[Anonymous]

[Potakas]

I made several flights last year from ATH to EDI most of them with BA, i have to admit that i am very happy with their service and connection times.

But during the strike i had to look for flights with lufthansa where i find out good prices but with very small aircrafts and the prices were cheap only with the return option. BA offer nice return prices at business class almost half prices than Lufthansa. Also the major Greek carrier is about to enroll *A and this is very attractive to me in order to change ffp as i come from Greece, Also *A offers more routes inside Europe where is more likely to travel.But BA offer household account which make very easy for me to gain free flights. just send me what do you think about those two airlines or their alliances.

[corkie*]

bmi is in the *A and their Diamond club offers family membership also. its also one of the best earners in *A, giving quick access to *Gold…

on the other hand, its anyones guess how long it will be around… up to LH now…

[NTarrant]

From what you say of your experience so far Potakas, it looks like BA is the one to go for. You will soon knock up the miles and tier points.

[Potakas]

I tried bmi and it was a disappointment , it’s ridiculous to pay for a coffee or a snack.. when you buy a full price ticket. What about experiences with lufthansa

[GoonerLondon]

I have status with both (senator and gold) and use both quite a bit. There is not much to choose between the two in terms of service in the air. Both are good. To the points you raise though:

– LH are routinely more expensive than BA on european routes, but can be cheaper on long haul business class (especially if you factor in Swiss). LH short haul business class is very expensive, and not as good (in my experience) as CE either. They do the middle seat free thing, but don’t change the seat configuration – so its essentially economy class seat, but with no-one sitting next to you. In flight F&B isn’t as good in short haul on LH, and LH lounges can be very basic, even in Frankfurt, where they can become really, really busy.

– LH only have one flight a day now to Edinburgh so you have less choice when things go wrong – and you are bound to have longer connection times

– Frankfurt is not the easiest place to make connections. T5 is a doddle (and you will only do security once on your return trip when you leave EDI. In Frankfurt its quite common to go through security twice – so on your LH itinerary that could be up to 6 security scans per trip)

– The main reason to fly LH over BA used to be timekeeping and reliability as BA domestic flights are the 1st to get delayed if things go wrong at LHR. This seems to be a thing of the past now with T5

– When you have plenty of miles, you may find there is more flexibility to redeem on LH – and of course you have the fab 1st Class Terminal at Frankfurt which is excellent.

– *A has more options than OW, but often the airlines aren’t as good.

One last thing – you dont mention where you live, but if you are based in Athens, the qualification tiers for status within BA are much lower (and easier) to retain. Based on 80tp each way on a CE /qualifying domestic itinerary you’d get to the gold threshold with only 5 return ATH – EDI trips. With LH you’d be looking more like 10-15,

[Potakas]

GL thanks a lot you was very helpful, but let me ask you, by writing CE what do you mean?
Also you said that if i calculate 80tp each way which is also the real number for ATH-EDI on Business class i’ll need 5 return trips for gold membership, i think this is far away from the 1500tp ba asks to achieve it, maybe you were meaning the silver one which is 600tp.
My home is in Athens but i am about to move to Edinburgh and now i am in the middle of those two cities.

[GoonerLondon]

CE = Club Europe (or Business class)

Exec club members registered in continental Europe only need 750/800 (cant quite remember) points for Gold…

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