Significant changes in 2021 for Status (re-)qualification criteria
Nov 9, 2019, 10:28 am
#226
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Montreux CH
Programs: FB Platinum, M&M FTL, BA Blue
Posts: 11,622
And I just got my first status star this week! I have no idea what they base them on and have mostly ignored it. I do as little as possible with LH Group, just enough to retain FTL. One thing they might end up stopping is the segment qualification for FTL.
Nov 9, 2019, 10:41 am
#227
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Bergen - Norway
Programs: EBD , FBG
Posts: 563
I remember back in 2013 when they introduced those stars. It’s been almost 7 years, and I’ve never had the impression that those stars had any purpose. They were supposed to lay out some genius plan with the stars and all the advantages, but it never seemed to happen. Go figure!
Nov 9, 2019, 11:15 am
#228
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,171
'status will be achieved with our airlines' signed by people from LH and LX. Oh boy.... I wonder what LO/LG/OU will have to say about that. Looks like the new 'points' will be LH group spend...?
Nov 9, 2019, 11:29 am
#229
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,048
or similar to UA it counts more on priority partners than others. Can't see them taking earning w/ other *A partners away; that can't work with the alliance ... but like UA saying you earn X with us and Y with them. It sounds more and more like the UA playbook ... we'll see.
Nov 9, 2019, 11:38 am
#230
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,171
Well... the entire HON circle qualification rotated around C/F flying on LG/LO/(JP)/OU/LH/LX/SN/EW, ie 'integrated partners'.
Nov 9, 2019, 12:12 pm
#231
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Geneva
Programs: LX SEN, AFKL Platinum, BA Bronze,
Posts: 5,633
Nov 9, 2019, 1:21 pm
#232
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,656
It'll be interesting to see what they do.
British Airways really are rubbish at the moment, but the Executive Club is a really strong programme. Having achieved BA LTG and having jumped ship to LH Group and achieving SEN, I do notice how the programme isn't as good.
It will be interesting if they do try and compete or indeed do downgrade their programme even further. I'll be checking the website with interest on Monday evening!
British Airways really are rubbish at the moment, but the Executive Club is a really strong programme. Having achieved BA LTG and having jumped ship to LH Group and achieving SEN, I do notice how the programme isn't as good.
It will be interesting if they do try and compete or indeed do downgrade their programme even further. I'll be checking the website with interest on Monday evening!
Nov 9, 2019, 1:47 pm
#233
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ZRH
Programs: LX SEN, HH Diamond, IHG, Melia Silver, AVIS, Sixt
Posts: 276
I also got the above letter this week. Had it in the letterbox when coming home today.
Let's see what they bring. In fact, switching to spend based status could help them to keep me HON and keep more business with them, in case they use a fair threshold. One reason why I decided to more part of my business to other airlines is that I always spent about 100K EUR per year and barely made it HON. On the other side, I saw others spending half as much and making HON, just because they are based in Italy instead of Switzerland, where the same flights are way more expensive.
This year I have spent about 85K on flights in total and would not even make HON if doing them all with LH-Group. Thus I moved many flights to other airlines and will drop to SEN by March 1 2020 after 6yrs. If the threshold would allow me to be HON again with my travel pattern I could easily focus on LH Group again.
Let's see what they come up with. I am not too positive yet. Unfortunately, they were never good in enhancements during the last years.
Let's see what they bring. In fact, switching to spend based status could help them to keep me HON and keep more business with them, in case they use a fair threshold. One reason why I decided to more part of my business to other airlines is that I always spent about 100K EUR per year and barely made it HON. On the other side, I saw others spending half as much and making HON, just because they are based in Italy instead of Switzerland, where the same flights are way more expensive.
This year I have spent about 85K on flights in total and would not even make HON if doing them all with LH-Group. Thus I moved many flights to other airlines and will drop to SEN by March 1 2020 after 6yrs. If the threshold would allow me to be HON again with my travel pattern I could easily focus on LH Group again.
Let's see what they come up with. I am not too positive yet. Unfortunately, they were never good in enhancements during the last years.
Nov 9, 2019, 2:30 pm
#234
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
If LH sort of copies what UA is doing, some people are going to acquire LH elite status a lot more easily than before while most on the 35k+ mileage end will not. In other words, I am expecting that this kind of change will mean a huge increase in short-term LH*S members and a drop in long-term LH*G members.
If LH copies UA very closely, there may be some fleeting opportunities to get LH*G on the very cheap, but that kind of thing is fleeting and doesn’t help much with planning to be a long-term LH*G member.
Time for a massive culling of LH group *Gs.
If LH copies UA very closely, there may be some fleeting opportunities to get LH*G on the very cheap, but that kind of thing is fleeting and doesn’t help much with planning to be a long-term LH*G member.
Time for a massive culling of LH group *Gs.
Nov 9, 2019, 4:07 pm
#235
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: LH M&M, BA EC, DL SM
Posts: 5,731
Hope they don’t get the program as wrong now as the got the status stars a few years ago.
Nov 9, 2019, 8:31 pm
#236
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Stoke on Trent, UK (MAN ), BUE, BKK, DBV
Programs: LH HON***,UA,BA.EK Gold,AV.
Posts: 11,641
Miracles can happen but I will be amazed if they get this right, even for themselves
Nov 10, 2019, 1:13 am
#237
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: LH M&M, BA EC, DL SM
Posts: 5,731
I doubt they will get this right. Will look into alternatives if they don’t and will be pleasantly surprised if they do.
Nov 10, 2019, 2:26 am
#238
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London | Sydney
Programs: LH HON, QF CL, SQ TPPS, AF Plat, VS Gold, VA Plat, EK Gold, HH Diamond, WoH Globalist, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,528
I really don’t think this is going to be such bad news for many people, except those who game the system. Changing status from 2 years to 1 year I think will be disappointing to many people though.
Nov 10, 2019, 2:27 am
#239
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: London, Paris
Programs: LH HON, AF Platinum
Posts: 2,001
1 year will hurt FTLs, SENs, and HONs who get 600k HON miles in one year.
Nov 10, 2019, 3:01 am
#240
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Zurich / Europe / New York
Programs: LH, BA, AA
Posts: 1,309
I started to investigate what’s best for me just to get star gold from any star airlines since I’m based in a star hub, rest of my businesses will go to oneworld to keep my emerald, more value to me and easier to achieve.