Tyrolean

Quite fast. The number of Elites will be reduced quite dramatically with the latest enhancements. The number of guests flying Short-Haul Business has successfully been reduced by the silly price policy.
The number of Lounge guests will be reduced and then they will be closed because of low demand.

BristolTraveller

If LH wanted to reduce their number of SENs, then cutting back Q S V W to 50% earning will be an exceptionally effective way of doing it.

My feeling is that I would need to roughly double my spend on Y-fares to continue earning at the rate I do now on mainly S V W fares for long-haul. That's just unthinkable in the current climate (and any climate, tbh).

It seems like LH wanted to cut their number of SENs, and felt that there was a group of people 'working the system' to get their status unfairly. I think they've over-reacted, and it will be quite harmful overall.

TRAVELSIG

A lot of flights within Europe are longer than 60 minutes and there is a market for a premium product- BA still seems to do quite well with Club Europe for example.

The Lufthansa "business" class product is astoundingly bad and got worse with NEK. Couple this with astronomical pricing and of course no one buys it. You don't need a marketing expert to explain that the product is positioned incorrectly. Lastly- look at the number of OPs on this very forum who have attempted to change their shorthaul business class flights by one hour and have been asked to pay 1000 EUR and it is quite evident what is wrong with the program.

Lufthansa behaves in a transactional way. Customers respond accordingly.

NewbieRunner

Miles & More programme changes from January 2014
19/09/2013

New status benefits, recognition for long-standing loyalty, new mileage levels

Miles & More, Europe’s leading frequent flyer programme, will be introducing a number of changes in 2014. New programme elements will be established for status customers that will acknowledge their loyalty to Lufthansa and the Miles & More airline partners even more strongly than before. In addition, the mileage levels in the lower-priced Economy Class booking classes will be reduced, thereby reflecting the actual value of the airline ticket.

More benefits for frequent-flying status customers

From spring 2014 Frequent Travellers, Senators and HON Circle Members will be rewarded for more than achieving and retaining their status. During their status term, dependent on the number of flights they take, they will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of additional benefits and privileges.

Details of how status customers can enjoy these extra benefits will be available from next January.

Additional recognition for long-standing status customers

A special innovation awaits those Miles & More members who have held their status for a long time: the awarding of ‘status stars’. In future these stars will enhance the Miles & More service cards of Frequent Travellers, Senators and HON Circle Members. We will be providing further information about the award of these status stars from this November.

New arrangement for earning miles in Economy Class

For flights from 1 January 2014 onwards, the mileage credit in Economy Class will be linked even more closely to the value of the airline ticket. Consequently, the mileage award in the lower-priced Economy booking classes will be reduced for flights with Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Germanwings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair and SWISS.

The number of miles which will be credited for flights with Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS with effect from 1 January 2014 is shown in the table below.

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...en&cid=1000243

Marcin83

How about the bookings which have been already done for 2014?
In 2012, after sending several mails to Miles and More, they aggreed to respect the old rules for "Z" fares...

makos

Time to go back to BA, for me

i will keep my M&M CC cause the conditions are pretty good

more4less

Thanks NewbieRunner!

TRAVELSIG

+1: Very much appreciated.

LonLH

I am quite happy to pay premium short haul if it is reasonable- but if the choice is between a EUR 900 biz fare for a 90 min flight vs AB offering a EUR 300 flex fare in the same route, sorry, no thank you!

TRAVELSIG

I pay all the time for short haul premium where there is actually a premium product- in the USA, Canada, and Asia (particularly with CX, TG, and SQ) I buy business class tickets for 2 hour flights. Why?
1) Better Seat- i can actually work on confidential information without people reading what I am doing- in this way alone the flight is "auto financed"
2) Food- I can eat something decent if at a meal time and I have no other choice
3) Very good lounges in Asia- worth paying for. Sorry Lufthansa but your "business class" lounges are really very poor in comparison. Not as bad as UA but you are certainly in the running at this point.
4) Real Fast Track- send some LH staff from FRA to BKK and let them see the passport fast track areas- then send them back to FRA and look at the disgrace that is Frankfurt. It is not acceptable to over and over say "it is not our fault it is ...."- fix it. Get a real Fast Track and make it available to people who pay for the service. I would do it for sure- Lufthansa has been promising this over and over with the "new Aplus" which did absolutely nothing except make for longer walks and larger queues.
5) Flexibility- with CX and SQ for example I can change my business class tickets without any charges. Not like your hidden D fares that rebook in J for 2000 EUR more (which I consider a very very bad business practice and frankly a rip off).
Just some ideas. It is not the customer that is the problem here. It is the company that wants to have LCC policies and product with Singapore Airlines pricing.
Don't even get me started about areas like priority boarding and checkin which frankly if you are not a HON circle member just don't exist.

Circumknowitall

Unwelcome news for me, but makes my decision about where to credit/spend next much easier..

MumbaiDan

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. The security and passport control in Frankfurt are managed by Fraport. And quiet frankly, Fraport is a lousy airport manager. Not really Lufthansa's fault. The few areas they manage, like the FCT work pretty well. If Fraport would support their biggest client better then LH would be able to also offer Non-Hon's a better service (at Dublin Fast Track works well with LH and also the Priority Boarding does).
In the case of SQ I have to disagree - had to pay in several instances the fare difference when my original booking class was not offered anymore. This is becoming standard these days. I still think LH is pretty good in short term changes and I have not been left behind ever. this can ge pretty different with other airlines. In particular BA is pretty bad when rebooking late in my latest experiences.
Please dont misunderstand my post - I dont want to glorify LH or what they currently do - but as you are enjoying the Hon Circle perks - LH delivers a good transportation product that gets you efficiently from a to b (without having a stop in the middle of the journey, for which reason I hate EK and the likes) that is reliable and of acceptable standard. In First, they offer one of the best products in the world. Also on the Classic seats I sleep very well.
Most flights I have been on recently where full in all classes. So their strategy seems to work.
I also recently think the FCT is less crowded. You will see some additional benefits for Hon Circle members next year (now that the program starts to be again a circle). LH is going to get better is what I think.
I also believe that there is still room for a premium segment on certain routes in Europe. But to compare Asia with Europe is not correct. Most airlines in Asia operate widebodies and the few narrow ones have relatively small premium sections. A cabin with just 12 C seats would not work on most European business routes. Widebodies would be non economical in Europe. For me the middle seat free is already good on flights below three hours and gives me the enhanced privacy you talked about. Most of the times the third seat in my row is blocked off and only released if they are full. Food could be better for sure and the Lounges outside of the hubs could be better. But this is minor compared with LH's flight frequency, flexibility and reliability. Lots of people are happy to pay for that.

Wickersley

What Travelsig said ^

Flying Lawyer

I fly about 150 Segments in cheap Economy for Weekend Travel to see my family in Hamburg. And several of my friends do similar. In the UK several people work in London and have family in Glasgow or Aberdeen. You might want to realise that your profile is not the norm. Cheap economy makes more than sense for regular travel even for high profile customers.

Your still missleading statement was and is that executive club aims at high yield passengers.

And this is neither true for status nor true for mileage. The mileage difference of a cheap economy ticket and a C ticket between DUS and LHR for a gold member is small. And with miles and more you require 800 cheapo economy segments to become gold, with BA it 150. Vice versa, flying the unrealistic 800 cheapo economy tickets between DUS and LHR on BA would score 800.000 miles. What would it be on LH?.

irishguy28

It is with some sadness that we report the death of Miles & More at the tender age of just 20 years.

Popular in its youth, it became less loved during an awkward teenage phase. In the last few years of its life, it became increasingly more troubled and divorced from reality, exhibiting behaviour that had increasingly driven away all but the most devoted family and acolytes.

Instead of flowers, please make donations to the other airlines and FFPs of your choice.