Yes, after a mere 1920 flights they will have HON status.
That's only 2.63 returns per day ... No wonder every one is complaining about crowded lounges.

This post is mainly addressed to non-travelers or infrequent travelers who want cheap business class tickets and are undecided between this and buying US miles.

This post does not address Frequent Travelers who would have *A Silver or better status no matter what.

Summary:

If you buy business class tickets or even full-fare economy tickets, than this promotion is worth it.

If only for the free tickets and you don't travel except on the award/upgrade tickets; NO, better to buy miles with US Air.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...s/default.html

If you actually fly a couple times a year on *A and/or LH and wouldn't have any status with *A otherwise, than YES.


__________________________________________________ ___________


WARNING:

I have made certain assumptions based on what I believe certain benefits are worth. For you they may be worth more or less.

Also, I have used information that I believe to be reliable from FT, for example, only if you are a M&M member can you see information about eVouchers. I believe the information is correct but can not be certain.

It costs 937.5 Euro (all in) per 50,000 miles. So 625,000 is 11,250 Euros or $~15,500.

You get a 25% bonus after the first roundtrip. 100,000 for the first roundtrip. 105,000 for the next 5.

For this money one would receive 10 eVouchers. 6 for Hon, 2 for partner Sen, and 2 when demoted to Sen.

It takes 4 eVouchers to fly roundtrip in business from FRA-JFK, according to FT. So one would receive 2.5 Business Class tickets. You can't buy S,W,U fares. V or Q looks like your best bet. The tickets should run about $200 more than a normal economy ticket. I value the upgrade at $1,000 a roundtrip (it's really $1,200 is you back out the increase in the price of an economy ticket.

$1,000 benefit * 2.5 tickets = $2,500

$15,500 (flight cost) - $2,500 (eVoucher) = $13,000 (Cost-Vouchers)

Now on to the free tickets.

625,000 miles get you 4 business and 4 companion business tickets to America with 40,000 miles to spare.

Unfortunately, with lufthansa, one has to pay the stupid fuel surcharges LHYQ on bonus tickets, according to FT. From FRA to JFK it's about $340 for taxes and fees.

$340 Tax * 8 tickets = $2720 (Taxes and Fees)

$13,000 (Cost-Vouchers) + $2720 (Fees and Tax) = $15,720 Real Cost

Next one has to value the residual 65K. I will use 1.5 cents a mile.

65,000K * $.015 = $975


$15,720 (Real Cost) - $975 (Residual Cost) = $14,745

$14,742 (Real Cost) / 8 tickets = $1,843 per Business Class Ticket

If you are only buying the miles to use the free tickets and upgrades than it is not worth it, assuming you don't ever fly.

I bought US miles and got a ticket that contains a European leg (C), Transatlantic leg (F), and a US leg (C) (6 segments in total) for $2000 a ticket, all fees/taxes included. I could of had business for $1,600 a ticket. I don't fly for business so the benefits listed below don't make sense for me.

Also one must take into account that the flights I figured up above (8 free tickets) didn't include a US or European leg and those would surely add more tax and/or fees to each ticket.

So if one is just doing it for the miles than buy as many tickets as one can with US. I bought 8 using accounts of every family member.

Now what happens if you actually fly LH and/or *A.

Let's assume you fly 12 a year roundtrip on LH and/or *A (I know that is a small number for FT, but I would say is average for a normal business traveler).

For 4.5 years you will not have to pay checked baggage charges.

$25 Baggage Fees * 54 = $1,350 Baggage Fees

I know it could possibly be so much more each trip, but sometimes you wouldn't travel with baggage, so I just made an assumption.

Next you get access to the lounge.

Again at $25 a round trip that is another $1,350 of benefit. I costs more for a 1-day pass, but I figure that you won't use it every time, so I just made an assumption.

Next the 25% milage bonus is worth at least another roundtrip business class ticket in 4 years.

So to recap:

$14,742 (Real Cost) - $1,350 (Baggage) - $1,350 / 9 tickets = $1,338 a Business Class Ticket.

Of coarse I haven't included intangibles like FCT, limousine, PA, etc. And if you fly more often, the 25% bonus could give you more than one free business class ticket.

So if one actually flies a couple times a year on LH/*A, than this is definitely worth it.

If anyone notices any mistakes, errors, etc. Please let me know and I will edit the post.

Praise is also welcome

Wonderful analysis. And this is exactly why the current management doesn't care about such a liability as it will only impact the next generation of leaders who will harvest the blame.

Plus I learned that there's creme brulee in the FCL !
Airing that on FlyerTalk is equivalent to wander into a church or a mosque and 'brief' the followers on non-tangible values on their errors. It feels much more educated and wise than it actually is ...

The calculation is totally flawed with regards to baggage and lounge day passes.

Assuming you already are at least FTL to start with or that you will reach SEN after your first round-trip on LHPJ, you will get 52'500 miles per leg.

Suggestions?

Depends on if you would have *A silver/gold status otherwise, whether you would use the lounge, whether you would have baggage.

As I said, I made ASSUMPTIONS.

You could argue either way (should be higher or lower). One extra bag at 23KG inter-Europe is 230 Euros on LH. Lounge can cost up to $50 for a day pass and in some lounges in Europe you can't even get a day pass.

It just depends. I just tried to give some calculation to something that is very very individual and ha intangibles s alot of.

Thank you, I will edit the post and do an alternative calculation based on that.

There is a 4th category - those who fly a lot but cannot quite get HON status (eg due to eco travel, based outside main M&M markets, etc) for whom spending a small amount extra for HON makes sense.

I don't fully understand your Math, but buying miles from US to use on LH seems pretty useless: award availability is terrible if you are not SEN/HON and don't have LH Miles.

And no, I dont want to fly US Air to Germany or within the US or anywhere .

Redeeming LH miles as SEN/HON has excellent availability. I think $3500 for a Z fare is reasonable, and I think being able to obtain miles to redeem at ~$2000 / RT is an excellent deal given that on award tickets, D class availability is relevant and there is no 50 day advance booking requirement unlike in Z fares.

I, so far, knock on wood, have not had an LH flight that was unavailable using US miles on LH metal. Maybe it is because I am getting F tickets.

I agree, I would never fly on US metal. LH and LX for me.

Or if in business, I would use AC. It seems pretty nice.

Yes, it's still a good deal if you are going to pay $3500 for a ticket. Not a steal. US Buy Miles or Track It Back are/was a steal.

The first part of my post was for people who never fly and just want incredibly cheap business class tickets; US is cheaper.

The second part was for business travelers, and for them it is a great deal because of all the other benefits they get, and even a steal if they normally pay for business class tickets.

So, jrmcrm -- let me ask a few questions:
-- can i do the buy 50k miles get 100k miles, ie pay $1375 for 100k miles as many times as I want until 3/31, or only once? I.e. is the "50k limit" per transaction or total?

-- So if i book a F ticket on LH with these miles, i'd need 125k miles? Does this only work on US/LH codeshares?

-- How can I find out about LH/US codeshares? Are LH458/9 MUC-SFO US codeshares?

-- Is there a way I can check F award availability on US/LH codeshares?


-- I Just looked on the USair site: it seems only LH flights ex US air hubs (CLT, PHL) are codeshares or are offered on the site?

Thanks!!!

(sorry, with "deserving" i actually meant that they most likely will "earn" HONdom in any case...)

You can only buy 50K (100K) per account. However, you can also gift 50K(100k) from another account.

So what I did was everyone in my family bought 50K (100K) and then everyone gifted everyone else with 13K (26k)

I ended up with 126K in each account. And that costs $1,862.44.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...s/default.html

You need 125K for F to Europe. You can use it on any Star Alliance member. No, It does not need to be a codeshare flight.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...wardchart.html

Click on Partner Award Travel Chart

To check availability of any Star Alliance Award Flight (except LX) use the ANA Tool.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...ad-merged.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-d...sterclass.html

These two links should help you out.

To me, it's about more than just the miles. The miles are what got me to bite - but flying from MUC to SMV and landing at St. Moritz airport is just something I've been wanting to do since I was a kid.

Spend a day there in the spring, have a good time with five other blokes, head back and get 102,500 miles for my troubles - that's a good deal. It'll be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me but something I'll always remember as a highlight because the very idea is crazy

I was just looking at LPJ website.

It states (under Booking - Ticket Concept)

"An additional benefit: You will receive a First Class Ticket for every flight, which, as usual, is included in the price."

What does that mean exactly?

Is it one ticket per charter? per roundtrip?