SMK77

I find it amazing that so many people qualify for HON...

Problem for LH is that one can get HON for less than EUR 40.000 (all the European C-hoppers) and can not get it after having spent more than EUR 100.000 (regular F-flyers) and their IT can currently not help them to fix that... I think that SQ's new PPS approach is going into the very right direction and LH will follow at some point in time:

As an airline you shouldn't value those who spent the most time on your planes but those who spend the most money. The C-hopper checks in 100 times and costs lets say 50 EUR per FCT visit - that is narrowing your margin by 5.000 EUR out of 40.000 EUR earned. The F-flyer is checking in 10 times and costs only 1.000 EUR out of his 100.000 EUR spent and does not make HON...

BA's unpublished Premier level is a smart way to steer the number of ueber-VIPs but I am afraid that publishing fix qualification criteria is generating a lot more business for any airline...

Changing HON (re-)qualification from 600.000 miles to 60.000 revenue-EUR would reduce the number of HONs, would give LH the opportunity to pamper the "right" customers and would not put off as many customers as a higher milage requirement would do.

Kiwi Flyer

Exactly the case for me. Nearest airport served by HONorable airline is 10 hours flight away. Once I reach SEN (typically middle of January) I have little incentive to direct flights to HONorable airlines.

andre1970

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the vast majority is clustered just above the 600Ks. Except that friend of mine who doesn't even get close to 100K per year

DownUnderFlyer

[COMPANY HAT ON] I fully agree with you (except I would go for profitability rather than revenue but this is hard to communicate). [/COMPANY HAT OFF]

But personally I think it is a horrible idea..... All my RTW tickets would create now status anymore.

Rambuster

I do not think that BA Premier is a good example. This level cannot be obtained by flying (with some exceptions) but rather just by spending huge amounts on BA. You will need to be a high GBP million customer before the CEO gets a Prem card.

flamboyant 1

How can you be so sure there are less than 2,500 LH customers spending in excess of EUR 60000...your rule might as well increase the number of HON members.

San Gottardo

That already exists. I have appeared as "HON+" every time I looked on the pax manifest of the flight I was on.

silversurfer

Possible. I´ll second SMK77 thoughts. You cannot compare BA Premier to HON status, because it´s not earned by flying as Rambuster already mentioned.

SenAOI

Sorry, but I can't agree with you. I'm one of those grazy C-City-Hoppers and I think that LH earns a lot of money from me. F.e. the C-class-trip from AOI to MUC is about 320 real miles, the fair incl. taxes is 930 Euros. As a HON I get 6.000 miles for the return flight. Spending 40.000 Euros, I'll earn ca. 260.000 HON miles.
Nearly the same relation is flying f.e. MUC - HAM in C.
I'm not that tricky traveller doing mileage runs to get from A to be. I have to reach the place for doing my business in shortest terms. That's it.
So I think, it's a real minority getting HON for less than 40.000 Euros.
Salve Luigi

SleepOverGreenland

Lh should better be really happy about that and should not complain about too many people beeing very loyal customers.
I (or my co-owned company to say it right) spend about 60K to 90K € p.a. for my flights just with LH/LX (10% LX) and only for premium cabins (paid FR, CR and sometimes D fares). Since I usually fly straight and don't go for any odd routings just for more HON miles I end up with ~350K HON miles p.a.

If this business is not enough for an airline to provide me the best available service and status, then this airline must be

It doesn't matter to me, how they count it. But they better don't change it, or will loose a very loyal customer.

SenAOI

Longhaul-F vs. cityhopper’s C - let’s make up a simple example:

FRA – SIN – FRA in F: EUR 8052 ex. tax and fees
One-way-distance is 6.387 miles. You pay EUR 0,63 per mile in very comfortable F-class.
HON-miles-earnings: 44709. So you earn 5,55 HON miles per Euro spent.

MUC – AOI – MUC in C: EUR 887 ex. tax and fees
One-way-distance is 312 miles. You pay EUR 1,42 per mile in very loud and much cheaper ATR turboprop C-class, and no lounge in AOI.
HON-miles-earnings: 6.000. So you earn 6,76 HON miles per Euro spent.

So I think the revenue for LH is much better having a lot of crazy A to B cityhoppers.
Salve Luigi

berenike

Sorry Luigi, but I very much doubt this, without having made any calculations. My guess is that from a controlling point of view the first example has a much higher contribution margin than the second one.

Christian

SenAOI

If you want to earn an optimum of miles for you money you just should
use E or T:
MUC – AOI – MUC in cheapest E: EUR 5 ex. tax and fees
One-way-distance is 312 miles. You pay EUR 0,008 per mile
HON-miles-earnings: 372. So you earn 74,4 HON miles per Euro spent
But for reaching HON you should leave you house, wife and children.

SmilingBoy

I don't think so. Seats on the short-haul feeders have virtually no marginal cost as they need to run in any case to feed the long-hauls. An F seat on a long-haul plane is very costly - it takes away valuable space that could be filled with more profitable business class seats.

SmilingBoy.

SmilingBoy

Indeed. 60,000 Euros is not that much if flying long-haul C; for example in one year my tickets cost about 50,000 Euros but I ended up with only 150,000 miles.

SmilingBoy.