A couple of weeks ago I posted about a Lufthansa Private Jet promotion with Miles & More, which some Flyer Talkers are using for a HON Circle mileage run by private jet.  Apparently the promotion has been so popular that the smallest, 6 seater, private jets are now sold out for the entire 5 week promotion period. Larger jets are still available, but the maths doesn’t work quite so well (not least because a maximum of 6 passengers per flight are eligible for miles).

The downward spiral of fares and services on most Tasman and South Pacific routes continues with news from Air New Zealand of a radical overhaul of their fares and service offerings.

The longer shorthaul routes (Auckland to Perth, Auckland to Tahiti/Papeete and Sydney to Rarotonga) are unaffected by the changes but for the rest there are significant changes.  Economy service will differ according to fare at 4 different levels, as outlined in the table below.

* Business class replaces Works Deluxe on 767, 777 & 747 flights only, and empty adjacent seat does not apply in business class. 

Air NZ has stated they intend that Works is equivalent to current fares, Works Deluxe is a heavily discounted business fare and the cheaper fares are more in line with low cost competition (ie Jetstar and Pacific Blue).  We’ll see if that is so when they release fare information later.

As alluded to, this means A320 aircraft are losing business class, business class seating and also space+ seating. Space+ seats at the front of economy are regular seats but with an extra few inches of legroom and are very popular with elite frequent flyers and high fare passengers who can select them currently.

As a result of the changes, on some trans-Tasman routes Air NZ will have regular economy seats, space+ seats (on 767 aircraft), current premium economy seats (until refurbishment of 777 and 747 is completed next year), new premium economy seats (initially only on 77W aircraft), old business class seats (767 only) and business premier seats (777 and 747 aircraft) - 6 completely different seats, 2 different levels of onboard service and 4 different levels of on the ground services.  Managing customer expectations will be tricky in this environment!

The changes start with Christchurch to Sydney on 18 August (for sale from 29 April) and roll out to other routes in November (for sale from September).

Air NZ hasn’t yet provided details on many aspects (treatment of elite passengers, longhaul connecting passengers, those who booked flights while the current services were promised, etc). This is causing some angst on the Air NZ forum of Flyer Talk, but it is refreshing an Air NZer was quickly posting responses to questions (purportedly the GM of Shorthaul himself). 

On the information provided so far it looks like Air NZ is providing more choice and not really taking stuff away except for those who only buy sale fares, but the devil is in the details.

Updated to add

Existing bookings for travel after the switch to the new offering will be treated as Works if economy fare and Works Deluxe if business class fare.

Lost in all the other changes, but check in kiosks will be progressively added for flights to Australia from June 2010.

The shorthaul service changes are finally up on Air NZ’s website, although there is no new or additional information.

There’s an active discussion on Flyer Talk about a HON Circle mileage run by private jet, thanks to a promotion offering 50k miles including award, status and HON Circle miles per international segment on LH Private Jet until early June.  If you can organise a full load in a private jet the costs are not too bad.

HON Circle is the top elite frequent flyer status of Miles & More and requires 600,000 HON Circle miles within 2 consecutive calendar years. Flights must be on certain airlines to count as HON Circle miles (the home airlines of Miles & More). HON Circle status perks include access to the fabulous Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Lounges, Senator status for partner, 6 upgrade e-vouchers, frequent op-ups, guaranteed seat availability and improved award availability (eg additional award seats on Lufthansa and Swiss plus all Miles & More customers can benefit from premium cabin awards on Singapore Airlines 77W and A380 aircraft) which will come in handy given the number of miles HON runners will have accumulated.

Perhaps the most attractive feature for some Flyer Talkers is that qualifying now for HON Circle status gives HON Circle status until February 2013 and Senator status until February 2015.

This sure beats taking hundreds of flights in economy to qualify for elite frequent flyer status.

Lufthansa Miles and More has recently added a flight statistical summary to the site for all high status members (HON Circle or Senator elite frequent flyer status). When you log in you get a summary of your recent flights credited to Miles & More.

Given I use flugstatistik.de / flightmemory.com, which is more comprehensive, I was naturally interested.  Here are some screen shots kindly donated by a reader.

My calendar has reminders for when I need to book upgrade requests for those airlines which have a window to lodge them (eg Qantas).  Other airlines are simpler in that you can request an upgrade as soon as you have ticketed the flight, although in some cases there is still a window when they are considered as opposed to clearing immediately (eg Air New Zealand).

Which method gets the best results depends on the circumstances of the traveller – a restrictive window is generally better for high status elite passengers since this means they have a shot of upgrades clearing even for travel booked at short notice.  A longer window or immediate processing is better for others as, on lightly loaded flights booked well in advance, it reduces or eliminates the gamble on whether an upgrade will clear or not.

How does your airline deal with supported upgrades, and what do you like or dislike about their system?

As promised, I am answering some of Wendy Perrin’s readers’ frequent flyer questions.  The first batch of answers are about frequent flyer status.

Read More…

Last year Wendy Perrin asked her Perrin Post readers for their frequent flyer questions. 10 lucky readers won tickets to a preview of the Up in the Air movie starring George Clooney and got their questions answered by Randy Petersen, frequent flyer guru, with some help from others at Flyer Talk.

However, there were over 100 other great frequent flyer questions about programs, miles and status. There are some common themes to many questions and also some unique or quirky questions. With Wendy’s permission, I’ll be answering many of these questions over the coming weeks.

In my email inbox today was the latest in a long history of badly targetted offers from Lufthansa Miles & More.

The email included as “selected offer for your mileage balance” the Silver Promotion. Frequent Traveller status (Star Alliance Silver) can be earned by taking 30 paid flights on Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT, Adria, Croatia, Brussels, Air Dolomiti or Luxair by 31 December.

This is wrong for me on a few levels.

1. As referred to at the start of the email I have a higher elite status.
2. Not only that but I’ve already requalified to 2013.
3. Since I’m not based in Europe, 30 flights on those airlines would be more than enough to qualify for Senator, not Frequent Traveller status.

An example of a previous promotional mis-step by Miles and More include offers of 10k bonus miles if I make 3 intercontinental round trips in first class on Lufthansa within 6 weeks. That bonus was paltry compared with the cost of achieving it and the huge amount of miles that would already be earned (rate of 325% times mileage).

Still, it is better than Virgin Blue Velocity Rewards, which offered gold status only to rescind the offer.

The majority of Star Alliance frequent flyer programs (FFPs), including all the main ones, have more than one elite status level that is Star Alliance Gold. Oneworld has 3 elite status tiers across the alliance (although some programs do not have every alliance tier represented), so I’m not sure why Star Alliance couldn’t also introduce an extra tier with additional benefits over Star Alliance Gold.

Star Alliance Gold Plus

(AC) Aeroplan – Air Canada Super Elite
(NZ) Airpoints – Gold Elite
(OZ) Asiana Club – Platinum
(US) Dividend Miles – Platinum Preferred
(MS) EgyptAir Plus – Platinum
(SQ) KrisFlyer – PPS Solitaire, PPS
(NH) Mileage Club – Diamond
(UA) Mileage Plus – Premier Executive 1K
(LH) Miles and More – HON Circle
(TK) Miles and Smiles – Elite Plus
(CO) OnePass – Platinum Elite
(CA) Phoenix Miles – Platinum
(SA) Voyager – Platinum

Programs with only one Star Alliance Gold status

(FM) Crane Club
(BD) Diamond Club
(SK) Eurobonus
(TG) Royal Orchid Plus
(JK) Spanair Plus
(TP) Victoria

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

As part of a review of my frequent flyer strategy for the year ahead I have been thinking about lifetime elite status. If one year of elite frequent flyer status is good then a lifetime is better – travel can be focussed on purposes other than requalification of elite status.

As the term suggests, lifetime elite status gives status benefits for the rest of your life, or the life of the frequent flyer program, whichever ends first. In respect of alliance benefits there is an additional caveat that the host airline remains in the airline alliance.

In 2007 I achieved lifetime Oneworld Sapphire status through Qantas Frequent Flyer. I was also well on the way towards lifetime Star Alliance gold status through Singapore Airlines before they pulled the plug by grandfathering existing lifetime PPS Solitaire members and stopping any new qualification of the status. Since then I haven’t paid too much attention to lifetime statuses, since most of the programs I use either do not have lifetime elite status, or have a long time period qualification (in one case decades for me).

The last couple of years my travel patterns have changed markedly, and as I continue to seek out more difficult to reach places they will keep changing for the foreseeable future. Thus, removing the requalification hassle will be welcome. I haven’t yet finalised my approach but in the meantime, here are some lifetime elite airline statuses that are available together with their requirements.

Lifetime status earned by a period of time with high status

Air France/KLM – 10 years platinum for lifetime platinum (Sky Team elite+)
bmi – 10 years gold for lifetime gold (Star Alliance gold)
Spanair – 10 years gold for lifetime gold (Star Alliance gold)

Lifetime status earned by a period of time with high status and minimum status mileage

Lufthansa – 10 years senator/HON circle at or above age 60, and 1 million status miles for lifetime senator (Star Alliance gold)
SAS – 10 years gold at or above age 60 for lifetime gold (Star Alliance gold)
South African – 6 years of platinum earned by flying 100,000 miles per year on South African or by the requisite tier points (only South African flights count) for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)

Lifetime status earned by lifetime status mileage (restricted)

Air Canada – 1 million status miles on Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz for lifetime elite (Star Alliance gold)
Air Canada – 2 million status miles on Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz for lifetime elite for yourself and a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)
Air Canada – 3 million status miles on Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz for lifetime super elite for yourself and lifetime elite for a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)
Air China – 1 million status miles on Air China for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)
Alaska – 1 million status miles on Alaska and Horizon for lifetime gold
Asiana – 1000 flights on Asiana for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)
EgyptAir – 1 million status miles on EgyptAir for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)
Philippine – 1 million status miles on Philippine for million miler
United – 1 million status miles on Continental & United for lifetime premier gold (Star Alliance gold) for self and from 1 January 2012 annual premier gold for nominated partner
United – 2 million status miles on Continental & United for lifetime premier platinum (Star Alliance gold) and from 1 January 2012 annual premier platinum for partner (up until 31 December 2011 also lifetime Red Carpet Club membership for self)
United – 3 million status miles on Continental & United for lifetime premier 1K (Star Alliance gold) and from 1 January 2012 annual premier 1K for partner
United – 4 million status miles on Continental & United for lifetime global services (Star Alliance gold) and annual global services for partner, both from 1 January 2012
US Airways – 1 million status miles on US Airways for lifetime Silver Preferred* (Star Alliance silver)
* requires account to remain active to maintain the status, ie activity at least every 3 years.

Lifetime status earned by lifetime status mileage (unrestricted)

American – 1 million status miles for lifetime gold (Oneworld ruby) – from 1 December 2011
American – 2 million status miles for lifetime platinum (Oneworld sapphire) - from 1 December 2011
Asiana – 500,000 status miles (or 500 qualifying flights on Asiana) for lifetime diamond plus (Star Alliance gold)
Asiana – 1 million status miles for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)
Continental – 1 million status miles for lifetime silver (Star Alliance silver)
Continental – 2 million status miles for lifetime gold (Star Alliance gold)
Continental – 4 million status miles for lifetime platinum (Star Alliance gold)
Delta – 1 million status miles for lifetime silver (Sky Team elite)
Delta – 2 million status miles for lifetime gold (Sky Team elite+)
Delta – 4 million status miles for lifetime platinum (Sky Team elite+)
Korean – 500,000 status miles for morning calm premium club (Sky Team elite+)
Korean – 1 million status miles for million miler club (Sky Team elite+)
Qantas – 7,000 status credits for lifetime silver (Oneworld ruby)
Qantas – 14,000 status credits for lifetime gold (Oneworld sapphire)

Lifetime status earned by lifetime mileage (any source)

American – 1 million miles for lifetime gold (Oneworld ruby) – until 30 November 2011
American – 2 million miles for lifetime platinum (Oneworld sapphire) – until 30 November 2011

Comments

Sky Team appears to be the easiest to earn lifetime top tier status. For me that isn’t much help as I very rarely fly Sky Team airlines.

Star Alliance has a number of options for lifetime top alliance tier status. Easiest would have been bmi, if you’ve already had bmi gold status. The expected merge into Lufthansa Miles & More within the next year scuppers hopes of lifetime status for most people. For someone starting now Asiana may be easiest except for those who predominantly fly United.

Oneworld has no lifetime top tier status. Lifetime middle tier status is most easily earnt with American since all mileage counts.

In all cases lifetime status requires a significant commitment and a lot of flying (except for American). So an important consideration is whether or not the lifetime status benefit will still be available for long enough to earn it, and whether the requirements may go up significantly in the meantime.

Something for me to think about.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.