Not sure what you mean by involuntary but AC rarely upgrades anyone who hasn't used requested an upgrade using eUpgrade credits and when they do it's because Y is oversold or for W&B on the CR9s

On the long hauls I have seen AC upgrading a few to Business class when the PE and Y is full.

AC will give operational upgrades (op-ups) when Y is oversold, but not just because it's full. They will happily leave J seats empty.

Just a heads up: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aege...ade-rules.html

In essence, if you want A3 status but don't want to fly A3, status has become a lot harder to come by.

Which *A program??
 

Okay so I have someone who works for me (contractor) who is based in Lviv, Ukraine and we are working on projects in the states (USA) and Europe. The contractor would be flying in and out of WAW but will be flying United when in country. Which airline program should the contractor set up on? I am on United because I am in the states and want to hit the million miler program but this would not apply for the contractor. I think people used to sign up under Aegean because the requirements for *A Gold was easier to achieve but this does not seem the case. I am thinking LOT but their website doesn't say 35,000 miles gets them *A Gold (as far as I can tell). Please advise.

What are the contractor's top goals from an FFP? Award tickets with no carrier surcharges? Lounge access? Something else?

What class of service will the contractor be flying on paid tickets?

Just trying to get *A Gold every year. Discounted economy.

Note that deep-discount Y yields 25% in most mileage programmes and even 0% in others, so hitting the Gold threshold on this alone will require a LOT of flying.

SAS Eurobonus is probably their best bet if they want to have lounge access in the US.

I'd say Aegean Miles + Bonus might be better if there is a lot of United/LOT travel and possibly achievable faster, especially if the contractor can fly 4 Aegean segments. Or Turkish Miles & Smiles (40,000) which is valid for 2 years, just avoid certain LOT booking classes.
Regardless your contractor needs probably to fly initially a minimum of 80K miles to get status on SAS, Aegean, Turkish. It's easier to maintain for Aegean and Turkish after, especially Aegean if the person can fulfill 4 Aegean segments.

Note that in 2024, Miles + More (Lufthansa, LOT, SWISS) is changing but likely would have to fly a lot discount economy to get Senator.

OTOH, on Aegean you have to earn Silver first and then Gold, making an already high target for Discount Economy even higher. I agree that it might be attractive if (and only if) the person is willing to do a round-trip to one of the Greek islands every year.

1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)

ADL

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?

C for long distance

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?

25-50k


(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Silver, M&M Senator etc)

QF Gold (OW Sapphire)

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.)

priority and lounge

(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)

ADL-LHR

(7) Preferred Airlines none specific,
none

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?

Work


I mainly fly QF but occasionally fly *A long distance in C. Looking for lounge access. Any advice appreciated please!

If you're flying in business won't you already have lounge access?

Hi everyone.

I posted this in a different thread but I believe this one is more suitable for this (new here so not sure how to delete the old post).

Although I have been flying on average 3-4 times a year for leisure as long as I can remember, I recently begun flying frequently for work.
I am now based in Poland (previously UK based) but still require to travel to the UK for work reasons.

My travel costs are covered by my company (Y class only but can self upgrade to C at my own cost) as I am required to attend the UK offices every 2-3 months . I decided to start booking flights with LO/LH due to the flight date change flexibility with their full price Y fares.

I signed up to the Miles&More program in Oct 2022 but following LH’s announcement of the program changes from 2024, I do not think this FFP will be suitable for me going forward.
I am aware that in most cases my travel frequency would not grant me any status in the future so I decided to look elsewhere.

I came across TP's FFP and I signed up to their Miles&Go Platinum Club which gave me instant *A Silver status and I should be credited up to 118K miles by the end of the annual subscription and should be able to retain *A Silver either by renewing or by earning enough status miles for renewal (some long-haul trips to Brazil planned later in the current status period).

I would like to achieve *G but I don't think I will be flying enough miles to achieve this on flights alone so will be mainly use miles for award flights. Star is my alliance of preference based on my location.

Lounge access when flying in Y would be good (I know I can get that when upgraded to C)

As I now have a subscription to TP's FFP, when the renewal time comes in 2024, is it best to stick to it or consider other FFPs?

Any advice always greatly appreciated.

(1) What is your home airport? POZ

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Y (Business class upgrades/bids whenever possible)

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? Work (projected): 16-20 flight segments, Leisure: 4-8 segments annually

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? TAP Miles&Go Silver (*A Silver)

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Award flights (on miles + cash basis whenever possible), long mileage validity or possibility of extending expiring miles, *G would be nice to upgrade to.


(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Mainly Intra-Europe, POZ-LHR, Europe-South America every few years (going forward)


(7) Preferred Airlines: LO, LH (intra-Europe), TP (South America) any other *A for long-haul

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Mainly Work, 2-3 Leisure flights per year.

Does Aegean work for you intra-Europe? They've historically been a very easy way of getting *G but they recently made some changes so that if you can fly a few Aegean segments intra-Europe then getting *G is still quite easy. This would be the best way to get *G for you probably.

On the award flight question, where do you want award flights to? Airlines have the best award availability on their own flights.

I was considering signing up to Aegean's FFP but TP's fast-track to *A Silver was difficult to resist (this time).

A couple of Aegean intra-Europe segments would not be an issue as I have a sweet spot for Greek islands (and try to go there every other year if possible). So this would be a nice problem to have :D

Award tickets would be mainly for long-haul (leisure) to Brazil so TP makes sense.