Whereas I love admiring the Neo’s winglets, especially with the hills in the background whilst approaching my beloved Sarajevo

[Picture from earlier on today arriving from Munich as per weekly routine]



G

I think your case it quite exceptional for HON, I’m lucky enough to fly F on longhaul but I also fly a lot with Europe & since private jets are not in my budget HON services are definitely worth it for irrops, never end up on a Cobus & get to use the best airline lounges in the World on my P Class Intra EU tickets.

and on cheapo economy tickets

Yes, whilst I don’t do that it’s a huge benefit & greater chance of a blocked seat as HON

I can't think of anything more humorous than being in the ... crack of economy and looking at pax faces when I get into the Porsche. Worth it for the reactions alone.

Sure, looks of puzzlement maybe but when you arrive at the plane or depart from it in J ,into or from the Limo they are trying to figure out who the VIP is Better still when you know your not a VIP

HON used to be great when problems come up. But at least in non-hubs this is gone. Yesterday my luggage did not make to a connecting flight in FRA despite of 1 hour connecting time. It was forwarded to a later flight to DUS. So far so good. At the non-LH baggage claim it was confirmed that HON/SEN will get a separate delivery the next morning. But that is no longer the case in these days with cheap third party suppliers. The next morning I was called to tell me that they will start a tour delivering many pieces to various destinations starting at noon and I could expect my luggage before the evening. My home is less than 30 km away from the airport. So LH needed 18 hours to deliver the luggage.

Not my experience with my home Non hub airport but suggest you discuss that with your HON PA, it’s what they are assigned to us for

There was a short answer from the HON PA: it seems they have overseen the HON luggage tags.
I do not believe in this explanation, as the HON status is incorporated in the luggage records, too. And they secured me that I will get a separate delivery when I did the claim.

Your correct, HON status is within the luggage data, not a response I would accept from my HON PA

I can relate to what you say, although to be fair, on several levels lower: I can easily remember a few years ago when I was looking up to FTLs and the Business lounges were the greatest thing ever for me. SENs seemed like gods to me and getting into the SEN lounge was unimaginable, not to mention HONs or the First Class lounge.

Now as a lowly *G my perspective has changed: Don‘t get me wrong, I enjoy all of the benefits immensely, but now that I have them I it‘s different. I don’t look up to them anymore and I value them differently. You could say that they lost their charm a little and that I maybe don’t appreciate them as much as I would have or maybe should just a few years ago.
Basically HONs are to me now what FTLers were to me a few years ago, but now it actually seems achievable. It‘s the same with flying First Class: I could not have imagined doing that anytime in the near future just a few years ago, and now my one to two yearly long haul flights are exclusively in First Class..

However, on your winning argument, I must object: I think this is more a personal opinion, as winning in life for me would be living up to your dreams and being happy with your life and its circumstances and the decisions you have taken. For me, traveling in style and enjoying the nice things life has to offer (J and F, nice higher end hotels and good food, as well as nice places to visit, but just as much as meeting people and the culture) are part of this.
Furthermore maybe achieving HON might be such a long term goal for me.

A little more on the topic of winning in life: is there even such a thing? Or is the only winning move not to play?

I‘m sorry to have brought this discussion off topic a bit, especially since I’m just a lowly *G and my HON experience is reduced to my HON-for-a-day First class flights.

Happy flying.