rcs85551

On May 15th, 2020 Lufthansa announced their general COVID courtesy for all frequent fliers whose status is expiring in 02/2021 that their status will be extended by one year. For many frequent fliers holding HON Circle status, this was seen as insufficient due to the qualification period of 2 calendar years.

Lufthansa and Miles&More have now added a COVID courtesy rule with regards to the HON Circle status, which will be communicated to all existing HON Circle members in a mailing this afternoon.

In 2021, all Miles&More members will be credited with the HON Circle miles they collected in 2019.

For existing HON Circle members, this effectively results in the following requalification period:

Status valid until 02/2022
Re-Qualification possible with the cumulated flight activities from 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Status valid until 02/2023
Re-Qualification possible with the cumulated flight activities from 2019, 2021 and 2022. The activities in 2019 + 2021 will be converted to the new points system according to the revised Miles&More rules effective from January 1st, 2022.

Due to technical limitations, both the website and the app will continue to display the regular 2-year qualification period. Those members who do not want (or cannot) do their own math will wait until the courtesy credit of the HON Circle miles has been done in 2021 to display the correct total amount of HON Circle miles good towards their qualification.

Senators will not receive a direct mailing, but these rules are valid for all Miles&More members. It is also meant to enable high value Senators to obtain the HON Circle Status.

Those qualifying for HON Circle status for the first time in 2020 can use the HON Circle miles collected in 2019 as a head-start towards their 2021/2022 re-qualification. Alternatively, one can qualify for HON Circle status in 2021 based on the flight activities in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

HON Circle services
While some services are still limited or suspended because of COVID-19, there are no plans to alter the benefit package. As soon as passenger numbers allow for it, all First Class facilities including the FCT shall re-open. There is a new agreement with FRAPort in place that allows HON Circle members to use the fast lane for pax without any hand luggage at any time now. Additionally, Lufthansa is currently exploring options to include COVID testing in the benefits package of their premium customers.

yurtripper

It's not fair that people whose status was valid till 02/2021 got it extended to 02/2022 but those of us who had status valid till 02/2022 got absolutely nothing.

2020 is one of the two qualifying years available and it's an absolute washout, so realistically (since it's not a cumulative 2 year qual like TK) we only have 2021 as a qualifying year.

rcs85551

That's why you get your 2019 HON Circle Miles credited again in 2021. Now you have your flights in 2019+2020+2021 count towards your requalification.

Raul_R

Got also that letter.
Actually one if the best news regarding LH and HON program for long time!
For me it means I am currently just some 30 000 miles short for requalification and I currently have active bookings for about 250 000 miles.
Very nice from Lufthansa!

chris63

Very nice email, clearly LH want to retain their existing HON’s

Hope the promised service restoration happens sooner rather than later

sophialite

If we manage to extend, would that give us another 2 years (+ Jan and Feb) of HON status validity before we switch to the one year system?

Am currently about 70k short of requal under the new proposal, but I should be able to get the balance between now and end of 2021.

chris63

Of course, new rules & system starts in January 2022 ,currently

vantage03

My two cents as HON, this is pretty satisfactory.

Sure, I’m personally disadvantaged by this since I front-loaded my 2 year period and requalified HON in March 2019, so did 5 return intercontinental F trips on miles instead of paid in 2019... however, this is better than nothing, and I should be able to requalify anyway.

I just wish they had communicated ANYTHING earlier, an email would have been free.

MBR18

Aaaaaand with the long term storage/retirement announcement for the 380 and 346’s there goes pretty much every reason I made HON (LH F from MIA). Assuming the 748 won’t be a visitor to sunny Miami it looks like the only hope will be LX from MIA (which I wouldn’t mind one bit) or a US domestic flight to catch LH/LX F somewhere in the US.

EJJBHX

I was pleased to get this letter. It seems a pretty reasonable approach and gives me some hope of requalifying next year, despite only one round trip in 2020 so far. Still, for now, my company is still on a near complete travel ban... getting a bit boring now.

I'm intrigued by the number of people here who are still travelling long haul this year - and wonder how you are managing it? I see emails from airlines announcing, for example, that flights to the US are reopening, but wonder who is on them - no Europeans are allowed into the US and Americans aren't allowed into Europe... Am I missing something? Does HON status also confer diplomatic immunity ?

sophialite

Being a dual national helps. And there's an air bridge between US and India (among other countries), which means that you could in theory transit through the EU without entering it.

But yes, the flights are mostly empty passenger-wise.

more4less

I hope they offer some status miles to SEN also, I am only 10k away from re qualifying but with so many restrictions to Spanish citizens, not sure if I will be able to do it.
Also it does not help the limited destinations/frequencies ex Bcn.

lefrid

#metoo but I need only 90k to requal till 2024
😀

chris63

M&M credited my 2019 HON Miles again today, I am now 81% towards re qualification

MCObase

Same here....2019 credited and I am 100% qualified....looks like the 2019 miles also count toward the select benefits as well