Anyone move to M&M from OW lately?

Old Nov 6, 2018, 11:34 am
  #1  
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Anyone move to M&M from OW lately?

I am a Berlin based long time EXP on American and the new qualification requirements are making me think this is a good time to move along to LH. Truth be told, lounge access and check in is really all I care about. The upgrade system on all airlines is kind of lame at this point. Avoiding the connections at Heathrow to the US (90% of my flying) is probably a big sell too.

Would love anyones opinion if they wanted to weigh in and share their storming of the beachhead.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:00 pm
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Since you're EXP something tells me you fly a lot of J, so getting SEN should not be too hard. However if all you want is lounge and check in, then a "cheaper" *G might be in your reach, and you could chase (lesser) status within OW or ST.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:02 pm
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What are your flying patterns? There is very little OW out of TXL.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:03 pm
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Thanks Malmostoso. It deoends, some years the projects fly me J, sometimes Im in Y the whole year. Its hard to predict. Im always capable of getting the 100K (not sure I could swing 300k a year for SEN unless the J counts for. Buttload of miles in M&M.

I was thinking of doing Aegean for the *Gold and then playing the options. I guess with the OW if Im in J the 15K is no problem, if Im inY it will never happen. Every year is a crapshoot in my line of work.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:05 pm
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Thanks LondonElite. Almost always LAX so ive been BA to LHR and then to LAX for 15 years now. Took LH to Chicago a couple weeks ago and that transfer in FRA is way easier than the LHR slog
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:17 pm
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Originally Posted by berlindave
I am a Berlin based long time EXP on American and the new qualification requirements are making me think this is a good time to move along to LH. Truth be told, lounge access and check in is really all I care about.
LH only fly to FRA and MUC from TXL, with OS doing VIE and LX doing ZRH - the rest is Eurowings.

That said with 30 LH-group segments (Eurowings not included) in a calendar year (even the cheapest cheapo ones) you can achieve FTL status for two years (this is what I do). This will give you lounge access and J check-in.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:18 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by berlindave
Almost always LAX so ive been BA to LHR and then to LAX for 15 years now. Took LH to Chicago a couple weeks ago and that transfer in FRA is way easier than the LHR slog
If you think a transfer in FRA was easy try transferring in MUC. Or wait until your ex-US flight arrives at a B or C gate in FRA.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 12:23 pm
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Originally Posted by NewbieRunner
If you think a transfer in FRA was easy try transferring in MUC. Or wait until your ex-US flight arrives at a B or C gate in FRA.
Yes, those FRA transfers are closer to the LHR experience, with trains or buses between terminals and security checks for all transfer pax from clean countries. And dont get me started on conformity checks that will get you offloaded automatically.

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Old Nov 6, 2018, 1:27 pm
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Originally Posted by berlindave
Thanks Malmostoso. It deoends, some years the projects fly me J, sometimes Im in Y the whole year. Its hard to predict. Im always capable of getting the 100K (not sure I could swing 300k a year for SEN unless the J counts for. Buttload of miles in M&M.

I was thinking of doing Aegean for the *Gold and then playing the options. I guess with the OW if Im in J the 15K is no problem, if Im inY it will never happen. Every year is a crapshoot in my line of work.
Keep in mind that A3 earns nothing on the cheaper Y fares of the LH group, and more importantly earns nothing in "P", i.e. discounted business. Also, earning *G on A3 is not that easy. Maintenance is simple.

Because of the "P" trap, you should also look at SK and SQ, which (still) pay 100% miles for these fares.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 1:45 pm
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Originally Posted by berlindave
Thanks LondonElite. Almost always LAX so ive been BA to LHR and then to LAX for 15 years now. Took LH to Chicago a couple weeks ago and that transfer in FRA is way easier than the LHR slog
I need to go to bed now as I've got an early flight to MUC, but I personally prefer the FRA transfer to the LHR issues. MUC is obviously easier but the route network is not quite as extensive. There will be people who hate FRA and others that can't stand LHR...personally, if you are based in Germany and much of your travel is to the US, I don't think OW is the way to go.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 2:55 pm
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Have been EXP for a few years also. I you can make the 100K status miles on M+M every second year the go for SEN. Otherwise look for an easier Star program.

AA in LHR uses T3, BA is (mainly) in T5. Personally I try to avoid LHR with the extra (often very slow) security for all connections. FRA can also involve some long walks, but still much better than LHR. And MUC, ZRH and the other smaller Star hubs are far more pleasant.

A few additional advantages of beeing SEN:
- Award availability is reasonably good. I am still trying to spend my AA miles and most of the time don't find anything when M+M has good availability, especially with the SEN waitist
- F awards on LH only with M+M SEN/HON
- Generate M+M award miles relatively easy - Credit Card, Payback, Magazine subscriptions etc when you live in Germany
- more flight options between Germany and LAX

Disadvantage of Star: AA now has a relatively good hard product in business with direct aisle access from all seats the 777, in my opinion significantly better than the relativelly small seats on LH, LX etc.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 5:38 pm
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Originally Posted by berlindave
Thanks Malmostoso. It deoends, some years the projects fly me J, sometimes Im in Y the whole year. Its hard to predict. Im always capable of getting the 100K (not sure I could swing 300k a year for SEN unless the J counts for. Buttload of miles in M&M.

I was thinking of doing Aegean for the *Gold and then playing the options. I guess with the OW if Im in J the 15K is no problem, if Im inY it will never happen. Every year is a crapshoot in my line of work.
As you care only lounge access and check in then before A3 consider OZ or TK. OZ Diamond is 40 k during two years and Diamond Plus for life after 500k. If you can get Asiana US credit card, the mileage requirement for maintaining will be lower(30k per two years,rest by spending).Current redemption for US roundtrip in F is 100k. TK status period is also two years. But achieving Elite(Star Gold) is 40k during the last 12 months and Elite Plus(total of 4 upgrade vouchers,2 per membership year) is 80k during 12 months. To maintain Elite you must fly 25k during first year and 40k during the two years, for Elite Plus 40k and 60k. Earning chart is not so good with OZ, a maximum 125% for business class flights. Much better with TK program,especially with their own metal.
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Old Nov 6, 2018, 10:54 pm
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Morning everyone, Thank you all profoundly for the great counsel, especially on the finer point of the pitfalls of A3.
@NewbieRunner you are 100% right, I will be trying to make my connections MUC all the time if I can

did some research and had a couple of questions:
@AlienInTheFatherland: I'm not sure I understand the play here, I can't find it on the M&M chart, if you fly 30 segments on LH metal you achieve Gold status for two years? I could easily do the 30 segments...but that doesn't seem like very much? I'm probably reading your advice wrong so any clarification would be really helpful.
@Unterwegs, you're right the AA J seats are actually really good and I was disappointed in the LH J I was on last month inasmuch as it's a tight fit. That being said, it is worth the switch if I can't maintain EXP in a year where I don't spend 15K
@Jaenks thank you for the tip on TK. That might be a good move. Do they have a lifetime program as well? How have you found the advantages in general? Doesn't look terrible on LH redemption so could be worse.

General question: some of you have indicated I should go for SEN. Am I calculating earning rates wrong? I usually do 100-150 a year but would do some runs if it meant stretching a little, but I could never double my mileage in a year to make the 600K in two years. Am I wrong or is there some earning pattern I'm not understanding that is easier to achieve SEN if you're willing to go downtown on the system?
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Old Nov 7, 2018, 12:16 am
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Originally Posted by berlindave
@AlienInTheFatherland: I'm not sure I understand the play here, I can't find it on the M&M chart, if you fly 30 segments on LH metal you achieve Gold status for two years? I could easily do the 30 segments...but that doesn't seem like very much? I'm probably reading your advice wrong so any clarification would be really helpful.
30 segments on qualifying airlines nets you FTL which is *S, the equivalent to OW Ruby. Quite useless when not flying LH group, but it would give you access to LH group lounges (not *A lounges) and priority check in.

General question: some of you have indicated I should go for SEN. Am I calculating earning rates wrong? I usually do 100-150 a year but would do some runs if it meant stretching a little, but I could never double my mileage in a year to make the 600K in two years. Am I wrong or is there some earning pattern I'm not understanding that is easier to achieve SEN if you're willing to go downtown on the system?
SEN is *G, or roughly the equivalent to OW Sapphire (or AA Platinum). *A lounges access and priority check in. The next tier is HON which does not have a cross-alliance equivalent (there is no OW Emerald in *A), and it gives you first class lounges access and a bunch of nifty perks, but it requires a lot of flying and only in J or F.
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Old Nov 7, 2018, 3:18 am
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Thanks Malmostoso. I obviously read the acronyms wrong and you helped me clear that up.

Seems like even though there are quicker qualifications to SEN on other *A carriers at the end of the day its better to dump all the flights into one carrier and if I am trying to use one carrier to get around Europe and the US then maybe LH is the best (sigh) option if I ditch OW
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