[Pierre]

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..

[capetonianm]

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!

[Senator]

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.

[Pierre]

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

[Senator]

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.

[Senator2000]

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.

[capetonianm]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone, but I only had 3 or possibly 4 years of SEN status, and am still well under 60. Pity!

[Senator]

Thanks to my Namesake for clearing this up…

I qualify for 1) and 2) clearly but for 3) I have 20 years, 1 month and 29 more days to go… I guess I can forgo the lifetime award for now 🙂

[LuganoPirate]

Sorry to bump this, but back to the original point, the interruption is now over and personally I didn’t even notice any difference during the interruption but then I wasn’t redeeming any miles either.

However, now it’s officially back, I see no difference from before! Am I missing something?

[Senator]

LuganoPirate ,

I did some “investigation” and the system update was in the “back end” or “back bone” systems. There are some subtle changes in the “front end” as well. if you look at all entries in your on-line M&M profile they provide a lot more transaction details; or perhaps it is just me as I had several voucher upgrades cancellation, then reapplying again.

There are some “rules” changes from what I can gather. I recently booked an award ticket on TG, and it was no longer possible to hold reservation; it required instant ticketing. You used to be able to hold for 24-72hrs, but this no longer applies.

One casualty (perhaps more down to luck) is a return trip ARN-OSL which has not been credited. I am waiting for the two week grace period to end. I wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t for the fact that both outbound and inbound failed to show whilst data was clearly in SK’s system and on boarding passes.

All in all, nicely handled by M&M all the way through and communication was superb.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Senator, I agree they managed stakeholder expectations very well.

It started with a blunt and clear message and then the delay was not all that bad, the actual changeover experience felt better than the announcement suggested it would be.

Clever.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

I thought LH managed the whole thing very well but then given the stability of their IT systems I’m not really surprised.

Now if only they would take over the management of SQs website….

[Swissdiver]

And there is a big improvement: now even for LH flights, they cannot properly credit the miles…

[Senator]

Swissdiver, it seems like you and M&M have been visited by the famous Irishman Mr Murphy 🙂

As someone else said here or in another forum; any time an airline makes a change and calls it “enhancement” you know nothing good is going to come from it.

I would say that in my experience, the service level of M&M is at par with my other schemes; north of 95%. About one of 20 entries are incorrect; had them same on BA and Hilton Honors, my two other frequently used programmes when it comes to earning travel related points/miles.

Speaking of BA; their credit card partner in Sweden is an absolute laughingstock. In a local forum, we are all absolutely disgusted with their set up. Here we are talking service levels south of 5% 😉

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Swissdiver, have you ever had a good experience of M&M?

I only ask because I’ve never had a bad one and I’ve been a member of the programme since it started about twenty years ago and I’ve been a SEN for fifteen of those years.

[Author]

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