Yes, I agree that it can be a nice little earner when people never redeem their miles. Surely though, these outstanding miles are a liability that the FFP needs to account for? Haven't some airlines spun off their FFPs for this very reason? AC Aeroplan comes to mind, but I might be getting my facts mixed up.

I'm one who will be greatly affected by this. I'd be interested to know when this will go into effect. Ie., if your gold membership year started before this new rule was announced will you still be able to rack up unlimited conversion of status to destination miles until your current membership year expires? Or is this cutoff effective immediately for all members? Diamond club, if you're reading this, an answer to this question would be appreciated.

BD was a great choice for parking most of my miles as it has great benefits for those of us who don't fly on M&M airlines. I fly more than enough to reach LH's HON circle level, except that almost none of my flights are on M&M airlines so they don't count. I'll definitely still continue to use BD up to the 250K limit but after that will have to consider other alternatives, and M&M won't be one of them.

I also don't understand why they bother to change the program now that it is coming to an end soon....

I'll be also affected by this if I can interpret this the right way. What does it mean a "maximum of 250.000 distination miles".

a) Is this only the miles on top of 55k, so basically allowing us to accumulate up to 305k miles/year or is

b)our earning capped at 250k per year (which would be very bad indeed!) or is

c)this 250k limit the double miles limit, making it 250 (double)+250 (usual miles)+55 (55k threshold) = capped at 555k/year?

They'll likely just limit the conversion of status to destination miles to 250k convertible. Thereafter, you will continue to earn in the normal ways, just as below the 55k threashold.

Who told you the programme is coming to an end soon?

:D^

Well, I must have thought that one up all by myself...:D But seriously, after the LH takeover the days of DC are numbered. I know you guys have your hopes up for it to remain the same but LH clearly doesn't like the DC award scheme. Why do you think they stopped the F C&M redemptions for us?

The C&M debacle is a discussion for another looong thread... however, the 55k cap is only to stop DC being a competitor to the HON Circle and to save a whole lot of money.

No one seriously expecst the programme wil remain the same, however, there are compelling reasons for not M&Ming the programme too. There's something to play for still, though what it might be, nobody knows.

That would probably be my interpretation as well. Last membership year it wouldn't have affected me (hit 200K EQM) but this year maybe.

I'm not sure if this is also what you're saying, but my understanding of the rule is this:

You get a bonus for a maximum of 250K status miles above 55K (so in between 55K and 305K miles). Any status miles below 55K or above 305K will not be converted.

To me this is another sign of LH protecting themselves from mega accounts flying into M&M :rolleyes:

I think this measure is better than, say, bmi devaluing their miles a la UA or DL. With the largest ever operating loss they announced this year, I fear other changes may be in order.