lefrid

The only (now in turbo mode) emails I receive from M&M are the very exciting ones from Worldshop

Concerto

I think one reason they haven't had to make decisions and offer incentives is because of this 2 year status validity thing. Somehow I think dropping the 2 year thing is going to be a real devaluation not only for us, but for them too, and really isn't a good idea at any level. If I may say, I think they should be looking very hard at starting it in 2023 at the earliest.

The other problem, obviously, is the almost total lack of competition now that Air Berlin has gone. They can do what they want. I had a good experience this week with Bahnbonus though. I got all my lost points from last year reinstated, so there's always hope.

Dave_C

Long-haul, over the north Atlantic, there's two other competitors, the BA/AA/IB joint business, and the DL/VS/KL/AF joint venture. Within Europe, you've got the other big two groups of IAG and AF/KL, plus of course Easyjet, Ryanair and WizzAir. All are pretty formidable.

more4less

Hi Concerto,

If you are based in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, I agree about the lack of competition, but Air France/KLM/BA would be in the same situation in their home markets, and they are much more proactive in trying to keep their elite frequent flyers.

For the ones that are not based in their “captive” markets, the LH group, with their ridiculous promos, is practically throwing us in the hands of its competitors.

BristolTraveller

AF FB have just emailed me to say they're rolling everything over into 2021. As an LH SEN, I've heard nothing about the fate of the 75k status miles I racked up in the first 10 weeks of this year.

flyertalker28120

I think they'll just disappear on January 1.

I'm an FTL with expiry 02/22 and was hoping to requalify this year. My main *A status is with SQ so it's not that my life depended on it. But the FTL does come in handy sometimes. I'm currently at 25k status miles and I don't think my holiday travel between Christmas and New Year's will materialize. And, again, I don't expect my 25k status miles to roll over.

For my main *A program, I got a one-year extension. Gold will end 1 March 2022 for me. But I already can plan on renewing KrisFlyer Gold. They reduced the required mileage from 50k to 25k. And I participated in a promotion in October which gives me a head start of 8k status miles for the next qualification year. So all I need with SQ are 17k status miles. Doable.

I realize this is the M&M forum. Just posted the details on SQ for the sake of comparison.

GalaxyChris

And I still get nothing from M&M... So generous
BTW Interesting comparison.

gryomosy

I am looking for a confirmation how long my Senator status will be valid for given the Covid19 goodwill measures (i.e. did that shift the requalification period?) and the new system implementation. Not easy to list out clearly, but I'll give it a try:

I had to requalify in 2019 or 2020 to extended my Senator status for another two years, i.e. 2021, 2022 (card expiry 02/2023)

• In 2019 I gained 100k status miles, so I requalified in the 1st year of the 2 year period, and this is how my future as SEN looked:
• 2020: dead year (managed to requalify in the first of the two year period) - but is this also seen as a 'Covid19 waived' year? I.e. would the 2 year requalifcation be actually be 2019 (waived 2020) or 2021?
• 2021: Still in the old system, my renewed SEN year starts valid for 2021 and 2022 (or is it 2023 as per the above?) I should also receive a new SEN card valid to 02/23 (or 02/24?) - current one expires 02/21.
• 2022: my last full year as SEN in the old system (or will it be 2023?). Will 2022 (or 2023) be my first year to requalify under the new system?
• 2023: February 2023 - end of being SEN if I did not requalify in 2021, 2022

Next year (2021) is especially important to be clear about; if I requalify under the old system (100K status miles), would I get another 2 years of SEN? (this was following a great tip from FlyerLX )

• 2021 SEN (first year of 2 year requalification period - old system)
• 2022 SEN (second year of 2 year requalification period - old system)
• 2023 SEN (start of new SEN period when requalified in 2021 old system)
• 2024 SEN (card expiry 02/2025) and 2024 'my' first year to requalify in the new system?

or ... with the 2020 Covid goodwill, did everything shift with one year?

2022 SEN (first year of 2 year requalification period - old system)
2023 SEN (second year of 2 year requalification period - old system)
2024 SEN (start of new SEN period when requalified in 2022 old system)
2025 SEN (card expirey 02/2026) and 2025 'my' first year to requalify in the new system?

Would be great if I could focus on requalifying under the old system as of 2022. Gaining 100k status miles in 2021 is not going to be easy.

supine

Nothing they have done changed SEN/FTL re-qualification periods under the old system.

Statuses always leak into a new year and expire at the end of February. But for the purposes of discussing things I tend to stick with the full years and ignore the extra two months.

The current situation for you:

• You could re-qualify under the old system in 2021 and would get status extended for 2023 and 2024 (expiry 2/2025).
• As things currently stand the new system will start January 1st 2022.
• If you did not re-qualify in 2021 then you could qualify under the new system in 2022 but that would only add one year of status for 2023 (expiry 2/2024).

I understand it won't be easy to re-qualify in 2021 but it would bring you the most benefit.

It's possible that Miles and More might do something with qualifying thresholds, gifted status extensions and/or pushing back the start of the new system further. But don't expect any news nor clarity on things like that until it's much clearer what 2021 is going to be like for everyone...

gryomosy

Thank you. I feared that was going to be the response. Anyway now I know that 2021 will be the most 'interesting' year to attempt a requalify. A nice 'gift' idea would be the transfer of the 2020 status miles into 2021. That would be somewhat of a head start in my case (30k status miles in Q1 2020 and then it was over and out :-/).
On the other hand this year I discovered there's a life without traveling and chasing status too . I just care about lounge, priority boarding and fast lane really. Would be nice to keep those even in a life with less travel. Finger crossed lifetime senator statusses get offered Talking

FlyerLX

Thank you for the kind words!!

I think the key thing to understand is when your SEN currently expires... Is it last day of Feb 22?

if so, then you can:

- Fly 100K in 2021 and extend to last day of Feb 24

- Drop to FTL on 01/03/22, then fly 480 points in 2022. This will give you SEN until last day of Feb 2024, but 2022 doesn’t count towards Lifetime SEN

- Fly 480 points in Jan and Feb 22. This will extend your SEN to last day of Feb 23.

- Fly 480 points in Jan and Feb 22, then fly another 480 points in the rest of 22. This will (I think) extend your SEN until last day of Feb 24...

more4less

I understand that points earned in 2022 do count towards Lifetime SEN, or the new system has been delayed again?

Thanks,

FlyerLX

Sorry that was careless of me... I meant that the year would not count as one of the 10 years you need for Lifetime SEN. The points would count.

Grog

They received a solid government handout. Such handouts tend to reinforce the preexisting attitude of "why should we care about any FFs right now?"

It's stupid, really. Just extend everyone's status again by one year and be done with it. There is no real cost right now to Lufthansa in doing so. But it would mean showing an ounce of goodwill on their part. And that's a lot to ask.

FlyerLX

I agree there’s no real cost to LH if they give you a piece of plastic for a year or two... I guess the problem is that it gives status hunters less incentive to fly and less incentive to fly on more expensive tickets...