[LHRSENflyer]

I shall try to refrain from a rant, as I’m sure most FFPs have some glitches and annoyances.
Miles&More (MAM) was relaunched at the start of 2024 with much fanfare with the aim of improving transparency and simplicity for the customer.
In some respects, agreed. The Lifetime status is now transparent and ageism has been removed from the old system of earning points per day of status.
My issue about simplicity is that I now have 5 lines of data for each flight:
Award miles, possibly an Executive bonus on certain airlines; HON Circle points; status points; points. Oh, hail, such simplicity!
To further complicate matters, on 27 flights so far this year, I have earned the bonus miles only on 7 flights. The response from MAM support makes for interesting reading: “Frequent Travellers, Senators and HON Circle Members will continue to earn at least 25% more award miles” on MAM airlines plus AC, UA, NH and the bonus miles are supposed to be included automatically rather than shown separately.
The award miles are now on a complex fare-based formula but I checked a few intercontinental entries that seem to even be below 100% earnings on distance flown in Business class.
In addition, since the programme relaunch I have not had any car rental partner miles credited. I presume this is some glitch in the relaunch.
Apologies, I realise this is a programme-specific post, but I am keen to hear the views of other MAM members. For anyone reading who isn’t a MAM member, perhaps you can confirm that this really is now a simple and transparent programme.

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barnacles

[Senator]

I have been a Senator since 2000, qualifying every year except during Covid.

There has been a lot of changes over the years. I think the latest changes are for once mostly positives. What M&M has done is to make two major things clear:
1. Flying the integrated airlines e.g. those with M&M as its home program (LH-group, LOT, Lux Air etc) is rewarded more than those of JV partners and Star Alliance
2. Premium cabins are required if you seek highest status e.g. HON Circle (which is not new)

The revenue based award miles is not new. It has been around for a few years. Which means that highly discounted Business Saver fares may yield less than 100% of distance flown. I’ve had this a few times. Once a ticket has been reissued for any reason, the old system of distance based kicks in. You win some, and you loose some in this game.

The 25% bonus miles have always been limited to integrated airlines + JV partners. Nothing new here as well.

I have been highly critical of M&M in the past, but find it easier to understand now. Simply put, the only major change IMHO in 2024 is how you earn status and that status like Senator is now annual, not two-years in the past.

Lifetime Senator and FTL as per 31 Dec, 2023 was calculated on the basis of years of status. To earn lifetime status forward, it’s about Qualifying Points. I am apparently “5,766 Qualifying Points to become a Senator Lifetime”. Which I think will take this year and next to earn.

M&M looks more and more like BAEC to me.

Since the changes that took place really was more about how to earn status, I don’t have much issues with any of it. They’ve always had an overabundance of complexity, they are after all German.

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Swissdiver, cybertravller, LHRSENflyer, cwoodward

[LHRSENflyer]

Thank you for your comments @Senator.
We are probably very much on the same Lifetime status trajectory. So, it’s good to get an alternative perspective.
It feels like there is some confusion over the bonus miles. All of the 27 flights to date should have been eligible (all MAM or JV partners UA, NH) and 7 show a separate line for executive bonus miles, the remainder don’t. When I queried with the Service Centre they claimed they are added automatically in the new scheme.
In principle I agree with favouring MAM airlines in the scheme, but I do find it somewhat strange that the same number of point are allocated on a 12-hour high-yield (high-fare) Biz class route like HND as they are on a low-yield mid-haul route such as DXB. But the only way to address this is to re-introduce more layers of complexity. And I am taking advantage of this anomaly to bag some extra Life points.
Interesting reading on the ticket re-issue as the ticket in question was a Russian airspace extended flying time and missed connection re-route from LH/NH codeshare to UA. I am currently more focused on status points than award miles, but the miles part of the programme still seems unwieldy and inscrutable.
Good luck on your Lifetime status, I’ll see you there hopefully in 2025!

[alistairNicoll]

I have recently been upgraded to silver status- all my travel is in business class and will continue to be so and as far as I can see the only benefit I get from silver status is a baggage tag. Everything else about this loyalty scheme seems for the benefit of economy class passengers and no thought given to business class users

It might be nice if I get enough miles to upgrade to first class but nothing about this scheme is making me a loyal customer and simply if they offer a good price I will use and if not I will go elsewhere

Given up worrying about status points or HON circle points

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LHRSENflyer

[LHRSENflyer]

@alistairNicoll thanks for your comments and perspective.
I think the scheme has dangled the carrot that you have to fly Business to get sufficient points to attain HON Circle. But that involves a lot of flights in a generally indifferent Business class.
From memory I agree the Silver status has no reciprocal benefits with *A and lounge access is the same as for a paid Business Class ticket.
If you’re saving your miles for the F upg my recent experience suggests pick your airline/route wisely, I was WL for months ZRH-SIN.

[Senator]

The M&M Frequent Traveller (FTL) status does provide one very good benefit if you travel mostly within big Lufthansa Group airport. Namely access to the LHG lounges, the business class type and only own branded.

This obviously may not help alistairNicoll if he already buys business class.

Value from miles is subjective. I find the use of M&M miles to upgrade from Business to First poor value. I tend to use the miles on last minute trips that are very expensive, or to bring family members along. Another sweet spot has been expensive intra-Asia legs on Singapore Airlines and Thai.

I would agree that the Star Alliance Silver status is fairly useless, and if you already travel in Business, FTL is not going to provide much additional value.

I can’t decide if I think my Senator status is better than my AF/KL Platinum or BA Gold. Each has its advantages, for different reasons. I need to think about this..

[LHRSENflyer]

Thanks again @Senator. You clearly have a diversified portfolio, which enables comparison, whereas I am more eggs in one basket of MAM and *A.

I guess there may be a small chance of upg as FTL status if there’s no SEN/HON on board, but that’s a fairly long shot

[alistairNicoll]

Thanks LHRSENflyer no the scheme has not dangled any carrot it has simply left me underwhelmed with no aspirations to go out of my way to travel with Star Alliance and no feelings of loyalty and certainty not that I am a valued customer

Thanks Senator but flying business class,I get access to the lounge anyway

I have to say that given the importance of business class to airline profitably it surprises me that airlines don’t give more thought to their loyalty schemes and say what can we offer the business class traveller with each status jump instead of simply offering benefits to economy passengers

[LHRSENflyer]

@alistairNicoll, it does indeed seem a lost commercial opportunity and reflects a rather confused and questionable MAM senior management strategy, perhaps. Here is a premium customer with whom you the business has relationship, paying Business Class fares that could potentially and easily be tapped for more revenue but it decides to offer no loyalty incentives, so it’s understandable you’ll walk to a competitor.

[alistairNicoll]

@LHRSEN flyer thanks have decided to write to MAM but no doubt it will result in bland platitudes and no action

A good market researcher would be telling their management that the scheme is flawed

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LHRSENflyer

[Senator]

I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way, but the commercial value of a M&M FTL member I would think is not that high to the Lufthansa Group or any airline for that matter.

I could fly from Stockholm to Barcelona in Business Class for about £450 return. If I want to quickly earn the status, I would fly ARN-FRA/MUC-MUC/FRA-BCN return, and it would yield me (40 + 40 + 40) * 2 = 240 points of 600 points required FTL status. Meaning less than three returns are required for the card. Senator would require 8.5 returns.

I have booked Lufthansa First down to Asia in December with a friend. We paid £2,900 per person, and given that SAS and its EuroBonus programme leaves Star Alliance at the end of August, my friend is crediting this to a new M&M account and this one trip will yield FTL status.

Putting the commercial value in light of this, I can see that the Lufthansa Group really don’t care so much about the FTLs/Silver.

Having said this, I also familiar with those who travel only point-to-point LHR/LCY/MAN-FRA/MUC/GVA/ZRH on expensive business class return tickets and who barely get to FTL/Silver with 15 segments on tickets costing £800 return.

I am torn myself on the battle between “frequent” and “high value” travel. Meaning, the old way of rewarding many segments and long distances vs. high spending per segment/distance.

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LHRSENflyer

[LHRSENflyer]

Thank you for your comments @Senator.
I think you raise an interesting issue. I believe when FFPs were first launched the emphasis was on loyalty in exchange for frequency of use. Over the years, airlines realised that frequency does not translate into high yield.
Indeed, if you are prepared to undertake the suggested European 2-stop ARN-FRA-MUC-BCN routing at minimal cost then there’s a lot of points to be gained under the current scheme, provided you are prepared to accept a little of bit of extra hassle (And lounge time) and potential missed connections. Some “low-cost” departure points offer even better value.
So, it seems that MAM hasn’t quite addressed the frequency versus yield balance, as the same number of points are awarded for a £4000 return Business class flight to Haneda as for a discounted £1400 return to Dubai and using the LHR/FRA/MUC/DXB gets an additional 40 Europe points for an extra hour of travel.

[Author]

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