Originally Posted by TravellinHusker

So, last year LH offered SEN status to Italians who were elite level in other programs. I was Plat with AFKL. I had flown just one time on LH and never on the other *A carriers in Europe. I really had no problems with AFKL until the April Fool's Day surprises so, I decided to take LH up on their offer. Last year, I only had about 7 months of flying left by the time I was comped SEN status and many trips had already been planned on AFKL. Starting with this year, I booked almost 100% on LH/LX/OS and *A partners . I also bought lots of miles from USAirways to fly F on several long-haul flights. Listen, I know it involves giving up the miles, but it's just stupid not to take advantage of it while they let us. Where else can you get F class to PVG, NBO, or EZE for less than €1000 roundtrip? But because of these tickets using miles from US, I haven't been able to requalify for SEN status. I also didn't hear about the Double Status promotion until it was almost too late. I'm not sure how that one escaped my eyes on FT! So, I quickly registered myself for the promo and investigated flights on LH Italia. I ended up booking almost all flights using the LH China website using the 500CNY discounts for the Shanghai Expo. Booking in Z class one-ways this reduced many flights like MAD-MXP-CDG down to about €120 one-way all-in.

I took 4 days off from work and ended up flying on AZ from VCE to NAP on a cheapo €49 fare, then for the first day ended up flying NAP-MXP-CDG-MXP-NAP-MXP-CDG, the second day was supposed to be CDG-MXP-BRI-MXP-ARN-MXP, but due to the French strikes my morning CDG-MXP was cancelled, so they rebooked me on CDG-FRA-MXP, then I finished MXP-BRI-MXP-ARN-MXP. The third day saw some similar chaos from the French strike. I was supposed to go MXP-MAD-MXP-CDG-MXP-CDG-MXP, but instead had to fly MXP-MAD-MXP-CDG-MXP-CDG-MUC-MXP. ANd the fourth day, MXP-WAW-MXP-BRI-MXP-CDG. Then used a FlyingPoo one-way award for CDG-VCE. In the end, I paid about €1200 for the tickets, but because of an involuntary downgrade on one leg, I was paid €480 in cash and because of the "service disruptions" I was also given a €50 discount voucher twice. So, in all, I paid less than €700. I earned more than 66.000 award miles, over 79.000 status miles, and SEN satus requalified through 2013. It was a bit exhausting, but I did pick up 2 nights for my HH requalification and 2 nights for HY.

I got to meet some of the most amazing in-flight crew on LH Italia. In fact, I ended up with several of the same crews over and over and over. They kept me well-fed, well-hydrated, and sometimes a bit tipsy (hiccup). All of them commented on how much they love flying with LH Italia and do not ever want to return to LH Classic, as they call it. I hate MXP airport. It's a real cr@phole. The worst part of the trip was having short turnarounds in Paris, Naples, and Bari. Paris is ok actually, just out one door, back through security, and then it's done. Naples and Bari are not so fun. It requires a bus ride to the terminal, a mad dash past the Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri in the baggage claim area, up the escalators, zig-zag back the other way to security, wait in line, go through security again, and run back downstairs to the boarding gate. Inevitably, no matter how fast I ran, boarding had always already commenced and I was left with less than 5 minutes to spare before the doors closed. Best airport for an MR quick-turn: ARN. Hands down. Exit the jetway, make a right turn into the waiting area. Perhaps I walked 10 steps. Doesn't get any easier than that. Oh, Scandinavian efficiency. If only it was teachable to the Italians!