yareku

Hi All,

Currently looking for a supplementary programme to SkyTeam (Flying Blue) - mostly for intercontinental long-haul (mostly LH & LO in premium econ and some business), which is often half the price for me compared to SkyTeam offerings, and occasional European trips (mostly in C) when the SkyTeam routing is inconvenient.

I will be aiming for gold and a lifetime status option would be a big plus.

Having reluctantly decided to return to Miles & More, I bought a ticket to Seoul with LO and immediately realised that lifetime gold is decades ahead (with the old as well as the postponed programme) and renewing Senator would be a significant commitment due to the requirement of 100,000 miles in a single year.

Following state of PTSD brought back memories of accumulating first class award miles without even qualifying for Senator and made me consider EuroBonus, which I used to purposefully ignore due to "never travelling to Scandinavia".

What a surprise it was when I found out that flying LH/LO in premium econ. and business seems to lead to gold with a quite similar total amount of travel and without the need to concentrate a lot of travel in a single year + there is a much more attractive lifetime option.

Status running options also seem to be quite attractive with SAS, and government(s) always seem to bail them out in times of financial distress, which seems to be quite a common occurrence though.

Can you please advise whether there is any catch I am overlooking? Or is it indeed a good idea to migrate to EuroBonus?

Thanks a lot!

fassy

Well, SK*Gold is an easy to achieve *G status. Not more, not less. The program itself has nothing extraordinary to offer, but also nothing really bad. I think one of the biggest upsides is the comparable low fees for booking *A awards with points.

If you can achieve and maintain M&M SEN with your normal yearly activity, I would probably stay. Just for the better access to award inventory on the integrated airlines and access to F awards. And arguably, as SEN you get a bit better attention on LH group airlines while they see SK*G just again as a standard *G.

SKT-DK

In addition, while you mention the lifetime option, that would still take you a decade of uninterrupted EBG/EBD/EBP with SK. And if you fail one year, you start over.

JR67

I think you hit the nail on the head. EB if you don't fly enough to make Senator, M&M if you do...

kauppias

Aegean Miles and Bonus is also a solid Star alliance program for maintaining gold. Worth taking a look atleast once you get it it only takes 24000 miles a year OR 12000 and 4 A3 segments

FlyingMoose

Where are you based?

gojko88

Although in this case I don't think it would be a good choice, as the OP mentions travelling on LH a lot, and the lowest fares on LH Y+ and J don't earn anything on Aegean.

yareku

Thank you all for the valuable feedback.

Good point - this would basically be a repeat of the Flying Blue journey once again without the big benefit of status point rollover.

Thanks a lot - checked that one out, and the renewal conditions are indeed great. The lack of a lifetime programme and the inital requirement are less enticing though.

Prague at the moment, but it keeps changing.

So the dilemma now is whether to take advantage of the current M&M promo, get SEN with the already planned two long-hauls and see what 2024 brings or whether to commit to EB now.

gojko88

If you're looking for lifetime, EB is probably your best bet. Then of course, your lifetime could easily turn out to be longer than the airline's, but that's a different matter.

yareku

Thanks a lot for the further reply - did some more research and Excel simulations: going to leave the findings here in case anybody is in the same situation (Miles & More "native" flight-heavy).

- Overall, total travel amount for *G over 2 years is roughly the same - with some exceptions such as discounted LO business earning the same as Y on EB, inconvenient (but rewarding) LX routings to North Africa earning more with M&M etc. -> Would advise everybody to check their particular routes as the earning difference may be well over 50 % in such cases.

- EB is the clear winner if one cannot meet the SEN threshold in a year, as mentioned above, or is looking for *G (or their first) lifetime status while being relatively young and not too pessimistic about EB's future.

- M&M SEN has some nice extra perks such as upgrade vouchers, the award inventory mentioned above or ability to use lounges on arrival; not sure about whether there is any better seat blocking for SEN compared to other *G.

- Having both alongside another programme on a 2-year cycle is a wash - EBD soft lands to EBG (but this soft landing does not count for lifetime!) - non-issue with programmes with one target for 2 years, but might be relevant if the other programme's requirement is reduced if completed in one year only.

As for my particular situation, I decided to go with M&M now since my two Asian long hauls, which will get me SEN until Feb 2025, would only amount to slightly less than a half of EBG. This is not a big loss if I eventually decide to move to EB, and I will be able to make a better decision after the world fully reopens (as my travel patterns and future location will be much clearer then) - and until that happens, it is more perks with the *A airline I mostly fly with.

Thanks again all for the input as it was very helpful!

oliver2002

Don't get blindsighted by the potential lifetime EBG. SAS is not doing really well and the current/upcoming recession may cause it to restructure significantly.

Bottomline: quick *G for one year can be achieved with A3, TK & SK. Using their points for awards outside of the home carrier is a challenge.

I would recommend to use the statusmile promos that M&M has this year to extend the SEN by another 2 years. This summer M&M will announce their LT scheme, which was initially shelved at the start of the pandemic. From what was announced already, 10+ years of SEN will give LT FTL, 15+ LT SEN.

yareku

Thank you very much for the reply - the new M&M programme is something I have eagerly been looking forward to, so it not being shelved forever is certainly great news.

SuperFlyBoy

Which M&M promo is this?

yareku

https://www.miles-and-more.com/row/e..._business.html

oliver2002

Status Miles promo(s): 2x in H1/22; 2000/longhaul segment in Q2; 2021 Compensaid

2x SM for all of H1/2022 and 2000 SM per intercont segment in Q2/22.

BOM-FRA-EWR rt in P would give you 40 000 SM as blue member, 48000 as FTL/SEN.