Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners) - additional miles needed - suggestions?

Hello everybody,

I am new here to flyer talk, so in case this message is in the wrong forum - please move my message... thank you!

From my business and private travels this year I know I will make around 60,000 status miles on M&M. Another 40,000 therefore are needed for Senator status.

Does anyone have good suggestions for mileage runs or any method to collect the maximum amount of miles at the lowest cost? I really want to have that nice shiny gold card again in my pocket :)

I appreciate your answers. Look forward reading them.
michele

Hello everybody,

I am new here to flyer talk, so in case this message is in the wrong forum - please move my message... thank you!

From my business and private travels this year I know I will make around 60,000 status miles on M&M. Another 40,000 therefore are needed for Senator status.

Does anyone have good suggestions for mileage runs or any method to collect the maximum amount of miles at the lowest cost? I really want to have that nice shiny gold card again in my pocket :)

I appreciate your answers. Look forward reading them.
michele

My first idea without knowing your travel patterns is: Include "senseless" stopovers on your flights.

This is an especially suitable tool if you fly Business Class and therefore get a minimum mileage per segment flown. So if your flying MUC-LHR-MUC and have an appointment there you can change the flight backwards in the evening:

Not LHR-MUC
BUT LHR-FRA(senseless stopover x)-MUC

This will cost the fuel surcharge of the second segment and will deliver twice the minimum mileage. That would be my first guess with avoiding additional journeys and only "enhancing" the flying back experience in the evening. :D

My first idea without knowing your travel patterns is: Include "senseless" stopovers on your flights.

This is an especially suitable tool if you fly Business Class and therefore get a minimum mileage per segment flown. So if your flying MUC-LHR-MUC and have an appointment there you can change the flight backwards in the evening:

Not LHR-MUC
BUT LHR-FRA(senseless stopover x)-MUC

This will cost the fuel surcharge of the second segment and will deliver twice the minimum mileage. That would be my first guess with avoiding additional journeys and only "enhancing" the flying back experience in the evening. :D
Not quite since FRA-MUC-FRA is domestic and does not earn the same number of miles as LHR-FRA-LHR. The usual trick when travelling between Germany and another country is to fly via ZRH (or ZRH and GVA if you are desparate or have the time). LX Business in Europe is usually cheaper than LH Business.

Or if you are quick you can still take part in this double status miles promo (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18255981-post1278.html).

Welcome to FT, baldesmichele!

Now I am sure the OP gets an impression of how to book and to fly. ^

I have the exact same problem- not enough miles for SEN. My hopes are resting on wild speculations about a new myChoice promotion similar to the one in 2011 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-more-lufthansa-austrian-swiss-other-partners/1202172-mychoice-choose-your-favourite-route-earn-additional-miles-status-miles.html).

Users on VFT report that this time one can choose between award and status miles. If true this would be a great opportunity to make use of the LX business savers before they get "enhanced" in september.

Again, not 100% confirmed but have a look at www.miles-and-more.com/mychoice
(http://www.miles-and-more.com/mychoice)beginning of April (the link is not working yet).

I think that's it's highly unlikely that there will be a mychoice with status miles....

And if there somehow is, it will likely have a max on the miles to be earned. You won't get 40k status miles that easy....

I think that's it's highly unlikely that there will be a mychoice with status miles....

I'm just reporting what I read. Maybe it's an april fools prank- who knows. We know it for sure in a few days.

You won't get 40k status miles that easy....
True. But the double status miles promo mentioned above lets you earn a maximum of 25k additional status miles.

* Your additional status miles will be credited approximately four weeks after the end of the promotion. The promotion applies exclusively to status miles, and does not count as HON Circle miles or award miles. The Executive Bonus is not included. A maximum of 25,000 additional status miles can be earned with this promotion.

* The promotion applies to the following non-stop flights between Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna or Zurich and India, Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates which are operated by Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS:

Austrian Airlines: OS051, 052, 839, 840, 033, 034
Lufthansa: LH710, 711, 714, 715, 736, 737, 740, 741, 778, 779, 790, 791, 754, 755, 756, 757, 764, 765, 758, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 768, 769, 630, 631, 638, 639, 628, 629
SWISS: LX242, 243, 160, 161, 154, 155

* Feeder/connecting flights do not count. Only bookings made between 15 March 2012 and 31 March 2012 for the destinations named above will be eligible; travel period 1 April to 30 June 2012. We recommend that you register for this promotion before you fly and certainly no later than 30 June 2012.

Sure.... But how many trips do you have to make to reach that. And it's just for flights that you booked in a 2 week period.

It might help, but it's not exactly spectacular. I booked an economy flight to NRT that will gain me about 6000 extra status miles to get me over the SEN threshold. But 40k miles will need at least 2 flights to Japan/Singapore, full economy fare.

According to the inflight magazine mychoice will be 2-3x status or award miles.

I'd like to contribute an alternative - OP says he wants the Gold card only - so maybe it would be beneficial to think about why?

If it's lounge access, wouldnt making Gold on Aegan be easier? So siphon off some of 60.000 miles to Aegan, once OP hits 20k, the rest can just be accrued on LH for later use.

This is just a contribution - I do really like the extra benefits I'm starting to discover as a new SEN (preferred seating and seat blocking (hopefully!) being at the top.

I'd like to contribute an alternative - OP says he wants the Gold card only - so maybe it would be beneficial to think about why?

If it's lounge access, wouldnt making Gold on Aegan be easier? So siphon off some of 60.000 miles to Aegan, once OP hits 20k, the rest can just be accrued on LH for later use.

This is just a contribution - I do really like the extra benefits I'm starting to discover as a new SEN (preferred seating and seat blocking (hopefully!) being at the top.

Hello everyone,
Sorry for my late reply. You can see "OP" is new to flyer talk - i did not expect 10 comments already... Thank you all! ^

I do know about the Aegean option, however, that won't give me the seat blocking option as the Senator card does. That's really one of my priorities next to lounge access.
Unfortunately I won't be able to make that promotion any more...

I heard that there might be a good option to go for in the US (Yes, I would go that for the card :D maybe through united? Does anyone know about this or other good tricks in order to gain another 40,000 miles?

As last time - looking forward to replies and promise to be back earlier this time!

It's been mentioned already but take a look at "myChoice" promo which gives you double/treble status miles on Economy/Business flights every time you fly your chosen European shorthaul route between 1 May and the end of 2012.

Details may be found in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-more-lufthansa-austrian-swiss-other-partners/1331000-mychoice-back.html#post18312531) but the registration link is not live yet.

I heard that there might be a good option to go for in the US ... there should be a good way of getting those 40k quickly. Anyone knows sth?

US Air F tickets yield a decent amount of miles... SEA-SJU in A for 650$++ is the classic one. Another one in summer is the AC executive class sale from the US to CA vv that books into A when you route via United.

I heard that there might be a good option to go for in the US ... there should be a good way of getting those 40k quickly. Anyone knows sth?

US F as oliver2002 said - I did a couple of JFK-PHX-JFK (or was it EWR?), same day turnarounds. By the way, I hope you like the retro feeling of the whole US experience :)