When you are in the hunt for miles, there are some words that you never want hear. This came from Lufthansa:
For flights from 1 January 2014 onwards, the mileage credit in Economy Class will be linked even more closely to the value of the airline ticket.
Uh oh. More follows
Consequently, the mileage award in the lower-priced Economy booking classes will be reduced for flights with Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Germanwings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair and SWISS.
How bad is it? Pretty is the answer if you’re flying cheap tickets to mid-priced tickets. There are some hard drop out there as the lower price tickets take a battering in how many miles they earn…
Within Germany:
Tickets coded E, T Continues to earn 500 miles a segment
Tickets coded K, L continue to earn 125 miles a segment
Tickets coded G, H, M, U will drop to 250 miles a segment from 500 miles
Tickets coded Q, S, V, W will drop to 125 miles a segment from 500 miles
Cross border European Services
Tickets coded E, K, L will continue to earn 125 miles a segment
Tickets coded S, W will drop to 500 miles a segment from 750 miles
Tickets coded T will drop to 125 miles a segment from 750 miles
Non European Destinations
Tickets coded Q, S, V, W will earn a minimum of 250 miles, on a x0.5 multiplier (was 500 miles x 1,0)
Tickets coded E, K, L, T will earn a minimum of 250 miles, on a x0.25 multiplier (was 500 x 0,5)
If Lufthansa is trying to enamor itself to the low cost European frequent flyer, they’re doing it wrong.
It seems to be a drive to cut the “low cost people” from the status pile, whilst trying to improve revenue by convincing those who want miles to book the higher earning fares.
Which, as a low cost semi-frequent flyer, convinces me there are better ways to fly.
Lufthansa’s full release is at http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/rowr/program/news/detail?nodeid=1614347629&l=en&cid=18002 where there is further news about new Status rewards too. What they are, well – we’ll find out later.
The news of earning dropping is a bitter pill to swallow at best, and at worse does lead to re-thinks.
For those who are booking ahead, the new earning regulations go into effect from 1st January 2014.
Best get those discount segments in whilst you can…
As was eloquently pointed out on the LH FT board, it takes 9 cheapo economy short haul flights (UK to Germany) to earn a free one. Tax will be £35.
It will take over 140 (not a typo) Y flights to between the UK and Germany to get a free one. And the tax will be £130, so you save about £15 on a cash ticket!
Sorry, first example above is if you fly BA!