dlh3

I am a star alliance silver (may be gold before taking the flight in question) through Air India. I'm flying India-USA return and since AI doesn't have premium economy on Int'l flights, I opted for Lufthansa since they are also part of SA, hoping I'd get access to Lounge/extra luggage which star alliance silver/gold levels are supposed to give you. I booked through a travel website, and went on Lufthansa.com to select seats, enter passport/visa info but could not enter my Air India FF# - apparently, Lufthansa only allows you to enter its own M&M#. If you want miles for their flight, you have to send your boarding pass/eticket to your SA partner airline whose program you're on.
I called Lufthansa, they asked me to email them to enter my AI# - which I did, only to get this reply (quote verbatim): "With reference to your email we wish to inform you that we are unable to incorporate Air India’s frequent flyer number in the booking. Regarding the same request you to contact Air India directly.".
When I wrote to AI, AI said I have to ask Lufthansa to enter AI FF# since they have no way of doing so, but they can credit me the miles after the flight if I send them the boarding passes.
What this means is that it doesn't matter if you're a Star Alliance Silver/Gold/Platinum - if you're flying Lufthansa, you're not going to get any special recognition - they only care if you're a M&M member. As as StarAlliance member from another airline, you're better off skipping Lufthansa.
Is StarAlliance listening? Lufthansa needs to be kicked off the program since I have never encountered this denial from any other Star Alliance partner (even other programs).

oliver2002

*Silver gives you nothing when you are flying outside of your of carrier. Any Lufthansa agent can enter your AI ffp number in the booking if you call, during checkin or at the gate.

Tyrolean

Fake news!
Star silver get nothing except waitlist prio on all Star Alliance flight.

You can add your frequent flyer number:
- During booking
- Via Manage my Booking
- Via Calling
- Durin online and offline checkin
- At boarding

Be aware that they check the ff-number. Maybe a typo?

*G get all perks including Senator Lounge, luggage, fast track, prio boarding...

Jack Vroom

Managing my bookings on Lufthansa.com, I can easily enter and change arbitrary frequent flying numbers, including Air India's Flying Returns. However,

(1) Lufthansa.com may validate frequent flyer numbers online; they certainly do so with M&M. Check whether the Flying Returns number is valid and whether the name fits.
(2) Lufthansa.com may not be able to alter bookings made through a travel agency. The agency should be your first point of contact as it comes to changing booking details, including frequent flyer numbers.
(3) You dan always present your card upon check-in, and the agent will then enter/update details. This will be useful if you turn Gold in the meantime.
(4) Star Alliance Silver does not get you much on Lufthansa; extra luggage may be the most useful benefit.

fanb

I was very surprised when flying out of BOS in February this year ..they called star alliance silver customers for priority boarding (after F,Hon ,business , star gold and families with kids)
Couldn't believe my ears so I asked again the agent when he was scanning my boarding pass and he said that even FTLs are welcome ..
maybe the station manager was in a good mood that day haha

LondonElite

Outside their own programs, *S benefits are nothing to crow about. There is no *A Platinum level.

Entering your FF account is fairly straightforward on LH's website. Perhaps you entered some details incorrectly.

*S does not give you lounge access.

yurtripper

Q: Are there any *A airlines that give recognition to Silver outside their own carrier/group other than for waitlisting and standby?

I thought that United was one of the exceptions but looking at their website it doesn't seem so.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...ralliance.aspx

oliver2002

There is a collection of *S bennies here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...er-status.html

thbe

Even in these times full of fake news and fecklessness your posting is remarkable - but also very funny.

I stay polite because your abilities maybe qualify you to become president of your country soon.

Btw: Maybe twitter is the better way to share your thoughts () with the world.

LondonElite

I missed that. It's funny indeed! You know who came up with the idea for Star Alliance, right? You know where Star Alliance is headquartered?

yurtripper

Great summary table, thanks!

Kacee

Denial of non-existent *A silver benefits?

TerryK

Great summary!

Often1

More to the point, here is the official summary of Silver benefits from the Star Alliance website. Lest there be any doubt, OP is not entitled to any of what he is talking about. This is also made clear on the AI website.

If a carrier other than AI is offering him anything beyond the two stated benefits, that is either an internal gesture having nothing to do with *A or an error.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/silver-status

Perhaps OP would be good enough to have the Mods remove the "Thumbs Down" from his thread title. It is unwarranted (at least for the reasons he states).

djjaguar64

Lufthansa has been very nice to me over the years, and just an FYI Silvers do not get lounge access unless flying Business Class on a Star Alliance member airline.