warakorn

4U Germanwings flights can be credited to MileagePlus (most fares).

TPJ

But never as horrid as NEK

LH4116

I guess one could always use two FFP's. Credit the 4U and cheap LH flights to M&M, if one flies frequent enough it'll be sufficient for FTL to use as a complement for the TK*G card.

^ Yes I'd rather take a gamble, than be sure to end up on a crappy product

TRAVELSIG

Agreed the variation is not appreciated however in short haul business I don't think they have a product that is WORSE than NEK or at least I have not seen it. TK has been quite aggressive out of VCE in pushing business to the Far East.

oliver2002

TK has been aggressive out of every EU airport they can fly to (the SZ article mentioned Kassel-Calden, a station normally only used by charter flights) siphoning off business pax to the longhaul service.

I'm not denying they have their moments, but as I experience in June their service is definitely not the top notch level everyone makes it out to be. They are a victim of their own aggressive growth and rapid success:

- the IST airport is completely full: lounges, security, boarding areas, shops, everything
- the regional product is inconsistent
- the longhaul product varies wildly especially in C
- the C food was the same old same old on every flight irrespective of time of day. They have addressed that and are rolling out a new system/concept
- the crews are a very mixed bag, ranging from indifference, to stellar attention to plain ineptitude in even basic things like obvious safety issues
- the flight deck staffing faces issues similar to the ME3: finding good staff to fly all those A32S and B738s along with 77W crews is tough

TK has a very tough road ahead to hold and make money on the market share they captured. Unlike EK, they don't make much money in the back of the bus and their unit cost is higher because they have a legacy cost structure. Once all the shiny new 77W and A330 are in place they need to fill those seats with paying customers and not sub 2500€ fares or else they will not be able to pay their dues to the financiers. As we witnessed in late summer, they investors pull the plug on the cash flow to countries like Turkey and India the moment the Fed starts/indicates tapering. The ME3 all don't have that bit in their business plans.

TRAVELSIG

Thanks Oliver2002 for the detailed answer. I do agree that there is inconsistency and also that IST as an airport is straining at its limits. I have had better luck with the crews which is fortunate but this is maybe just my good fortune in this case.

I do agree that as with EK and QR the grass is not always greener- what I am looking for is some competition to Asia as the fares seem to be climbing quite quickly which while it may be good for the airlines is certainly not good news for me as a customer. I also have to find some way to get to destinations where I need to be such as CAN and CMB where Lufthansa group do not fly to.

NA-Flyer

When someone can have this kind of seating and service on TK J class, who cares about M&M earning and qualification levels:

http://travel.bart.la/2013/11/23/tur...usiness-class/

LH4116

I really must try the dentist's chair, just to get an idea of how bad LH's product is compared to TK.

DownUnderFlyer

As previously stated, I find LHs move to limit TK earning to 25% status miles disgraceful.
So to put my money where my mouth is I have now booked my first ever TK flights for the convenient route MUC-LAX. I am happily moving more business to TK should LH continue this behaviour.

HadesNL

TK service is really a lottery. I've had friendly crew AMS-IST but the most bored crew on IST-CGK ..... If a callamity occurs i wouldn't have much faith in the crew alertness, yawning in front of passengers with mouths wide open doesnt give me at all a safe feeling.

starflyergold

Like that never happens on a LH flight?

Under its new leadership LH may wish to re-evaluate it its TK stance. Together at least they have some chance against the much maligned ME carriers (free advice to LH: enough with the moaning about EK, EY etc.)

YuropFlyer

^^ This

I can't understand how this cheap (sorry, there really is no other word for that) strategy of telling their own customers (of M&M) telling "Don't book TK, we won't give you any useful amount of status miles if you want to keep your status" should play out. Do Lufti really think that people will book LH group instead of TK because of this? Instead of moving to M&S, where they'll be able to have the same status (or even better, if mostly moving over to TK) with the same benefits.

It's an absolute sabotage against what *A stands.

Not like LH started the "we operate regional airlines and don't give *A benefits on them" - that credit all belongs to SQ/SilkAir (even though 4U is a bad copy of it), but giving intentionally extremely low amount of status miles to "force" their own members to re-think about booking a *A member, that's an absolute new low.

Which I hope the new LH crew will realise and "Wir haben verstanden".

Franz didn't all do wrong - some cost cuts were/are needed (even though many of them are going in the wrong direction). But such a move? Highly shameful! And I hope it doesn't pay off for them.. because that would (eventually) be the end of alliances as we know them..

HadesNL

+1 it is indeed surprising that the base principle or earning miles on every *carrier is being put in limbo but then again you need to have a math degree with all those fare classes letters earning x amount of miles operated by y airline but under earning ffp z and with irregular element codeshare |

mmff

OT: An accountant would likely be better (and certainly happier) on this kind of task than a mathematician.

Wickersley

I've had 8 segments on TK in the last month:

MAN > IST > OTP (return, economy)
MAN > IST > SIN (return, business)

Service was excellent
Lie Flat seats on the SIN legs

I'd originally booked LX, but then realised that TK was €1700 cheaper, so cancelled my ticket & rebooked on TK

Given that I'll be heading to SIN every 6 weeks for at least the next 2 years; I've status matched to TK - took 10 days to process the match (from UA1K) & I'll pick up my card the next time I'm in IST...