RTW4

for all of you out there who have yet to do the HON private jet run.. here are my observations.

1. As crazy as we we all are for points and status.. this was a unique two day experience#

2. There were 6 passengers who flew round trip from ZRH-MUC twice daily for 2 days with lunch each day in the FCL at MUC

3. one passenger from SIN, one from MAN, one from FRA, one from SZG, one from LCA and one from JFK... Great mix

4. Indescribale comraderie developed with each member of the flying team#

5. Nothing like a private jet in my experiene..

I will document more in the near future.. However, besides the quest for HON, this was a great chance to meet and get to know others with a keen interest in the world of miles......

NewbieRunner

I'm looking forward to further reports and interested to know when you'll actually receive a black card assuming the four PJ flights have catapulted you over the magic number.

Bart_ek

how much miles did these 4 (?) return trips bring you?
what was the overall cost you paid?
do you think LH will make the promo next year?

NewbieRunner

105k miles per RT including executive bonus (5k).

1863 € per RT.

I doubt it.

econprof

There's definitely bonding in dropping > EUR 7200 a piece on something!

SMK77

This was an experience money cannot buy. If anyone needed a proof how powerful the internet is in bringing people together - here you go. We had a great time in Zurich and making new friends is priceless.

InfiniteCycle

Pretty vulgar really. DB does this route in first class for about 160 euros advance booking.

In my opinion (and it is that, my opinion) anyone booking a private jet and flying pointlessly around on return trips to a nearby city is nothing short of an environmental vandal. I fly A LOT more than the liberal in me thinks is acceptable, but at least I do something when I get to where I am going that I couldn't do on my doorstep.

mamb0

Well, I would not call anyone here a vandal, but I agree with you that LH should have implemented an eco friendly "Just Pay" option. They would have made even more profit.

dre_techie

Good to know. Could you tell us how you can collect 420k HON circle miles on your doorstep?

I respect your views of why it's not eco-friendly, however I think you're denying there's any value in these trips. And for the people who took the trips there was some perceived value.

econprof

Just a guess here, but it's probably worth at least EUR 7200 to them.

cesco.g

Call Al Gore & Schwarzenegger!

mamb0

No seriously. For such an insane promotion, where they literally are giving away miles against cash and where the whole "oh you need to actually fly"-part is not much more then a mere fig leaf excuse to create fake traffic that would not have occured otherwise, in my believe they should be forced to make the transaction without any flights involved, too.

Do not get me wrong, I am happy for all of you who profited from this dumb and damaging promotion and I absolutely understand those of you who did it, because you obviously had a lot of fun doing it and got a sh*tload of cheap miles on top.

But this promo really goes on my nerves.

It is a devaluation of their loyalty program.

It created tons of fake traffic.

It actually damaged the PJ business and drove real clients away.

Yes rental spiked this month for LHPJ, so much that they had to turn away a lot of customers. Problem is, LHPJ seems to have served the mileage runner and not customers with a high potential of returning.

Our company was turned away again today with an unpersonalized standard letter telling our travel team that LHPJ is sold out for May because of their "anniversary celebrations" and we should come back again next month but "keep in mind, the travel conditions will be different then" - without explaining to us, what that should mean. I know it, it is a not so obvious reminder that starting with next month, they dont binge out miles.

Now here is the thing: Our travel agent went to netjets customer for a trip to cannes earlier this month after they were turned down by LHPJ for the first time. Now guess with whom they organized this vip-trip after they were sent away by LHPJ again? Right. Again with netjets. Do you believe they will call LHPJ a third time to try drop business on them? I know the answer.

I am deeply shocked, that obviously no one in the vast world of LH is responsible for checking the sanity of promotions before they are put into the market space. It took us guys a milisecond to realize "Hell yeah, that is the best deal ever for status and hon circle miles" and we did not even need sophisticated hardware like a pocket calculator to get this.

I hope it is a good lecture for them to understand what kind of power networked customers can have over them.

DownUnderFlyer

A very well written summary, mamb0!

weero

Which means that as soon as next year, LHPJ will need an interesting promo in order to attract more customers .
The current management - who is too dumb to even negotiate with unions properly - will never learn the lesson. At best they will feel 'exploited' by evil thinking customers - something their PR deities could not have possibly foreseen - and devalue the status of those greedy HON 'parasites'. All of them of course, in order not to be legally accountable.

It always and reliably was their reaction. I expect nothing else now.

InfiniteCycle

mamb0 - you put it far better than I ever could have.