So, Lufthansa is launching yet another subsidiary called Lufthansa City Airlines. The airline will fly Airbus A319s on short-haul routes, initially just from MUC. As I understand it, the on-board experience will be the same as flying Lufthansa mainline. The only real difference would be that the staff are paid less.

The part that I find a bit confusing is that Lufthansa City Airlines flights will carry a "VL" flight number. Lufthansa will codeshare on these services so it will be possible to book an LH flight number. But what does this mean for accessing Star Alliance Gold benefits and earning miles etc. with other Star Alliance programs like Turkish Miles&Smiles or Singapore KrisFlyer? Is VL treated the same as a LH flight for that purpose?