swiss traveler

Hi all,

I have been booking an award ticket and companion ticket to asia this summer (June 30 to July 17).
I have booked 2 C-class ticket from GVA to NRT (via ZRH with LX plane) and back from SEOUL to GVA (via FRA with LH plane).
Total amount of miles for me : 120'000
Companion (1/2 that amount, cause i'm senator) : 60'000

Now I wanted also to have the Japan-Korea connexion, but M&M SEN line operator said it's not possible to get that included, cause companion tix on ASIANA is not possible. I thought that's kinda weird, I assumed we could use all *A airline in these award tix. He said that the segment NRT-SEOUL could be included in my award tix, but not my partner on companion tix.

Now my questions :
- is there a way to get the flight between Japan and Korea included in the award ? We could fly out of NRT or Osaka or any point in Japan, and our destination in Korea is Busan (PUS) but we could also land in Seoul. Would ANA do that, could that be included in the award ?
- I don't want to spend more than the above amount of mile. So if not possible to got the Japan-Korea flight, would train in Japan to South and then possibly a boat (if exists) to Busan be an option (very technical non-airline question here...)
- I think i can reserve seats on LX, and since I'm SEN I think I can get the great rows 4 or 5 (little C-class cabin, right behind F), right ?
- Can I also book my seat on the LH Seoul-FRA flight and in that case what seats would you recomend (I saw LH uses a A340 on this route) ?
- Also are LH A340's fitted with their new C-class flat bed ? How is it and generally how is the service (better/comparable to LX C ?) ?

Thanks in advance for any help !
Cheers !

flysurfer

Reagrding the award rules, you already got your answer from M&M.

As for the LH340, I prefer bulkhead rows 3 and 10 in 3-class new C configs.
I wouldn't fly old C at all, I'd stay away.

In order to find out which config is used on your flight, you should consult the seatmap on a site like ExpertFlyer.com. Beware of last minute equipment changes. I guess ICN-FRA is currently running on a 346, so row 1 looks nice. Or 10, if installed.

Travel Man

Im my opinion, you should be charged for a three region award because you are going to touch Europe, Japan and Asia.

Be happy if you are only charged 180k miles

flysurfer

Yep, that's true. And ticketing will usually find out about such things and charge the higher 3 region mileage level. So sticking to the 2 region option + companion award seems to be the better approach.

Jossijoe

Hi

Just to help you, award bookings 50 % off for senators can only be booked on miles and more partners like swiss lufthansa lot and so on but star alliance does not have the 50% off thing so if you use a star alliance carrier u will have to pay the full price for your partner. Its a Lufthansa special for senators.

Regards

Travel Man

correct, the partner ticket thing is a L&L benefit, not a star alliance thing

swiss traveler

thank you all for your comments and info.
Best wishes for a nice summer and nice flights to all of you.

tcswede

this is getting utterly boring surely you are the winner over the M&L variant but it certainly does not make it more entertaining.

On a side note even if you get a companion award - the SEN / HON can use his as a full Star award - meaning that the companion will still get a half points ticket for the parts of the integrated LH airlines.
Example:
EUR-SIN-DPS ticketed for the SEN / HON and a companion award for EUR-SIN for the travel partner - with only a need for a ticket SIN-DPS extra for the travel partner.

So in that sense a companion award is combinable with a Star award.

Cheers

Thomas

swiss traveler

That's a very useful piece of information, thank you so much.
so indeed I could book a flight tix Janpan-Seoul included in the 120k mile award for me and than buy a tix for my partner.
very very good to know. thanks again. and cheers

flysurfer

Yes, as long as both destinationa are in the same M&M region, which is true for apan and South Korea.

flysurfer

Yes, as long as both destinationa are in the same M&M region, which is true for Japan and South Korea.

Travel Man

is this so difficult to understand that europe-japan-asia-europe is a so-called three zone award that costs 160 k miles in business class?

here is the information: http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...nodeid=1557759 - go to "Staralliance Prämientabelle".

PS: There is no rule that you can have a partner ticket for parts of your itinerary. The rules clearly state that the whole journey has to be together!

flysurfer

Why are you mean to the OP? South Korea and Japan are in the same zone. So maybe it's you who has difficulty understanding the rules?

SmilingBoy

I am sure that you are right, and that it should be 120,000 miles. However, when I do a dummy booking for one person, it asks for 180,000 miles on lh.com. Why?

Your Award Booking
Frankfurt (FRA) to Seoul (SEL) : Departing: Fri 4 May
Date Departure Arrival Flight Class
Fri 4 May 17:55 Frankfurt 11:25 +1 Seoul LH712 Business
Sun 20 May 10:40 Tokyo 16:00 Vienna OS052 Business
Sun 20 May 17:35 Vienna 19:10 Frankfurt OS125 Business
+1 Arrives the following day.

Your Award Options
Fully Flexible (Fare Conditions)
Passenger
Miles required per person

Tax and Fees

Miles & More Member
180,000 miles

217.32 EUR

Total
180,000 miles

217.32 EUR

flysurfer

You really have to ask M&M or LH. LH folks tend to make up new rules as they go, and incidently, these rules are always to the disadvantage of the customer.

If you want theories:
a) programming error in the online booking engine
b) undocumented change of award regions (please note that the new *A award chart doesn't list the countries that belong to a region, anymore. This means LH can now make up random rules for every individual request that includes a stopover, making sure the award will cost as many miles as possible)

Anyway, the "old" chart that's still available on lufthansa-usa.com lists the individual regions with their countries. Of course, since I have posted this information on FT, be prepared for the chart to magically disappear from the site, soon.

Here's the link: http://www.lufthansa.com/cdautils/me...dia_246164.pdf