NewbieRunner

In other words check what equipment is used for your route (seems like the A346) and look at the first post in the First retrofit thread mentioned by RTW1. You will find that there is no A346 with new F based in FRA.

Alternatively use this link to check if your flight will have new F.

Dark Blue

Sorry to bother you, but I have one question about Swiss First. I might have seen a thread regarding this before, but can not find it now.

I booked a flight in LX F at the beginning of this year, was told there was no window seat available on the particular flight. I checked it online, I did not even see any seats on both window sides, i.e. as if there had not been any window seats on the aircraft. I rang the CS, they said the same thing, no window seats were available.

Then I realised now I could see these window seats as "occupied". I rang the CS and was told they were all taken. I was also told if I had requested for a window seat when I booked it in Jan/Feb, I could have got a window seat??? I was just gobsmacked

When I booked the flight, all the four non-window seats were available. It's hard to believe four people booked the particular flight and took all window seats by the time when I made the booking. In fact, the CS told I could have got a window seat in Jan/Feb.

I am now wait listed for 1A, but obviously HONs & Senators will be prioritised. I was Senator at the time of booking, but now been downgraded.

Does Swiss always block F window seats like this? This seems pretty unfair. I am not quite happy, in particular the journey time is over 12 hours...

NewbieRunner

There are a few threads in the Swiss sub-forum on this topic, e.g.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss...iss-first.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss...a-2k-lx-f.html

The best chance of getting one of the window seats is to call Swiss in Basel. As you will see from the threads there are so many conflicting reports it's hard to say if there is any policy.

Arcanum

Since I can't upgrade economically, I'm thinking of using my points to book an award seat instead.

If I want to fly NRT-ZRH-YUL in F, is it 105,000 miles (Far East to North America) or will they charge me per segment?

Similarly, if I want to fly SYD-YUL, can I go via BKK and ZRH for 105,000 miles in F?

RTW1

The miles you will need are for the whole route (one way). But on one ways there are no stops, just stopovers for <24hrs. And a substantial amount of taxes/fees ofcourse.... But you will be in F :-).

YuropFlyer

Asia - Europe - North America is a 3-region-award, ie will be much more expensive than 105k miles in F RT. That's for a direct flight Asia-North America

Same applies for SYD-YUL or similar routings. I think going via BKK and ZRH isn't possible at all on such routings with M&M (thats what US DM is for )

Also, keep in mind that unless you hold SEN or HON, you can't book LX F from 2014 onwards!

RTW1

You're right.... I missed the Europe part. One a one way without any stops I would prefer the more direct route, even in F. But ofcourse the 3region award chart would apply otherwise 145k for a oneway then.

go_around

Thanks. I managed to work around it. However, nothing I manage to bring up seems to have any availability. Is this just a fact of life? How accurate/comprehensive is the ANA tool? It generally brings up far fewer segment possibilities than the Star Alliance tool, even putting the issue of bookability to one side.

RTW1

The availability is just what accounts for the difference.... when searching for awards it's not very useful to see all possible flights, rather you want only those that have award seats available. That's what the ANA tool shows (for partner awards).

go_around

Ah right. What about Lufthansa's meilenshnappen mileage bargains? Are they dealt with separately or would they still show up on ANA tool?

One other question - how far in advance of travel dates are award seats usually released/booked?

Thanks for your help.

RTW1

When you are looking for awards on one of the M&M integrated airlines (LH, LX, OS, SN) you should use the M&M portal.
Special deals like the mileage bargains are only available there, and availability might be better as well.

If you are looking for flights with one of the *A partner airlines you can use both ANA or the UA website (use the award option). ANA is considered the most reliable.
But you can also call the M&M line.....

Award flights are normally released at 330 days out, but it also depends on the airline. Some release at different points in time or release more closer to the departure date (like 14 days out).

go_around

Many thanks, that clarifies nicely.

jlemon

We will be flying in business class from FRA to IAH (on the A380) this March.

Question: Does LH offer J class pax access to an arrivals lounge at IAH? Perhaps the United Club?

BTW, I booked this trip using UA Mileage Plus miles and I have no status at present with either LH or UA.

shorthauldad

(Please be gentle, I'm usually to be found on the Dark Side [OW] ...)

So, thanks to LH's generosity I now have a shiny silver card (FQTV) valid until 02.2016

We can discount this year as I'm not doing any more paid flying this side of Christmas.

If I fly 35k status miles in 2014 to "requalify", would that extend my silver status by one year i.e. until 02.2017?

If I fly 100k status miles in 2014 would I immediately get the slightly shinier card (SEN) and would it be valid until 2015, 2016, 2017 or some other date?

Thanks in advance...

YuropFlyer

M&M has (at the moment, probably going to be cut in the next round of enhancements) a 2-"chances" requalification. So you can either requaly in 2014 or 2015 - in both cases, your status would be valid till 2/2018 then. (if you requalify in 2014, 2015 will be your "dead year", where you can further requaly for FTL, only upgrade to SEN)

If you happen to qualify to SEN (despite all the massive ongoing cuts) you'll get the card immediately (unless M&M is "losing" it as it happened for me..) with a validity of current year + 2 years + 2 months. (which means, qualy for SEN in 2014, have it valid till 2/2017)