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Miles-and-More will bluntly interrupt mileage rewarding services for an unknown time "at the end of the month".
1/ Be prepared and book/upgrade by mid-January
2/ Don't be surprised.This is in line with M&M sense of service. They just don't care about the members... As usual...
http://www.miles-and-more.com/move
What a very negative interpretation of the web page. All services are upgraded from time to time and this is no different. It is stated that the service interruption will be short not unknown.
Several days: "The system upgrade will only take a few days. During this transition period, your access to Miles & More services will be limited."
Nothing will work but the miles credit (they say):
"The following services will be unavailable:
- Booking flight awards on all airlines
- Mileage upgrades
- Hotel and car rental awards
- Awards for non-travel-related partners such as buch.de
- Address changes
- Permission changes
- PIN changes
- Online enrolment"
Not that a negative interpretation.
And if you need to book award tickets their excellent service centres will quickly sort you out. In fact I no longer use the website to book anything but call the dedicated Senator number and book at no extra charge.
Well, LP, nice ... for Senators ... outside of the period mentioned since this too will be down...
Dear Swissdiver - your interpretation is quite negative. All airlines require to update their services from time to time. I think Miles and More are announcing this well in advance.
Unlike yourself I have always had adequate and effective service from Miles & More, both online and through their Service Centre!
I am a Senator in Miles & More, and a Platinum for Life in Air France/KLM, and both have updated their websites at time, with short interruptions.
It seems it will be down for a couple of days so hopefully not too bad.
I just hope the site will be an improvement and will work with German efficiency unlike the stories we've been reading on this forum about SIA's new "improved" website!
I also hope they will keep the graphics showing how far you've travelled as a percentage of the journey to the moon etc. Me and the kids quite like that!
LP: Although it requires manual input, http://www.flightmemory.com allows you to include all your flights and calculate not only the percentage of the distance to the moon, but to the sun :-), your shortest and longest flight, ...
Dear Jan,
Service-wise, it seems Senators get something diametrically opposed to regular and silver member. This is what emerged from another thread on the topic.
Regarding the update, they announce "a few days" which is more than two. We'll see. What strikes me is the impossibility to do anything even by phone during the period.
So now it seems the change will occur in February (http://www.miles-and-more.com/move)... What is annoying me is the pull information. Given the consequences for travellers, MM should certainly adopt a push system of information...
I received a nice letter in the mail last week stating disruption (working off memory here) last two weeks of February.
Personally, I think M&M is doing a rather nice job of keeping everyone updated, setting expectations and providing alternatives.
I am more curious about what the actual "enhancements" will be. I for one hope for:
Multi segment award bookings
Include all Star partners
Received the following message this morning in my email:
Moving into the future
Dear Mr. Senator,
As we all know, growth brings changes. And because we would like to provide you with accurately tailored services in the future too, the Miles & More system will be moved to a new, improved online platform from 11 to 18 February 2012.
During the move there will be restrictions on booking awards and changing profile settings.
The following services will be unavailable during this time:
• Booking flight awards on all airlines
• Mileage upgrades
• Hotel and rental car awards
• Awards with non-travel-related partners, such as buch.de
WorldShop and SWISS Shop awards can, however, still be redeemed.
In your profile you will be unable to make changes to your address, permissions or PIN during the move.
It will also not be possible to credit miles during this time. The miles you have earned will certainly not be lost and will be automatically credited to your account after the system switchover.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience and understanding.
You will find up-to-date information on the status of our move at www.miles-and-more.com/move.
Yours sincerely
Rather good of Miles & More I think. I continue to have superb support from the team.
Maybe, just maybe, after the upgrade, the availabilty for reward tickets on the M&M website will be synchronised with that on their inventory system. Currently it isn't and whilst it is often possible to see redemption class seats in the inventory (to which I have access) the point of sale facility on the website limits sales. This means that although I have over 250,000 miles I am unable to book to go anywhere I want for the next 8 months.
As the above poster says, I's also like to think I'll be able to use LH miles to upgrade forthcoming flights on SAA, such being one of the purposes of an Alliance.
I too have received the same letter as Senator.
I've never had a problem with getting a seat using miles on the internet site other than to popular holiday destinations at peak periods unless booked well in advance. Cape Town is one example and I could imagine Capetonian this is what you're referring to.
I have booked CPT - MXP via JNB using SAA and Swiss using miles, through the service centre, as I was unable to book via FRA as LH was full.
Coming down last week I booked a one way with Edelweiss in Business using miles. First time and a wonderful day flight! In this case due to a rather full flight it needed Lufthansa's permission to release the seat for miles, but as a Senator this was granted within minutes of the request.
For a mileage supplement with M&M you can get a seat if all the award seats are gone and even if it's the last seat on the plane. Not sure if this applies only to Senators though?
Hi, sorry!
There is a Senator hotline, always friendly, and efficient.
They advised a long time ago their members about the upgrade of their site. I wish all these 'clubs' be as efficient as M&M is. We are far from that..
When I had Senator status, which was over a period of 4 years, the service was outstanding for the reasons others have stated. Unfortunately when I retired and lost my company funded freebies all over the world and my status reverted to the humble Blue, the wheels came off!
capetonianm, I believe Miles & More used to include a lifetime SEN status at time of retirement if you had qualified 10 years in a row. I believe Flying Blue is the only programme in Europe (to my knowledge) with a lifetime guarantee. If you qualify for Platinum 10 years running, you get it for life.
I think the US based schemes does this better by accumulating your lifetime loyalty to allow people once they retire, or slow down business travel to still be treated well. Whilst only coming up on mid-life this year, I have qualified each year since 2000 and would hope that this loyalty would be extended later in life.
Hi Fellow Travellers, True that after 10 years Senator you keep the status for life. The same with Flying Blue, but the Platinum status did not exist 10 years ago.. You must then contact AF/KLM, "kindly" remembering that previously your status was equivalent to today's Platinum to make these 10 years.
Capetonianm, I would suggest to contact LH local agent and negociate something, showing that loyalty for XXX years was profitable for both sides. ( they should understand) Nice day! I fly back home right away, PA
PierreAntoine,
Can you confirm this? I was under the impression that a) it was originally at time of retirement and b) it has been removed? It was clearly stated in the Ts&Cs previously but can't find it now.
Lufthansa require 1) 10 years continuous Senator status, 2) 1,000,000 status miles and 3) >60 years of age, all three to run concurrently to grant life-time Senator status. I fulfilled the first two, but I still need a few year until 60, hence they declined to grant me life-time status. That means that I need to renew by means of traveling another four times, in order to maintain my status.
Moreover, I wish to add that Lufthansa's Senator dedicated phone-line staff around the world are excellent and very helpful all the time.
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