HadesNL

A friend of mine is a HON, after all that flying he is a bit blasé but he finds Getting his BF into the FCL and him getting the SEN-card the most rewarding of the programme

weero

You certainly have a point with the other issues ... but the 'taxes' ???? C'mon man, you know good ol'auntie LH well enough. She's lying through her turbine blades!

LondonElite

I think you might like to spend some time in the BA forum! First of all, BA will not status match you. Second, BA Gold is in no way comparable to LH HON, as it is earned so easily. Mileage redemption suffers the same problems as everywhere else (high taxes, YQ, meagre premium availability), both J and F cabins are sub-standard (though BA's F class is generally regarded as one of the best business class products around), transfers at LHR are a pain, and the new CEO is hell bent on proving that he can turn the company into a LCC.

NA-Flyer

On many instances taxes and YQ on BA redemption are higher than LH by almost 25%

seat 1a

No doubts. The SEN card is very much appreciated by my wife.

weero

That is why ... it is about as hard to earn as SEN and offers a fair bit more - luggage allowance, seat allocation, First lounge access, lifetime status.
They are at worst silly - especially the no-sterile-arrival in T5. But transfer @FRA for a SEN is a much stronger pain in the biggest muscle than transfers @T5 for a BA Gold.
Agree. But that does overall save money also for the customer. I genuinely enjoyed my experiences at LH since they went LCC and I spend about 60% less for a good PE product what I wasted before on a bad Biz one.

Sure M&M is history but LH is just fine. I extrapolate the same for BA.

mxr

Have you considered CX? If you fly regularly to China and Japan then CX has a great network for you. Looking at your location this would mean direct flight ex FRA and then 1 change in HK to any destination in Asia that you'd need to get to.

CX DM is comparable to HON and service is top-notch. If you fly J then get ready for frequent op-ups to F.

Made the change from star-alliance to CX last year and I couldnt be more satisfied (ok not really, the grass isnt that much greener else-where, theres always stuff to complain about).

Edit PS: If you ask nicely, I'm sure they will make you Gold (Sapphire) from the get go. Unfortunately you would still have to start at 0 points to get to DM (still better than starting from scratch)!

Concerto

Somebody upthread (but on this page) mentioned Singapore Airlines. My issue with them Is with the flight times. Arriving at the crack of dawn in Singapore followed by a 3 hour lounge visit then another 3 or 4 hours flying to my final destination in Asia just did me in. The timing of that really wiped me out for a couple of days. Plus I just didn't find SQ that great, perhaps maybe a one off experience. I also found the sleeper bed short and uncomfortable- sleeping diagonally was the only way. Service and food was ok, nothing more.

f4freeJunior

I have been PPS for a while and have also noticed a service deterioration over the years. It's still a good product and for me the 1st choice when flying business to SIN. But more often than before I experience and hear from other colleagues yes SQ has a solid product offering but the WOW effect is somewhat disappearing. I have had excellent flights though and I enjoy flying them but I find the benefits of being PPS quite limited though.

seat 1a

If your destination is North Asia SQ is really a major deviation imho.
CX better timing wise, but not sure treatment better then HON.

Also my experience tells me it's better to start your trip at the home base for the airline. Been stranded out bound with CX and SQ several times from FRA / ZRH.

mxr

Pretty sure that you wont get stranded if you are a CX DM and you start your trip from FRA/ZRH/DUS/any EU outport. If for any reason at all there is a problem with your noon departure they can and will re-route you through LHR on a late-afternoon flight.

Cant say that I've experienced HON as I never was and I'm sure its better than DM on CX but its probably very comparable. After all, its not that easy to get that high of a tier to begin with.

On a different note I assume OP is J/F traveller where I'd say its:
CX J > LH J (by a very large margin)
CX F < LH F (by a very small margin)

seat 1a

LHR - wonderful 😫😁
Easy ? It's a pain in the a** to travel that much to begin with. The status/ tier you reach is just a reflection of how comfortably you travel.

I for one would not change airline if I am based in a LH / LX HUB. I am sure MM is deteriorating just like most FF programs. And anyone I talk to belonging to other programs complain just like in this forum. Overall I am still happy with HON , especially LX.

mxr

Well I'm just talking for the OP's perspective here and what might be best for OP.

I've had two instances, once with LH and once with LX where I my travel plans to Asia got completely messed up due to irrops.
In the LX case I missed the HKG connection and had to wait until the next day until I could finally leave on an SQ flight at noon.
In the LH case the runway in FRA was closed by the time the aircraft mechanical problems were fixed. Flight was rescheduled to the next day at noon.
Both of these times I missed crucial appointments in Hong Kong.
So flying with the "Home turf carrier" in this case did me no good at all.

If the OP frequently flies to North-Asia (as he stated China & Japan), then irrops situations over there will be much better handled when flying with CX than with LH.

I never said that LHR was a dream, but you have to put it into context here: Would you rather miss your next day meetings because LH has only 1 daily flight, or would you rather connect in LHR only a few hours after the problems started and arrive with a minor delay instead of losing a whole day?

Worldhopper

Being based in VIE, I must say that I greatly appreciate my HON status since over a year.
It makes travel way easier: fantastic OS HON team that is very responsive on email/phone, HON entrance at VIE, FRA transfers are a breeze (ok, bit of a walk to the FCT, but we're sitting for hours on a plane so a 20 min walk isn't that bad), escorts through security etc.
It makes travel occasionally even fun: frequent op-ups to F, limo rides instead of crammed busses, and frankly, the LH F ground services are amazing in FRA, MUC and JFK.
Having been top-tier FF with AC and EY in the past, MM HON is way better in terms of perks.
Is it worth it? Probably depends mostly on your base location and travel destinations. LH/LX don't have the best C product (OS being a notch better) in the world, but they do for sure on transatlantic routes.

biffothebear

Hi All,

Thanks for the interesting and varied comments, I was surprised at the links from oliver2002 that this malaise with HON is quite widespread.
I think 8420PR makes a great point though, in the air is where it really counts and there is really not much to differentiate any more.

From the comments its seems clear that even at the top level of any airline things are not that great, especially when compared to hotel ( and even rental car) status. Airlines are pretty proud to do the minimum that they can. I think that I will take the view that I will treat the airline as they treat me, with minimum loyalty.
Retention of SEN for *G benefits in terms of check-in and security screening makes sense with FRA as my home hub. I’m tempted to try CX although the inconvenience of non-direct may be too much but getting into the OneWorld alliance may be of use.

HON is good fun for the first few times but the inconsistency of service gets tiring after a while. Overall, its a shame that LH don't appreciate good customers ..