Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky,

Been reading your blog for a long time. I am a 2.3MM Exec Plat lifer. I live in Germany, but I travel 5-10x a year to Los Angeles plus other trips…almost entirely in coach. Sometimes I fly business but it’s job related so impossible to tell. I fly long and hard, but discount coach with the new reduced SWU’s have been a foundation of my traveling for as long as I can remember.

Given the variety of changes including the spend requirement that might knock out my trips given the base fare on those LHR.LAX jaunts won’t exceed 12K a year unless I fly business a couple of times…can you help me “thought experiment” through moving to BA or Lufthansa?

I probably prefer BA if I could achieve Gold so I wouldn’t have any growing pains with leaving OW…but maybe LX is a better choice – although I find them pricier. All in all, I’m loathe to spend money just to meet a threshold and suspect with the base fare difference I’d have to buy a lot of more expensive tickets to qualify for ExecPlat since traveling alone won’t get me there.

What I love about my status (outside of the formerly generous SWU policy which I am sure will be incinerated and go to a fare based “roll-of-the-dice”) is the OW first lounges, the ExecPlat phone help, and the general ease of being in the top tier and getting a fringe benefit here and there.

Would love your perspective on it as leaving Advantage after 15 years is a seismic (okay, I’m being dramatic) decision that I don’t take lightly…