Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky, i am LH HON and every year have anyway 8-10 flights in business coming up with different * companies….Turkish, Thai, Avianca, United, Singapore….I was wondering if it makes sense to partecipate in a second * program (even if don’t think will reach silver status) to have better availability for award flights with family for a possible upcoming holiday in 2-3 years in Asia/Japan/Australia. We are family of four so for example this summer could not get United award flights with LH miles from New York to Yellowstone. Thank you for your suggestions. I was mainly looking into Singapore Krysflyer but it seems award chart is not cheap and miles earning is lower than LH…..Thanks Lucky

Having status in another airline program wouldnt necessarily give you [I]better [/I]award access in most cases but there are some exceptions. United has slightly better award availability for it’s elites and credit card holders, LH has better or earlier availability for its own members and Singapore generally releases premium cabin awards it it’s own members.

What have you been using to search award availability? I dont know how good LH’s award search tool is. Generally for Star Alliance awards, the best search tools to use is Aeroplan, United and ANA. Avianca’s tool is also useful. I’d check for space on 2-3 of these programs and then calling LH to book if necessary. Sometimes there’s a glitch and awards wont display properly.

Hello Leilo

Last time I checked don’t LH add heavy fuel surcharges to award tickets? And don’t miles expire after 3 years regardless of activity?

Crediting to another *A programs might avoid those problems, but would create a new one of have some in LH and some in another program and possibly not enough for the awards you want.

Since you are already a LH HON member there is in general little to be gained by status on another *A carrier, unless you are planning to fly on that carrier in Y in the future. Except for possibly better award availability on their own metal as DavidW said.

Perhaps in the future consider taking some flights with Oneworld or Skyteam and get status there since other *A flight don’t count towards HON status anyway last time I checked?

If you are based in Germany, Swiss, Austria, US or Scandinavia then Airberlin will gladly give you status on Oneworld, but sadly only Gold.
[URL]https://topbonus.airberlin.com/web/tb/lp-aktion-statusmatch?/en/[/URL]
[URL]http://statusmatcher.com/company/air-berlin[/URL]
[URL]https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/sapphire-privileges[/URL]

British Airways FF program is very easy to get top Oneworld status on, and Oneworld has many great F lounges out there.

But I find it a bit strange that 8-10 flights in business would only get you Silver? Are we talking about short regional flights here or long haul?

And to get to Yellowstone, be sure to check both Jackson Hole, Wyoming (JAC) and Bozeman, Montana (BZN) for space. While JAC is certainly closer, BZN is only about 1.5 hours away. They are both small airports though so space will be limited. Salt Lake City (SLC) is about a 6-hour drive from the park but has a bigger airport and could be a good place to decompress after/before a long flight.

But book early. For lodging in the park itself you’ll want to book at least a year in advance as space goes very quickly. If you stay outside the parks (Yellowstone and Grand Teton are right next to each other and one fee will get you into both parks) you’ll need to plan carefully so you don’t get stuck inside each night. Land-wise Yellowstone is larger than each of our two smallest states and there are not many roads so you can’t quickly get from one part of the park to another because speed limits are low.

Whatever time of the year you book, be prepared for any type of weather. We went a couple of years ago during the first week in June. The day we arrived the temp was in the low 70sF/20sC. The morning we left the temp was 28F/-2C.

It’s a great place to see and if you have a chance to see it in winter, it’s a whole different experience!

Thank you all. I understood that running for a second *A program does not make much sense…..I will keep running LH Hon, I am already Iberia Gold which is nice to transfer points to BA….and I will probably be running for some status into skyteam….travelling often to Russia…..does Aeroflot make sense? Any suggestions?

Yellowstone….I succeded to find availability with Delta to Jackson Hole trasferring SPG to Delta and booked 5 nights (2 in Grand Teton and 3 in Yellowstone south north and east) around the parks. Will drive finally to Steamboat Springs and the rockies to Denver.

Thanks for any suggestions regarding Skyteam

Lello

Enjoy. The view of the Tetons from the lodge is simply spectacular. Wish I was going back!