Originally Posted by
UltraRant
First of all, welcome to FlyerTalk!
.....
Usually the Diamond mail answers within a week or so. Keep calling them, push a bit, try one of the other mail boxes for diamonds and make sure you write in English.
Thank you
I actually get replies from them within hours...their answers are the issue as I get: "you have priority but we are very busy please wait another 8-14 days"..then I patiently wait and contact them after 15-18 days and I get reply within hours: "you have priority but we are very busy please wait another 8-14 days"
(and then when they leave me/us behind in airports due to missing confirmations and re-booking screw up from their side etc. you run your head against the wall and are left to wait 7-9-11 hours in some remote airport in the weekend (my last couple of intercontinental flights
)
Originally Posted by
UltraRant
I cannot recommend Miles & More. I still have a Senator card but I'm ditching the program, as LH made it absolutely clear that I'm not welcome if I'm not at least flying in full flex business or first. Also service is deteriorating there. Ground staff is usually arrogant, indifferent and sometimes plain aggressive. In the air, LH still has a decent product, though.
Thanks for the feedback - My experiences with LH has actually been very good which is why I considered them. However, I see the feedback in this thread and took a look on the M&M thread and will probably not join them.
Originally Posted by
UltraRant
I personally still like LX best for long haul, even in economy. And I agree with fassy: SK is pretty decent when it comes to award bookings (another thing I don't like about M&M: sometimes the price of a reward ticket is higher than the price of a revenue ticket), and the extra gold card is gold.
UA I was interested in since you can see their available Star Alliance bonus flight online which you cannot with SAS. Actually, when I lived in China it was very difficult for me to spend my points
Originally Posted by
UltraRant
But what is important in a frequent flyer program differs per person. Some people go for fast status and lounge access, others go for lots of points and bonus flights and upgrades, and other people maybe have other reasons. Before, the Aegean program used to be quite popular. They've now changed the rule,s but it's still quite decent if you want to qualify for gold fast and don't care much about points. Otherwise, Asiana might have a good deal... For me, SK is still the best deal within Star Alliance though...
Definitely - for me it is the value of getting help once you run into problems (as this happens quite a bit if flying frequently) and the lounge access when not flying business. I will try to look at Aegean and Asiana - the 500k deal with Asiana sounds quite interesting^ My award flights tend to be through Star Alliance anyway - when I lived in Asia it was always on Air China, Asiana or ANA despite holding SK card - and my experiences from flying the Asia carriers, including TG, has been very good service (especially when traveling with small children)