Air Rarotonga

The M&B earning chart has been silently changed for earning miles on LX, effective 01MAY15:


First Class
F, A .................................... 300% ..... no minimum

Business Class
J, C, D ................................. 200% ..... minimum 1000mi
Z ....................................... 150% ..... minimum 750mi
P ....................................... 100% ..... minimum 500mi

Economy Class
Y, B .................................... 150% ..... minimum 750mi
M, U, H, G .............................. 100% ..... minimum 500mi
Q, V, W, S ............................... 50% ..... minimum 250mi

Miles cannot be earned in booking classes:
O, I, R, X, N, T, E, L, K


Changes marked in red.

Carpacchio

Thank God I flew in April still....
But indeed - bummer

+1

Giamasetti

Really bad news for me. I've already 6 legs booked with LX in L class, starting from the end of May

GRU-ZRH-FLR
FLR-ZRH-GRU and again
GRU-ZRH-FLR

Any suggestions? These flights, plus 4 legs in Greece, would have been enough to renew my gold status during 2016. Now I am naked Do you have any good suggestions? Maybe asking for a status match with some other Star Alliance member?

pewpew

1) I really hate that this happened

2) I'm glad that I never pulled the trigger on some LX K fares I was looking at.

jiaklormee

Pity...I am flying LX tonight and was going to book more tickets over summer to clock my miles.

With SQ economy (Flexi saver) fares for the same route (LHR-SIN) costing less than LX's equivalent and providing 100% miles (as opposed to LX's 50% after 1 May), there is no more reason for me to choose LX...

To be fair, this comes as no surprise...

Knobbgb

I made an LX booking just yesterday for 19th May. My original choice of flights were five LX K class but I opted for two in S class and the others in LH K (so I was never going to get anything for those anyway). I'm now glad I went for the cheaper and more convenient LH fares over the Swiss K class. I notice my LX S class has been downgraded from 100% earning to 50% so that's not great. I guess Swiss now goes on my "Avoid when possible " list with LH, OS etc. I wonder if they know or care what effect this has. Still, it brings them pretty much into line with the other LH group airlines so it's hardly a surprise.

Isn't seven days notice a little short? I still think the rate that was advertised when the booking was made should be honoured, but I can see why that isn't really practical and is never going to happen.

dmilsi

I wish they would also update the LH accrual chart to reflect the addition of premium economy (N & E class), which, according to the current chart, earn nothing. This is especially galling considering SQ's chart has already been adjusted to include premium economy despite the fact that the service won't even commence until August.

nikolask

That would be most fair I guess and this is also what BA decided to do with their FFP; Executive club changes on the 28th of April but bookings made before that date earn miles according to the old rules - doesn't matter when your flight is.

And it would be also a great idea to notify members about the changes via e-mail and not just silently update the earning charts.

lgts

That's really bad for me too, I have 4 flights (legs) in June and it looks like they will all be zeroed

frenchft

Very bad... now LX is as bad as LH for miles with A3...
Really sucks because the miles credit on very good priced ticket was great...

Knobbgb

I suppose it's much easier to do when an airline is changing their own FFP as they'll have all the relevant information in the bookings and, maybe, the motivation to be "fair" to it's own customers. But this is A3 changing what they award for somebody else's flights so it's a different situation. EDIT: Was the BA program changing what it awarded just for it's own flights or for others in the alliance? Sorry, I don't follow OneWorld at all.

Now - what will be the next big change in M&B awards? My vote goes to SAS...

nikolask

Not sure about this - I am also not that familiar with OW. But I agree it's easier for them to track everything when they are changing their own FFP.

clifford79

Not so great news, but thanks for pointing it out!

What would be the good/reasonable alternatives for crediting these (and other LH-group) flights now?

I see the following:

LX:

• UA MP: 100% for T,E, 0% for K,L
• LH M&M: 125 miles domestic/intra-Europe, 25% international for T,E,K,L
• TK M&S: 50% for T, 25% for E,K, 0% for L
• SK EB: 25% for T,E,K,L,G

LH:

• UA MP: 100% for T,L (0% within Europe), 0% for K
• LH M&M: 125 miles domestic/intra-Europe, 25% international for T,K,L
• TK M&S: 25% for T, 0% for K,L
• SK EB: 25% for T,K,L,W,S (25% for S domestic or worldwide, 100% in Europe)

For the above, other considerations:

• UA MP: Less/no fuel surcharges, miles expire after 18 months without activity
• LH M&M: Possible to earn miles with CC, miles expire after 3 years (extended by CC), no YQ for US domestic
• TK M&S: miles expire after 3 years
• SK EB: Family pooling, no fuel surcharges on SK metal awards, miles expire after 4 years

Hope I didn't mess up the earnings or leave out any significant other considerations.

At this point I'm leaning towards M&M.. hopefully I would be able to collect enough for a long haul mileage bargain

Xandrios

Wow this is bad news indeed. Not only that the cheapest fares do not earn anything, but the ones that used to earn 100% (500 minimum) are now hardly earning anything any more.

So which carriers still earn miles on their lowest fares within Europe? Obviously Aegean ones do, but are there any others left?

NWIFlyer

SK remains the anomaly, although for how much longer it's difficult to say. They need to at least hang on with 100% earnings until I fly with them in late May!

Let's face it, European earnings haven't been great for an awful lot in years - not just in *A. It's hardly a surprise, although as others have said this is awfully short notice.