DownUnderFlyer

I know some people who spend a lot of miles in Worldshop. All of them are HONS with 500k miles or more per year and hundreds of thousands of EUR/GBP/USD on credit card. They literally have no need for a good value F award. One flight a year with the family in C will set them back 30% of their yearly earnings. And the rest? Family can't wait for the Wordlshop catalogue to come out (which is very nice) and buy themselves silly.

Rambuster

About 28% of miles are redeemed on WorldShop.
The figure peaks at the end of a quarter when miles are set to expire for base members.

LonLH

Full fare F is around 4000. Amex Centurion and my TA has a 2-for-1 on full F and C until end 2012, which works out to GBP 2000 approx. Several other UK TAs also have special deals with EK.
2499 is the solo fare.

Rambuster

A class I presume not F?

LonLH

No, it books into F so no penalties for change/cxl. Valid on all flights incl A 380. Solo fares are A fares.

HKGBCN

wow.

Like most in this (very entertaining) thread I'm disappointed with the 'enhancement' and glad that in 2010 I burned a good deal of miles for LX F rewards which which were an excellent experience. That extra portion of miles to be able to redeem can be quite a stretch for those whose only option for earning is flying.

I'm a huge fan of LX. A huge fan. Having made some 36 long haul trips this year between Europe and Asia I've actively tried to direct most of them to LX (and NZ). I'm likely (although one lives in hope) to be short of the HON requirement for this 2 year period and aside from the relatively good pricing for C class, adequate Y product and a generally leading experience, the earning/redemption levels of M&M have always been a draw.

In a way, this enhancement is a liberating moment. Even if I don't take another STAR flight, I remain as *gold until 2014 through the excellent M&M status policy. This means I am free to explore motivating my OW status on BA or CX as well as, like many here have suggested, exploring the Middle East options without the nagging sense of loss that in the past has come with flying carriers outside of the LH group / STAR.

TRAVELSIG

Very well said! This is exactly how I feel!

sokolov

To answer my own question: The 50k price is still available for US addresses, but only if the flight starts in the US - so far, flights starting in Canada where also discounted. :-(

sokolov

And with this discount code
FTE-B3CE-LWWM-132E
you can save 10 € in the Worldshop (minimum order 49 Euro). (This might actually make me order something there for the first time. Haven't decided yet.)

Actually the 1.000 miles for the shipping costs within Germany (5,50 €) are a pretty good miles->Euro ratio. :-) The rest is the usual ~0,003 Eurocents per mile. Plus many of the prices are not very attractive.

ngfan

Well said !

Although I am still stuck in Y to any destination on this globe while on corporate expense, C sleeping comfort on LH/LX/OS is very average at best due to the seats comparing more to a ski jump experience ("Three Hills Tournament") than an ok bed (QR and EK are much better here).

My collegue, Head of Controlling of the corporation, even made SEN in Y only (mostly in an always full Y cabin on a monthly ZRH-GRU-ZRH run) and had courageously been enduring his own cost-cutting decisions to fly the company in Y only (except for the top brass of course) but is getting more and more fed up with it now realising the stressful experience on his own body .

whiskey_sk

the question is, how tall is he?

banzani

+1 !

With SEN secured until Feb 2014, I have recently had some good trips in BA Club longhaul, but also some disappointments (their customer service most of all). I will make Gold shortly and then find out what happens.

I just completed a combined C/F longhaul trip with QR and was impressed. That's another avenue worth pursuing.

LH/LX have somehow disappeared from my shortlist for the time being.

athomas76

I know what you mean: done that years ago when I (based in Switzerland) switched from Qualiflyer to Oneworld (BA) but came back to Swiss. It all depends where you have to go to. If you fly mostly on the North Altlantic & UK routes, then BA is a very good alternative with very competitive prices.

At the end of the day and the more you travel, it all depends on the network and the schedules offered - I rate nonstop flights above all fancy flatbed seats with 5'000 channels IFE systems, champagnes & food served on board, shiny lounges and the number of miles I can possibly earn. With this in mind and a mix of around 60% European and 40% longhaul flights I naturally came back to my home carrier (Swiss). Things may change again when Air Berlin is fully integrated in Oneworld...

As for QR: flew them and liked their product - but again, changing planes in Qatar in the middle of the night is not my cup of tea. And their flight schedule and equipment use is a hit and miss. Also if anything goes wrong (cancelled flight) I feel much more relaxed as a SEN on LX/LH or as a BA Gold on BA.

NA-Flyer

OK I understand that LH increase the redemption level for the F class to keep it special and to make it more profitable with the small number of seats.

However, I don't understand why they increase the redemption level for their C class seats and they have one of the worst seats in the industry

LH C class seat is crap and only deserve to be flown with USairways dividend miles redemption tickets only when the purchased miles are also purchased during a bonus promotion .

NewbieRunner

Actually it's a waste of US Airways miles to use them on C awards when F awards on the same airline cost additional 25% or less.