by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 10, 2014 | Featured, Lufthansa, Star Alliance, United, Voucher |
After several promises and false starts, United has finally launched the electronic platform that will allow Mileage Plus 1K members to redeem their Global Premier Upgrades (GPU) electronically for flights operated by Lufthansa. Up until this point, passengers had to request a paper coupon weeks in advance and present it to Lufthansa on the day of travel and hope that a seat would be available.
The new system reverses the previous one.
Passengers now can request the upgrade at the time of booking their upgrade eligible ticket (up to 331 days prior to departure). If a seat is available, it will clear immediately. If a seat is not available, the request will be put on an automatic wait list. Once Lufthansa opens an eligible seat, the upgrade will clear the waitlist and be processed.
The new system is a major improvement over the ‘analog’ process which required a coupon however there are a few minor changes that are less than positive. One of the biggest differences with the new system is the upgrade window. With the old system, you had to wait until the day of travel to find out if a seat was available.
With the new program, the deadline to clear is 10 hours prior to departure. In other words if your upgrade is waitlisted, the request will be cancelled 10 hours prior to departure if no award seat is available. This means that if a seat opens up right before a flight due to a missed connection, cancelled ticket or other issue that removed a passenger from the aircraft, that seat would not be made available to the person trying to upgrade with their GPU. With a paper voucher, a seat could have been awarded at the gate minutes before departure. Minor difference, but one to take note of and one that can have a bit of a negative impact.
Also, there is a restriction on the Lufthansa fare classes that are eligible for upgrades using GPUs. Fares booked in L, T, X, I, R, N, S, W, Z, P, K, O, ID, AD, IP and V are not eligible for upgrades.
Additionally, Lufthansa’s Premium Economy class is not considered a ‘cabin class’ for this process so if you are going to upgrade with a GPU from Economy Class, you would be upgraded to Business Class, not Premium Economy. Eligible Business Class fares remain upgradeable to First Class.
One more thing: If your flight number is a Lufthansa flight number (i.e. LH431) you can process the request online, however if you are ticketed on a UA code share flight number you’ll need to call the Mileage Plus service center to process the upgrade request.
What happens from here?
United as of today has stopped issuing paper vouchers for Lufthansa flights. All upgrade requests must take place online through United.com or by calling the MP customer service center. Effective February 1, 2015 Lufthansa will stop accepting the paper vouchers so if you have already redeemed a voucher for travel beyond February 1, please return your voucher to United for recrediting and apply for the upgrade electronically.
There have already been several instances where LH has stopped accepting the vouchers due to a reservation systems upgrade, so if your travel is more than 7-10 days away, you may want to return your voucher and use the electronic system otherwise your paper voucher may not be accepted. If you have enough GPUs, you could still hold on to your paper cert and try using the electronic system at the same time. If you clear electronically, just return your paper cert to United.
If you booked your ticket through Lufthansa.com, simply look up your reservation on UA’s website and you can process your GPU request.
In my opinion, this move really does help Lufthansa take better care of their Miles & MOre Senators and HONs. LH typically provides SENs and HONs with enhanced inventory and with the window closing at 10 hours prior to departure, it gives LH’s elite level members much better opportunities to score last minute upgrades using the Miles & More voucher system and eliminates the competition coming at the last moment from Mileage Plus members.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 9, 2014 | Airports, Featured, Travel |
A recent experience in Washington Dulles is the motivation behind me taking the time to clarify what may or may not be a well known TSA policy that has been in place for nearly a year.
Last week, when returning from Europe, I flew Austrian from Vienna to Washington Dulles where I would connect to my flight home. Before boarding the flight I browsed through the Duty Free shopping area in Vienna and came across a rare Scotch Whisky that I wanted (needed!) to add to my collection. Knowing that the duty free liquid policy had changed, I had no reservations about bringing the bottle home.
However, a certain airline’s (not LH group mind you!) ground staffer wanted to ‘educate’ me on her interpretation of the policy.
After claiming my checked bag at IAD and bringing it to the connecting flight bag drop off, I was carrying my duty free purchase separately from my bags which caused this staffer to step in front of me. She was insisting that I need to go back to my luggage and put my duty free STEB inside. I told her that the TSA rules have changed and as long as the bag is sealed, bringing the liquid through security is not a problem. She insisted that I did not know the rules better than an airline and brought me over to a chart that shows the 3-1-1 rule regarding liquids. The chart made no reference to any other TSA policy. Anyhow, I continued to present my argument to her until I finally decided to thank her for her time and walked past, and almost through, her. She was quite a Pit Bull and relentless but she finally gave up the pursuit since other passengers were in the area and needed her ‘expertise’…..good luck to the passengers!
Anyway, I go to the TSA screening check point, let them know that I have a duty free liquid in excess of the 3 oz rule. At that point they took the bag from me, inspected the seal, reviewed the receipt, confirmed that the liquid was OK and I was on my way. I had a good laugh with the TSA agent when I told her about my experience with the Airline staffer. The TSA agent told me that the sign that airline staffers are using are at least 5 years old and are out of date. I suspect that explains it…..its nice to see an airline keep their employees in the dark when it comes to policies affecting passengers.
So, without further drama from my experience, here is a summary of what is allowed under the current TSA rules as it relates to duty free liquids and connecting flights within the USA.
On or about January 31, 2014 the TSA decided to relax their policy as it relates to bringing liquids aboard aircraft. The amendment to this policy dealt specifically with the treatment of liquids (including Alcohol, Perfume, etc) that were purchased in Duty Free shops at foreign airports and aboard aircraft with duty free sales that land in the USA.
Prior to the policy change, passengers who bought duty free liquids in excess of the TSA’s 3 ounce rule, had to place these items into checked bags if they were connecting to onward flights within the USA; otherwise they would not be allowed passed security screen points.
With the amendment to the policy earlier this year, Passengers who are connecting to onward flights within the USA after arriving from an international origin CAN in fact bring aboard their duty free liquid purchases to intra-USA flights if they meet the following criteria:
1. The item is purchased at an official Duty Free outlet in an airport or bought aboard an aircraft providing duty free shopping. If the airline can not seal your duty free purchase when you purchase it aboard the aircraft, it is not eligible and must be checked.
AND
2. The item is placed in a secured, tamper evident bag (STEB) along with the original receipt. The receipt MUST BE in the bag. Here is an example of the STEB:
AND
3. The liquid and its container MUST BE transparent. In other words, creams or heavily tinted bottles are not allowed. Place your hand on the back of your container, if you can see it your item is OK, if not, you’ll have to check the item or leave it behind. It is OK for the item to be in a box, as the TSA will remove it from the box and inspect the bottle.
AND
4. The duty free purchase must have been made during the previous 24 hours (this according to TSA staffer I chatted with at IAD).
Caveat: The TSA reserves the right to prevent the liquid from passing through screening even though it qualifies under the rule. Extenuating circumstances and heightened security can sometimes trump this policy.
When you bring a ‘qualifying’ duty free purchase to a TSA check point, here is what will happen:
After placing your duty free item in the container on the belt, alert the TSA that you are transporting Duty Free liquids. At that point the TSA will take the item from you and scan it separately. This includes opening the STEB, visually inspecting your item, and rescanning it. Then, they will place the item back into the STEB and seal it with a special TSA security tape. At that point, you’ll be cleared and on your merry way!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 9, 2014 | Airports, Featured, Frankfurt, Photography, Plane Spotting |
On a recent trip to Frankfurt for a bit of LH business and to attend the FlyerTalk / Vielfliegertreff ‘Advent-DO’, I made sure to block out several hours in my calendar for spotting. Fortunately, ‘FRA’ is very ‘Spotter friendly’ and provides 3 dedicated areas designed to maximize quality spotting opportunities. The three include the observation deck in Terminal 2 (currently closed as part of a renovation to the food court area) and 2 spotting venues located at strategic points just outside the Airport’s fence.
One of these venues is located on the east side of the airport next to the Berlin Airlift Memorial which gives visitors a great vantage point for arrivals coming from the east. The other venue, ‘Affenfelsen’ (Monkey’s Rock?), is a spotting platform that puts you next to the North/South runway that is dedicated only for departing flights. Another advantage of the Affenfelsen site is its proximity to the East/West runways which allows you to capture flights arriving from the west.
For the 2 days that I had time for spotting, I chose the Affenfelsen site since it is easy to access from the airport and provides 2 runways worth of activity. To reach this spot, you simply take the Holiday Parking shuttle from Terminal 1 or 2 to the Holiday Parking Lot located near Affenfelsen. You’ll need to take a 15 minute walk from the parking lot, but its worth that minor effort.
Due to the amount of photos, I’ll publish a few posts to cover the 2 days. Weather on day 1 was overcast with low ceilings and mist that made it a bit challenging, however day 2 made up for it with clear and crisp skies. All of the photos that you’ll see are taken with a Nikon D800 attached to Sigma’s new 150-600mm Super Telephoto lens (click for lens review post). This was the first time I put this lens to use and it performed brilliantly. Even at 600mm and free hand, images were still sharp and ‘usable’! Enjoy!
Click Here to visit my Plane Spotting Archives
AirBridge Cargo 747-8F
Air France’s new HOP! regional ERJ 190
Speedbird’s A321 taxis to a mid-runway departure position
Perhaps the most peculiar sighting that I’ve ever made at Frankfurt. This China Southern ERJ 145 (along with 5 others) had recently been sold to a Russian start up and have yet to be repainted. So no, this ERJ is not flying to Beijing!
No mistaking this Etihad A340 sporting the beautiful F1 livery.
‘Siegerflieger’ was nearly a mile away. It took every bit of the lens’ 600mm to bring this beauty closer!
What is becoming an endangered species, this LH 737 is preparing to depart from a mid-runway position. LH will be retiring the rest of their 737s during 2015.
Yankee Papa, the 1500th 747 to be built by Boeing, is arriving from the west.
‘Yankee Quebec’ is Lufthansa’s newest 747-8i. It was delivered to the airline in August 2014.
Lufthansa’s D-AILF, an A319, rotates for a perfect photo…..
Another LH A319 departing FRA….there would be a few dozen of these! 🙂
Lufthansa Cargo’s ‘Charlie Lima’ arrives from the west during the late afternoon.
TAM’s 777 arriving from Brazil
Thomas Cook’s 767 begins her take off roll…..
Turkish Cargo A330-200 Freighter
Ukraine International’s 737 arriving from Kiev
