solccs

Hi,

I'm TK Elite and I do about 12 European flights a month (mostly LH). I'm TK Elite, but no longer living in Turkey, so TK doesn't make sense for me anymore. Would like to switch to Miles & More without having to rework my way up the food chain to Gold...

Any ideas?

Thanks

Solccs

malmostoso

LH doesn't status match, but with 12 flights a month you will make FTL in less than 3 months (which comes with lounge access).

Do you only fly economy? Can you choose your booking classes? Do you do any long-haul flying?

Making SEN at 125 miles at the time is clearly impossible.

Lack

What makes you think that M&M would work for you? There's plenty TK Elites outside Turkey.

htb

Why does TK Elite no longer make sense for you?

HTB.

solccs

Many thanks for your replies.

Why does TK Elite no longer make sense for you?
Is there a point to be collecting miles on TK, if I will never redeem miles via Istanbul? Imagine I wanted to redeem miles on a FRA-JFK, wouldn't it be wiser to be on LH-M&M? Can I even get such an award flight without flying from/via/to istanbul? Can I book such a non-Istanbul flight with TK miles from outside Turkey?
Basically I'm concerned the use my miles on TK might eventually be to me, considering I'm unlikely to be back in Turkey in any foreseeable future.

Do you only fly economy?
Yes, mostly.

Can you choose your booking classes? Do you do any long-haul flying?
No to both.

Making SEN at 125 miles at the time is clearly impossible.
If TK status miles are what you are referring to, in the last years on average I get about 500 status miles per flight due to varying booking rates (I guess).

Many thanks for replies!

Lack

You can use TK miles for all available Star Alliance travel, no need for IST connection or actually stepping on board TK.

Check your TK statement, it should show what exact booking classes you got and you can then compare it to what M&M awards for the flights and if its anywhere close to 100k for M&M Gold.

televisor

FWIW you should be able to accrue credit to one program, while getting *G benefits from another program. You can (in theory) just show the *G card for the baggage/checkin/lounge benefits. (Some airlines explicitly allow having two FF numbers as part of a reservation, I think NZ do that, but most only allow the accrual number.)

Expect some pushback at times, but I think with LH group airlines it's almost impossible for miles not to accrue to M&M if you buy tickets with your M&M account/number.

malmostoso

First of all welcome to FT

Yes, status miles are what's important here. If you only book economy fares you receive very small amounts of them. Most flights in economy intra-europe earn 125 miles if you book in advance, so reaching 100k in 12 months is pretty much impossible.
If you book last minute you can get more, but it really depends on your booking and traveling pattern.

If you decide to stay with TK you can redeem your award miles on all *A partner, but the process is quite convoluted, while booking awards on M&M is a simple online process.

Also, if you stay with TK, check carefully the earning chart for LH flights. You will find that most economy booking classes do not earn anything.

Overall it's a tough choice and it really depends what you want from status. If you can maintain both TK*G and LH FTL that would probably the best, but again it really depends on your travel pattern which only you know.

htb

Yes. Others have already pointed out your false assumption.

The miles you get on M&M will be different from what is credited to the TK program. I believe it will be impossible for you to reach SEN (*G on M&M) with only a handful of low-priced intra-Europe economy flight.

Maybe another program altogether might be better suited, e.g. Aegan? You will have to look at your expected bookings and booking classes and determine yourself if you will be likely to reach the required miles.

HTB.

CPH-Flyer

Miles & More is best suited for long haul premium class passengers. Your flying patterns seems far better suited for TK, A3, or SK gold cards. You would as mentioned need to look hard at your booking classes from the past year and do the math of which one is best.

Your current card will keep you with lounge benefits until you get the new one.

LH4116

I fly a lot with Lufthansa intra Europe, mostly on expensive Business Class fares (C D J). I credit to TK, very close to reaching Elite Plus which in my opinion is far more advantageous than Senator on Lufthansa. My major complaint is the fact that Lufthansa are deliberately blocking P class for mileage credit to TK, which in my opinion makes no sense. P tickets aren't exactly cheap in the first place, with the exception of some promotional fares. But the fact is that Lufthansa uses it as the basic lowest booking class. I can live with the 100% mileage credit, but getting 0 miles for a €3-4000 ticket makes no sense. It just acts as an incentive to drive customers away from Lufthansa.

hugolover

Papa Lufti knows exactly what he's doing and anyone who questions that needs to keep quiet

shorthauldad

Sometimes they do, perhaps not straight to SEN but certainly to FTL.

I was explicitly refused this at MAN yesterday morning - flying SQ, due to booking class wanted to credit to Krisflyer but use another *G for benefits.

hugolover

With LX its a very easy change in OLCI. Have done it many times while sitting on the aircraft and PIL printed.

shorthauldad

I've also done this kind of thing, and had the airline post the flight to the "wrong" FF scheme. Even if a gate agent changes the FF# and reprints a BP, the flight can still post to the original scheme (although at least with a BP showing the "right" scheme and number it makes it easier to get things corrected).