Hmmmm, the M&M status at 35k you mention is FTL or *S, not Senator or *G.

So, some benefits like lounge access etc are only if you fly with Lufthansa Group, but not much good outside that.....

Yes, it's for FTL. The M&M website says that lounge access with *A is available with this status, but I think business class check in is only with airline partnes, which is about 8 airlines.

edit: On reflection, Asiana may be the best option instead of LH or TK. 40k miles over 24 months is pretty generous to get to Diamond.

You need to fly on M&M integrated carriers (LH Group/OU/LO plus maybe LG) and access is only to own lounges. Example: WAW-FRA access to LO lounge (own lounge), BKK-FRA no lounge access as there is no LH lounge and other carriers treat you as *S and not *G (and no lounge access for *S).

Ahh, ok. Thanks. Their websie was a bit vague. They had star alliance lounges as accessible.

I moved from TG to TK. You only need 25k miles to re-qualify for Elite (*G) within one year or 37,5k within 2 years (vs 40k/80k for TG).

IMO TK’s redemption chart is also better than TG’s.

Communication by E-Mail is OK with TK (did not call them yet though).

I would not go with Asiana, customers service & webpage are horrible. Tried to call them for a week at BKK office, apart from the automatic welcome message, there was no reply. My emails were also never replied.

But if flying a lot with TG and/or living in Thailand and getting enough miles to get TG G, I would stick with TG, just more convenient to contact them/using the miles etc

FTL status of M&M (of Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss) is quite useless. It’s *S and that level only gives you a few benefits if you fly the M&M member airlines (business class lounge operated by Lufthansa, +10kg + Business check in). If you fly other *A members, you get pretty much no benefits.

For 35k you get almost *G with other *Members, don’t bother to each M&M FTL status..

Hi,

After many years being faithful to TG ROP as a Gold member, the last program devaluation led me to start thinking of Asiana FFP.
Although there are quite a lot of information on the web, I did not find any matching advantage with Asiana to some of ROP ones, like GUP 1/2 or "Birthday" half-miles award redemption.
Do you know if similar advantages do exist with Asiana FFP ?
The most interesting being GUP

Thanks

Welcome to your first post on FlyerTalk. Yes, I agree is is a dilemma after the terrible devaluation of ROP, where you might change.

I think you should this on the Asiana board rather than here. I haven’t heard of similar benefits of the Asiana program, but there might be other benefits... and so much depends on your flying pattern.

Thanks for your welcoming message Thai-Kiwi, I shall post on the Asiana forum too.
Really, the GUP are good value for me, as I usually book CDG/BKK/SYD (or BNE/MEL) that way

Well, I haven’t been on the board for quite a while. This thread makes for interesting reading.

After gaining Platinum status with TG, I have seen flight cuts, the decimation of ROP, and as an aside the absolute wipeout of my Amex Platinum card earnings due to their restructure, which for me worked hand in hand with my travel on Thai. I have come to the conclusion these big companies mainly rely on complacency and reluctance to change from their customers, in order to keep them. I have spent the last year winding down my ROP points and have under 200,000 left plus one PUP.

I decided a few months ago to stop being complacent, reluctant to change, and above all else stop being loyal to one brand when that loyalty has stopped paying dividends. I was in the thai Airways first class lounge at Suvarnhabumi about two weeks ago, and they have about halved the size of the menu. No steak anymore. That really brought home the cost cutting going on with their most premium customers.

I cancelled my Amex card yesterday, and will move to another Star Alliance FF program once I have exhausted my ROP points. I will then buy my tickets based purely on cost, and look at simply maintaining a gold level with whatever program I ultimately decide to utilise.

From the Harvard Business Review:


Depending on which study you believe, and what industry you’re in, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. It makes sense: you don’t have to spend time and resources going out and finding a new client — you just have to keep the one you have happy. If you’re not convinced that retaining customers is so valuable, consider research done by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company (the inventor of the net promoter score) that shows increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.


My two cents worth,
Main Wheel

Amen Main Wheel!

+ 1

Well said :tu:

+3

This is why I switched to OZ.

https://www.ft.com/content/9ab0fd22-...3-fa40a0d65a98

Will TG follow SQ and offer some relief?

So Mr. Wheel, which *A FFP partner did you switch to in the past year & how's that going for you?
And if you were booking flights based on cost, then it wouldn't necessarily all be *A carriers, would it?