(not new to this board, and not a very competent discussion on that uk-link in my judgement).

yes, as discussed already on this board under different topics, StarAlliance-carriers (starting with LH and SK this winter 00/01) try to 'unify'/'simplify' some parts of their ff-programs in the very near future.

LH, as the example I know best, will 'give up' honoring reaching/renewing 'ff' or 'Senator' with bonus-miles and, instead, replace them with (25%?, 50%?) status-miles on (every LH?, or even every Star?-)-flight.

Many, now-existing, major differences between the individual programs make it very difficult to move forward very fast with a 'unified program' that should finally replace individual ff-progams. I am pretty sure that individual programs will still be around in year 2003 ...