Buy your way to Senator

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    flydrive
    Participant

    I’ve been a LH Senator for about 10 years (have my single gold star to show for it – wow), and have just received an interesting email from LH saying that I will be demoted in 2015 because I haven’t flown enough. It’s true that I’ve switched cariiers from Star Alliance to One World after a number of disastrous connections in Frankfurt. So no surprise there. But what was surprising is that I could buy my way back to Gold for 2015 for the tidy sum of EUR 2,000. Hard to imagine how this could be cost effective. The main benefits are lounge access, seat selection, and… well, that’s all I can come up with. I mostly travel business on Star, so it will mean a downgrade in lounges and not getting row 1 anymore. I never got upgraded on LH in all my time, and I can do without the invites to fashion or tennis events that cost considerably. Hardly justifies the cost, IMHO. Am I missing something? Would anyone else consider this?


    thebigseats
    Participant

    I was offered the same a few years back when I lost Senator status. Didn’t bother. I actually now have OW Emerald status & prefer the participants in that alliance compared to Star A.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    The same deal is there for Silver but it costs less. It’s a one time deal and meant for people who just missed re-qualifying but would like to retain the benefits. If you fall to re-qualify in 2015 you’ll not be offered the deal again.

    Is it worth it? I don’t know. It depends on personal circumstances. If like me you travel long haul in the premium cabins but economy for short haul, then I’d say yes for the priority lines, boarding, lounges etc. Otherwise if always flying business and now less with *A then I agree it’s not worth stumping up for.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    I was just thinking, on other threads many people ask for the best way to keep/obtain status with BA etc and the most cost effective flights to take. I think this is a much easier way and saves the hassle of taking a flight just for the necessary miles.


    SwissExPat
    Participant

    Is this not simply equivalent to buying Tier Points (in the same was as one can buy Airmiles/Avios)

    I would have though this would be a natural extension to to the miles buying for people who are “a few tier points short”.

    I suspect that (and this happened to me a few years back) if one is a few short, the airline often simply renews your old status anyway and send you a nice letter telling you of same etc.

    If you had to pay for this, it might not generate the good will.


    midorosan
    Participant

    Is it possible to buy tier points for upgrade to BA Exec Gold and if so how?
    Thanks


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    No it’s not. Only way to BA Gold is to earn it by flying. Only Miles and More, I believe, allow you to make a payment in order to retain status, but not to earn it.


    Schaible
    Participant

    Lufthansa is one of the airlines fighting for every customer, it appears. Most airlines won’t go down to a level to sell their frequent flyer level. In the end of day, if you don’t fly with Star Alliance carriers really frequently it won’t pay back those EUR 2000.


    flydrive
    Participant

    Just to follow up with a few of the queries/comments, I’m not even close to re-qualifying this year, as I only have about 20,000 status miles and you need 100,000 for LH. So I’m guessing this is on offer to any Senator who is in danger of losing status. Also, I wouldn’t have been in this situation if in the 10 years I was a Senator, I received something back from LH other than just miles. Say what you want about BA, but in my last two years of BA Gold, I have received numerous upgrades and I don’t have to worry about missing my connection at Frankfurt (which happened a lot). Having just tried the new LH lounge at LHR T2, I can say that the Business lounge was much larger and quieter than the Senator lounge, and had virtually identical food. I don’t think the EUR 2,000 would be money well spent, so will let this pass as I let go of my long allegience to LH (but not before cashing in my miles with two long hauls trips to N America, one in First).

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