Originally Posted by
LH4116
This year however, I have decided that it's no longer worth pursuing Elite Plus....Fares have been high and it's hard to justify paying 2-3x the price to fly Turkish when you can fly a better carrier at a fraction of the cost.
Triust me , the grass isnt always greener elsewhere
But if an airline brings you from A to B and match more requirements than TK , then go for it . There is no loyalty when money is involved
I fly IST - DTW several times per year due to working in Turkey, and got so frustrated that I completely changed to SkyTeam..
Both elite plus (*G and ST elite plus) are good to have together , if someones flies a lot and is able to keep both then it helps not being locked and jailed by one airline or alliance
IST has an advantage to have almost all skyteam players from europe and middle east , while being not far from their hubs (3h max) .
Too bad SU got kicked out and AZ + CZ left , but it still gives you lot of possibilities , and if you go to america you can always connect through CDG and AMS
but with LH they still try to force you to fly SunExpress (disgusting) so I decided that it would be best to make a clean switch
Back in the days , up until 2012 at least , LH still had lot of flighs to turkey besides IST , i remember LH flights between ESB and MUC with proper meals in Y and free seat selection
Now i switched to transit by IST so i can avoid similar issues like yours
Now, I only fly TK on domestic routes, since SunExpress, Pegasus, AnadoluJet, and the other LCCs are even worse.
Well , in some cases now LCC are the only choice in turkey , and TK isnt always better than anadolu jet
Originally Posted by
craigthemif
Nor is ending up in a middle seat on UA Basic Economy or being denied lounge access by TAP.
This has not to do with TK but rather star alliance itself .
Your TAP situation most likely happened at airport where no "free" star alliance lounge was available , and TAP (like other star allaince airlines do) , only provide 3rd party lounge access for their own elites + J paxs , cause they dont want to pay
Which makes me think more about priority/dragon pass , cause i get tired of playing "guess and try" at remote stations
About middle seat , not sure about AA (I assume it is similar) but DL is doing same BS with basic economy , and no skyteam status can help you avoid this
someone who doesn't care about any FFP aspects; who flies basic economy and just cares about the 2 free checked bags and the decent food in Y.
Yeap , i had several experiences with different FFPs and i came to same conclusion and behaviour . I just expect the bare minimum , nothing more , and i am happy if , in the end , it is not a dead end (in sense i can convert my miles elsewhere) . otherwise FFPs are just good marketing propaganda
Originally Posted by
shuly
- TK flies everywhere. I can't remember when I had to travel somewhere that they did not serve.
- The lounges in IST are simply perfect (I know there's criticism here; there's criticism here over everything
.
Maşallah , as would say adnan oktar !! I have a joke i make with turkish friends working for TK that everywhere i go they are with me .
Which makes it easier to get full benefits , as star alliance works this way = you need to fly the airline of your FFP
For instance , to keep my TP status i need to fly TP , but their network is essentially europe + south america + a bit of north/west africa . If i move elsewhere for a long period of time i am in troubles
While not being the most comfortable place for a long layover , the food offering at IST is simply the best i have seen from a flagship lounge in europe
Skyteam might offer less benefits than competitors in general but at least it is more standardized compared to star alliance and besides few clearly documented exceptions (domestic lounge access for instance) everything is pretty fair and well explained