prefers1a

Interesting Post on aerotelegraph.com (in German): https://www.aerotelegraph.com/neuer-...e-airline-sein.

Star Alliance is taking on a new member in Europe which will be a rail company or, as *A CEO Goh said: "not far away from that"... whatever that means. Deutsche Bahn, SBB or ÖBB would be natural fits. Flixbus would be "not far away" but a weird fit. With Deutsche Bahn changing their loyalty program and introducing 3 Status Levels could be a hint at changes coming... Anybody with any other information?

angetenar

It seems like this was the same interview where they discussed the new *A credit card. It would be interesting to see an actual transcript of the interview.

the810

Deutsche Bahn is introducing status levels to bahn.bonus. That would make a lot of sense if they plan to join *A. Admission to lounge is available from the gold level and includes 1 guest, which is also in line with alliance benefits.

giorginho

It seems to be as good as done! Let's see what (earning or redemption and other) benefits get announced (possibly on Monday).
https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft...hansa-101.html

dvs7310

Seems to make sense given Germany's and Europe in general's push to end short flights and get people onto trains instead. Given FRA has the high speed rail station right at the airport, it especially seems a good fit.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this.

prefers1a

Some ideas on how the *A Tiers and services at Deutsche Bahn could look like

Tiermatching could look like this - but this is optimistic:
Bahn-Silver = * A Nothing
Bahn-Gold = * A Silver
Bahn-Platinum = * A Gold

To achieve Bahn-Platinum, you need to spend 6000EUR per year - on LH and UA not enough for *A Gold there (under normal circumstances, not based on insane mileage runs) - I am not familiar enough with TK or A3 to know how far 6k would get you there... But: anybody that thinks Bahn-Platinum will be equal to LH-HON or UA-1K better stop dreaming now.

This then creates all the rules for lounge access, guests, etc. It will be interesting to see how/when priority customer service is rolled out and at which stations. I assume that *A Style Services will only be available at major rail hubs. Small/Medium stations with human customer service will certainly not be relevant.

Collecting miles/tier points on Deutsche Bahn with other programs will be even more interesting. I assume that only long-distance services will allow the crediting of miles on other programs. I'm curious to know how this will play out for LH, who will be the bulk of of *A Customers to use Deutsche Bahn services. Two scenarios:

1. Cologne-Frankfurt costs less than 120EUR return on a 1st class flex ticket with the Bahncard50 rebate. Hardly enough to earn "C Booking Class" miles (1000 per leg).
2. It is a bit more realistic under same fare conditions: between Munich and Hamburg (260EUR).

Discounted return tickets on these routes are often available for far less than 100EUR, which would be a fairly generous ratio of price to miles assuming Lufthansa crediting classes analog to P (Deutsche Bahn First Class Super Saver) or K (Deutsche Bahn Second Class Super Saver)...

the810

I doubt this. Bahn.bonus introduced status levels only few weeks ago, I can't see why would they name the mid-level status Gold, if they planned for it to be the equivalent of Star Alliance Silver.

Also, DB offers lounge access + 1 guest from their Gold level which is in line with Star Alliance Gold, also suggesting it will be matched this way.

prefers1a

That would be star alliance gold for spending 2500 eur on Tickets, which is not a lot of traveling…

Edit: that is more than you need at Aegean, where you need 6 segments for *G. Assuming my example above with somebody doing Munich-Hamburg return, 2500 would be achieved after about 7 segments, factoring in that the bahncard also needs to be bought and counts towards the 2500EUR goal. So unfortunately Bahn Gold could be *G … oh dear me, full SEN lounges to come…

Armin92

I never had to spend more than 3k eur in order to be Star Gold with TK back in time. (2015-2019). And today my spouse is around that yearly spending for her AF Gold all this without extreme mileage run!

On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of people having both DB and LH status (especially in Germany) and therefore not seeing so many more pax in the SEN lounges.

But wouldn't the Deutsche Bah become a Connecting Partner instead of a Full Member (like Juneyao or Thaď Smile)? It would make more sense IMHO

MSPeconomist

I assume that DB sells monthly and annual passes oriented toward those who commute to work by train, as is done in the Netherlands, for example. I wonder how many of these customers have automatic DB status based on this purchase.

prefers1a

I don#t know the numbers, but I know of several people that have a Bahncard 100 (=Platinum) but only fly enough for LH-FTL (*S). These would, if DB Gold/Platinum were *G, suddenly be allowed to the SEN (*G) lounge, instead of "only" to the FTL (*S) Lounge.

AFAIK, Deutsche Bahn has been announced as a full member.

prefers1a

based on most recent statistics, there are 36k "Bahncard 100" customers (i.e. annual passes for long distance trains). These are all DB-Platinum, i.e. *G.

I do not know how many LH-SEN (*G) there are, but I remember a (older number) of 50-60k LH-SEN in Germany. Based on the above, just from the DB-Platinum members, the potential new customers to LH-SEN lounges is significant...

Armin92

Well it depends if your monthly/annual subscription comes from DB Fernverkehr (long distance) or from one of the several transportation association. The first case allows you to earn points, not the second.

Let’s say someone who commute between Aachen and Cologne won’t earn any point since his subscription is sold by VRS, but for someone who commute by ICE between Montabaur and Frankfurt it could be full jackpot for him.

Armin92

In this case I will not complain with my Gold status at DB and around 10 european flights per year with LH group 😇

the810

DB operates on different profit margins than airlines though, so it may be worth it for them.

Imagine if people start spending 2500 euros a year without actually travelling. That should be enough to cover whatever expenses they get for those people using the status (remember, this would be people who don't fly enough to earn status on an airline).

But yes, handing out status without actual travel is risky.