athome

I think it's a great rule. It's not consumer unfriendly. It's cost optimizer and tricking unfriendly.

worldclubber

I think the rule gets the targeted people, as described by Chris, and also others.

Miles & More were unable to book the Intranet-German feeder on the same ticket as the F long-haul in a few days, as the booking class for C awards was not available, even though the feeder is usually included. So I said f#%* it and bought a ticket for the short hop to FRA. Spending the additional money on the feeder now means that I cannot use the FCT on the way back. Don’t think that’s exactly the case LH was trying to target with the rule.

vantage03

I think the percentage of LH F pax on Lifemiles tix is minuscule and they aren’t creating general rules which affect all pax based around them. (If they actually are doing that, they’re even more out of touch than I give them credit for). They could just ban partner award pax if they wanted to block this scenario?

The rule doesn’t affect me as HON, but I feel for those who it does catch out. Imagine making a legit incoming F pax do a walk of shame back to the main terminal just because of separate tix? Most people I know outside of the FT world wouldn’t even understand the concept.

Or imagine buying an F ticket to FRA as a hub for your European holiday or business trip, to give you the flexibility to go anywhere… Exactly what LH wants, no? Then imagine being rejected because you wanted flexibility? We all know LH isn’t going to let you change short haul destination city (even within the same region) on a longhaul connecting itinerary.. so then what? It’s just mean, unclear, and unnecessary.

Quail

Is this one booking/PNR (which can have multiple tickets), or one ticket? Many airlines make policy distinctions between the two.
Where did you find this.. are there any more details?

chris63

For sure that wasn’t part of the plan & demonstrates the fallout from imposing such rules…

chris63

Does’t affect me either as HON, i’m just relaying what i was told.

I have used LM quite a lot in the past when it was easy to get LH F awards & they were incredibly cheap

The rule was imposed due to the cost of Limousine service, since inbound F pax can still use FCLA & they keep changing the rules, used to be HON can guest in Children, then Children under 18, we could guest PAX in on *A flights, now they need to be on same flight, what’s coming next ?

And just look at that barking mad rule LX had, no FCL access for F pax on a UA ticket flying LX metal, at least that rule was finally ditched.

chris63

It’s one ticket or one PNR containing separate tickets, purchased together since they won’t merge the PNR with separately purchased tickets.

Quail

I'm more thinking about a TA booking, rather than what they will and won't merge. But regardless, even if purchased together it could still be advantageous since changing the shorthaul destination would be less affected by the penalties/restrictions/fare difference of the longhaul fare.

RedChili

Sounds weird, as LifeMiles awards are actually cheaper if you include an intra-EU flight in economy or business.

FlyerLX

I can understand the separate ticket rule. FCT/FCL access is for an itinerary which includes F, or for HONs. It’s opening up a can of worms to say you only have to be in F on the same day and then travelling somewhere else in C or Y on any ticket. Also, that would set a precedent for the other lounges, which are terribly full already due to *A status pax etc... Imagine the consequences for Business lounge capacity if access was granted to pax who arrived in C from anywhere and continued to anywhere in Y on *A on the same day with any ticket... You would need the Hessen or Bavarian police to control the riots at the door!!🤣

chris63

I have nothing to do with the rules, that’s merely an explanation provided to me, possibly not just LM but partner awards in general.

RedChili

"You only have to be in F." You make it sound like there are thousands of arriving non-HON F-passengers every day. We're probably only talking about a handful, maximum 10 people. F-passengers can anyway use the FCL (or any SEN or Business lounge) as an arrivals lounge. And granting privileges for F-passengers doesn't automatically mean that you have to do the same for C-passengers. Moreover, there's probably only a handful of arriving C-passengers with no Star Gold status and connections in Y.

It's probably only to save money on the limo service.

FlyerLX

I think it’s probably only to save the limo service for HONs and pax who are through-ticketed to/from F- in other words, those for whom the service was intended.

worldclubber

I would agree that the number of people who would take advantage of a less strict rule would be very limited. My perception is that the few who did in the past and bragged out it on frequent flyer boards spoilt the show for everybody else. It wasn't so much awards from partner airlines but rather LH pax who flew to DUB etc. on el cheapo tickets and departed on F-trips from there for much less than directly from FRA. On their way to/from DUB (in cheap Y), some flew via FRA or MUC and demanded all F services there again, as it was technically the same day as their F arrival.

As I said above: When I, as a status-starred LH Senator (who seems to fly enough on LH metal, even got the 2021 letter that said "few are as loyal to LH as you have been in 2021, so you get an extra 2 e-vouchers", bla bla), cannot book the domestic feeder to an F-flight on the same ticket due to 2022 booking class madness and buy the flight using my own money, it kind of annoys me that I cannot use the FCT before the connection home after my return F-longhaul. I can use the FCL as arrival lounge, so no big deal, but have been sent on my way to walk to the plane from the FCL in A, as the connection was "on a separate ticket"; since my hop home is always from an apron position, I appreciate the ride from the FCT or FCL.

chris63

Yes, might make sense to the bean counters at LH but as you correctly point out genuine pax get punished