flaksik

Hi guys,

I'm having a miles&more account (with around 10k miles only) and miles&bonus with several thousands miles.

Tomorrow, I'm flying:

PRG - FRA - ORD- LEX (in 1 month back)
It's economy class B
The flight is with Lufthansa and United.

(when I was checking Lufthansa it looked like I should earn around 5k miles for each way - is it true?)

My concern is, I'm not a frequent flyer but I would like to earn the miles as wisely as possible (I know about the Aegean program where I need only 4000 miles for their Blue Card), with Lufthansa everything is more difficult.

Would it be better for me to go with Aegean or Lufthansa program?
Thanks for your tips&advices

Tafflyer

The blue card on Aegean is worth even less than FTL with Lufthansa. The problem with the Star Silver level is that benefits are largely confined to the "home" airline. FTL will give you LH business lounge access but not in any other carriers lounges.

However, things change once you get to the Star Gold level, since this is governed by reciprical Star Alliance rules. An Aegean gold card will admit you to all Star Alliance gold lounges, like the LH SEN lounges, the United clubs, and so on. For this card on Aegean you need 20,000 miles in 12 months. On LH you need 100,000. Therein lies the beauty of Aegean. Do note however, that to make this difficult, not all flights credit to all schemes with the same mileage levels, so look before you book.

Your B class ticket, when credited to Aegean, will give you 150% intercontinental, 1250 miles flat Europe and 950 miles flat German domestic. So, pretty much the same as LH. I would credit Aegean, where the award levels are lower. (eg. TATL J 90,000 miles instead of 105,000 with LH, TATL F 120,000 instead of 170,000 with LH)

kanor

but ironically its easier to get Aegean Gold than LH FTL
so yes I would also recommend crediting to Aegean

Tafflyer

Exactly!
M&M is currently a waste of time and effort. I credit everything from *A to Aegean, even if the booking class results in zero miles. The paltry 125 M&M miles for short Eco sectors is not worth bothering with. I also refuse to book LH P-class biz fares and now always favour BA for discount biz tickets when in the past I may have credited M&M. LH made their choice, they chose their strategy, I reject it and either fly a different airline or credit an alternate FFP. I would encourage others to do the same.

kanor

Supposedly you can retrocredit those 0 mile segments to M&M, because A3 system is not grabbing them since they are 0 anyway. Would like to know if this works so please report back if you succeed/fail

deniah

crediting is one thing,
can one redeem aegean miles reasonably easy, however

Tafflyer

Yes! And at lower levels than LH demand. Example: Europe-USA return in J for 90,000 miles. This is the same as LH had pre-Meilenschwund.

Fendant

I would opt for Lufti, shoestring budget undercapitalized little Aegean might not be around down the road, making your miles and status worthless.

Pls recall how he Greek government cheated Greece into the Euro, by providing fake numbers and statistics.

TravellingSalesman

After what happened to BD status pax I wouldn't be so worried about status. Somebody will surely match. Regarding redemptions, you probably shouldn't leave your miles lying around for years&years anyway. See Meilenschwund mentioned above.

OP, in your situation I would credit to A3, once you have Blue those 4k miles will not expire and you'll only need to fly another 16k in any 12 month period to get *G.

Crampedin13A

Pretty well the way I look at it now. But I'm pretty well done with Star. I will miss LX though.

xmlsoa

Which Alliance and Airline are you going with then?