San Gottardo

Just to calibrate things a bit between AF and LH/LX…

• LH/LX also suffer from issues. Not many last minute cancellations, but a fair share of delays especially on LH (I think in June only about 50% of flights were on time). It doesn’t feel worse than AF.
• LHLX are accommodating and finding solutions for their top customers, but not more or less than the ULTI service, although the HON service is somewhat easier to reach during certain hours.
• As for First Class, I had the (extremely dubious) pleasure to be in a First Class/Premiere cabin of Air France, Lufthansa or Swiss once a day eight days in a row to shuttle between NY and different places in Europe, so I could really compare details. Happy to provide my personal comparison for each element of the offering if you’re really interested, but to give you the essence: I’d rank Air France and Swiss First Class as equally good, albeit with different strengths. Lufthansa First Class not at the same level, you may regret Air France, especially when transferring in Frankfurt.

You get it immediately, for the rest of the current year + 2 full years + until end of February of the following year. If you reach HON this September, you will have the status from September 2022 to February 2025. Your requalification period runs from January 2023 to December 2024. No carry-over of HON miles.

Being HON is better than being ULTI on flights where there is no First Class. On a scale from 0 to 10 with 10 being the best, I’d give 4/10 for ULTI (opening the ULTI lane at 2E arrivals would make this a 6/10), and 8/10 for HON. It’s very good, but not perfect. You’ll see.