy segments.


Airline Classes
AC X, I, O, F, A
A3 I, R, X, N, F
BD X, R, A, F
CA O, I, R, X, N
CO I, O, P, R, X
JJ X, I, O, R, N, T
JK A, F, G, I, P, R, X
JP I, X, N, R, P, F
KF I, R, X, N
LH O, I, R, X, N
LO F, I, J, N, O, R, U, X
LX K, L, R, N, X, I, O
MS N, R, X, I, O, V, L, G, W, T, S, U, E
NH I, N, O, R, X, T, E, G
NZ L, G, S, K, P, N, I, X, F, R
OS A, E, F, I, K, L, N, O, P, R, T, U, X, S
OU T, U, E, L, G, N, I, X, R
OZ R, N, G, T, L, O, I, X,
SA X, O, I, E, N, R, U
SK I, X, N, R, P, F
SN O, I, X, P, R, N, T, E, L, K, A, F
SQ G, I, N, O, Q, T, V, X
TG E, R, N, O, I, X, L, G, V, W
TK I, Z, X, N, R, G, W, P, F
TP R, A, X, N, E, T, F, O
UA I, O, P, R, X
US I, X, J
UX Z, A, F, P, G

it depends on the airline. In LH almost all discounted flights credit miles. In swiss all but the L and some more classes.

The program is great if you fly a lot of short european or domestic segments, because you can get status very easily... but it punishes long-haul fliers too much.

The company - if they achieve an agreement with QR, then they'll do fine... but for now it's somewhat 'dangerous' :)

Does anyone not happends to 4U flights?They are not on the list but real integrated partner now...