I am trying to plan some of my 2003 travel, and one big question is whether to try to requalify for United 1K. I have been a 1K for 6 years, but every year it seems less and less valuable.

Now that I have crossed the 1 million mile mark with UA, I am Premier Executive for life. For the time being, this translates into Star Alliance Gold for life.

I've never identified any specific benefit to being 1K when flying with Star Alliance partners. I guess what I'm saying is that if I have already achieved the maximum *A benefits for life, I think I might shift my money and time over to OneWorld (where, incidentally, being Emerald does seem to make a difference).

I'm looking under every stone for a Star Alliance reason to remain 1K. Does Lufthansa or another major carrier do anything special for 1Ks? I don't even know what Lufthansa's equivalent of a 100,000 mile flyer is.

Thanks!




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~ Friends don't let friends fly coach ~

They call it the LH Rudi.

LH only offers two levels of status:
FTL = Silver
SEN= Gold
and a gifted HON status, which is similiar to SEN.

For people living outside Germany, the two levels are:

Frequent Traveller (FTL-*S) - 35,000 miles; and
Senator (SEN-*G) - 100,000 miles.

For German and Austrian residents these theresholds become 50,000 and 150,000 miles.

There have been rumours over on the LH board and in the German media about a new level above Senator, requiring 500,000 miles per year (high, but not as bad as it sounds, as LH credits 1000 miles minimum per flight on most *A carriers(including UA/UAX) and credits a 200% bonus for C and 300% bonus for F, all of which counts towards status) and offering such things as free limo transfers. The plan seems to be to introduce this next year:

See

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum32/HTML/001832.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum32/HTML/001817.html

There definitely seems to be something in development (it has been an issue for a while that there are simply too many Senators, leading to overflowing lounges and the like).

I guess keep your eyes on the LH board and see when this new level comes to pass (of course there are unlikely to be any additional Star benefits attached unless UA and the others plan to introduce something similar).

STAR needs three levels but until LH introduces another tier, it is unlikely there will be one beyond GOLD. Which is why oneworld is so superior to STAR in this regard. As member carriers water down benefits of their own top tiers, little can be hoped for from STAR itself.

LH pulled HON about 4 years ago or so, but there are rumours about something similar popping up again

our own FlyerTalker Merry became HON only two years ago!