NewbieRunner

No, I'm afraid not.

sperrgepaeck

I must say I like that NewbieLounge...

On 27MAR evening I was flying LCY-GVA (looked quite full) on LX and GVA-FRA (many empty seats) on LH. In GVA at the departure gate they checked everyones hand luggage and took away any additional luggage, many passengers were affected. I did not see one that was happy about it. I had my luggage checked in at LCY, so I fine.

Assuming I check in luggage and I am at the limit already 20kg-Y or 30kg-C for Europe. At the gate, I have a laptop bag + small handluggage size suitcase. What happens at the gate if they take away that small suitcase which is about 10kg:

#1
Do they see how much luggage I have already checked in?
#2
Will I have to pay extra for the additional 10kg as I am exceeding the checked in luggage by 10kg?

oliver2002

#1 yes, its recorded in the system when the tags are generated

#2 at this point no, because they have no way of weighing your item at the gate to charge you the correct amount.

supermasterphil

So do I!

I think, it is a pretty good idea and thanks for everybody to participate, especially to NewbieRunner for patiently answering most questions!

kramerica

nice indeed to have a place to ask those stupid questions... speaking of which:
I've booked a flight via Swiss.com. I can see my M&M account details @swiss.com, but when trying to upgrade the flight @miles-and-more.com it doesn't show that flight. Even when I try to add it, using the booking code, it can't find it.
So my newbie question is: How can I upgrade that flight using award miles?

Thanks a lot..

NewbieRunner

Swiss and Lufthansa use different booking systems and Swiss booking codes cannot be recognised by the M&M/Lufthansa booking system. I suggest you telephone M&M to request an upgrade, or try this site:

https://muaenduser.staralliance.com/...WEB/upgrade.do

kramerica

Thanks a lot, that site seems to work. I do have another question regarding that. I know that the upgrade only applies one-way, but what if I have a connection flight? Will I get the upgrade only for one part of the connection, or for the whole way?

Thanks again.

NewbieRunner

With M&M miles you have to upgrade each segment separately, so it could be quite expensive.

untouchab1e

Hi all! Just signed up!

So I signed up for Miles & More last year without really thinking it through and now I need to figure out if I should jump off and join something else or if M&M might be good enough. So I thought I would through some of my criticism out there and maybe someone could help me out?

I live in Norway and fly from Oslo to New York 6-8 times a year. With M&M I do earn about 7,000 miles for each trip even though I usually travel with cheap economy class tickets which is quite good, but I also realize that its pratically impossible for me to earn 100,000 miles in a given calendar year (I think this is ridiculously many miles for *A Gold).

Additionally, upgrading class using miles is crazy expensive as well. If I want to upgrade from economy to business class one way, thats what, 90,000 miles? Other Star Alliance airlines do this for less than half of that.

So to conclude, with M&M it seems that in my case, the following points are relevant.

+ Earn a decent amount of miles

- Nearly impossible to get to Senator level compared to other airlines..
- Upgrading classes is also practically impossible on intercontinental flights..

So have I simply joined the wrong programme or is there still hope? Ive already saved up more than 43,000 points over two years and I will probably reach FTL status this year, but it seems if I switch now, I can probably reach gold status in a programme which also lets me use the miles on something I want..

more4less

Hello untouchab1e and welcome to FT,

In the Star alliance forum there is a thread about which FFP is best to choose, according to the flying you do.
You may get a clearer picture there.

RJWarrior

Taking my first trip on LH this week. Flying to Frankfort in F (on the 380) and then onto LHR in J. My wife and I are planning on packing in one carryon-sized rollaboard and one backpack each. I was planning on carrying-on primarily to speed the immigration process. However, due to the "Baggage Excellence" news I want to know if I should just check the luggage. One more piece of information: one carry-on is US sized: 56cm x 35 cm x 23 cm, so I am concerned that LH will even allow it on the plane (not to mention the absurd 8kg weight limit).

Any recommendations? Should we carry-on and see what happens? What is the extent of the impact of checking luggage on the speed of immigration processing?

Thanks,

RJ

NewbieRunner

Welcome to FT, untouchab1e!

As saviox has already mentioned the following thread in the Star Alliance forum may be a good start.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html

Unfortunately there appear to be more questions than answers in the thread recently but reading anwers to other people's questions might help if you haven't looked at the thread already.

There is also this Star Alliance Award Comparison Chart by BlondeBomber you may want to check.

dre_techie

Regarding the upgrades on intercontinental flights you have to bear in mind that you cannot upgrade the cheapest fares anyway. The fares that allow upgrades are even more restrictive (have to buy a more expensive econ ticket) if you use miles from another program.

In terms of mileage accrual, you might want to check which programs let you earn 100% of the mileage flown, instead of 50% as M&M does for the cheapest classes. However, keep in mind that some programs don't earn anything for some new promo fares, like L.

S & W earn 100% on UA, 50% on M&M.

I can give you United's example:
Discount Economy G H K M P Q S V W 100%
Discount Economy U 50%
They only reference L for the European segments.

NewbieRunner

Even if you manage to take your rollaboard on the plane at your origin you may have problems when boarding a flight to LHR in FRA.

As First Class passengers your checked luggage will have special "HON" tags attached and will be handled separately from other priority luggage. If it goes well it should be one of the first on the carousel at your destination.

Unlike in the US there is no need to claim checked luggage in FRA, just to check it in again for your connecting flight. Your luggage can be checked through to LHR. You don't need to go through immigration in FRA but you will have to go through security screening and the less carry-on luggage you have the less hassle.

Since baggage claim is after immigration whether you have any checked luggage or not should not affect the time needed to clear immigration in LHR. Also you may have to walk quite a long way from the plane to immigration in LHR. By the time you are through immigration your luggage will probably be waiting for you on the carousel.

galipemi

Hi all,

I just have a quick question. I tried to read through the thread on connecting at Frankfurt and just got all

I will be flying YYZ - YUL - FRA - BCN, arriving in FRA with Air Canada and then on to BCN with Lufthansa. I have about 90 minutes between flights and am travelling business on all legs. Will I have access to a lounge, which one and do I really have the time to do it?

To make things messier, my travelling companion is coming in on AC872 from Toronto and meeting me for the FRA-BCN leg with only about 60minutes between the two.

What can we expect with these connections, should I be seeing about changing to a later flt to BCN?

TIA!