LUFTHANSA Miles & More Program Announces Shift To Revenue Based Model (Mostly)

LUFTHANSA Miles & More Program Announces Shift To Revenue Based Model (Mostly)

As has been widely anticipated, Lufthansa has announced that Miles & More will convert to a revenue based program beginning with flights booked on March 12, 2018 and afterward.

As is typical for a revenue-based model, the more you spend on airfare, the more award miles you will earn for your account.    Obviously, this favors passengers that book higher level Economy class tickets, Business, and First Class tickets.

The way Lufthansa is going to do it is by assigning ‘multiples’ based on the airline operating your flight.  You then multiply the ‘eligible’ part of your fare (including surcharges) by the ‘multiple’ to calculate how many miles you’ll receive.

For flights operated by Lufthansa Group airlines (Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Eurowings, Brussels), a base ‘multiple’ of 4 will be used to determine your award miles credit.   For example, if your fare has $400 basis (inclusive of surcharges), you’ll earn 1600 miles for the booking.

According to the somewhat poor details in their press release, it appears that the 4 ‘multiple’ will apply to other Miles & More member airlines such as (LOT, Croatia, etc.).

For passengers holding status with Miles and More (Frequent Traveler, Senator, Hon Circle), the multiple will be higher.  For these passengers, the ‘multiple’ will be 6 for flights operated by Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada, LOT Polish Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Adria Airlines and Air Dolomiti.     A multiple of 5 will be used for flights operated by Eurowings, Brussels Airlines, and other Miles & More airlines not mentioned in the previous sentence.    There will no longer be a separate ‘Executive Bonus’ calculation.   This has been factored into the higher multiples being awarded to members with elite status levels.

According to the release, the determining factor for how miles are credited will be based on your ticket number.    For example if you book your Lufthansa-operated flights through a travel agent and that travel agent assigns a ‘Eurowings’ ticket number to it, you will earn your miles based on the ‘multiple’ in place for Eurowings.  So be careful when using a travel agent when booking a ticket and make sure they ticket it to the airline that you are actually flying in order to ensure the full mileage credit that you paid for!

With this announcement, no changes are being made as far as how you earn elite status within Miles & More.   The same terms and conditions stay in place for status qualifications.

As far as the currency calculation being used to calculate your fare and award miles, all ticket sales will be converted to Euros for the basis of determining the amount spent on your ticket.   For example, lets say you spend $720USD to buy your ticket, at the time of sale the $720 will be converted to Euros at current ‘FX’ rates.   This Euro amount is what will be multiplied by the earnings multiple to determine how many miles you’ll earn.   So if the $720USD translates into €611, the €611 will be multiplied by the multiple to determine award miles earned.   A bit unfair if your currency is worth less than the Euro, but it is what it is.   It probably would take too many abacuses to keep track of all of the different currencies for the purpose of calculating miles.

ALSO, and a big ALSO:

If your ticket is issued by any other carrier within Star Alliance not mentioned above, and you have the miles from that ticket being credited to your Miles & More account, NOTHING CHANGES.   Those tickets will continue earning under the existing terms and conditions and are not subject to this revenue based models.   For example, you book a ticket issued by Singapore Airlines, and credit your miles to MM, you’ll continue earning your award and status qualifying miles under the ‘old’ system.

Lufthansa has created a dedicated webpage to help communicate the details of these changes, you can find it here.


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AUSTRIAN Announces Final FOKKER Flights……

AUSTRIAN Announces Final FOKKER Flights……

Austrian has released the schedule for the last handful of Fokker 100 flights that will take place this year.    The last Fokker flight will take place on December 31, but ‘OS’ announced a schedule of current Fokker destinations that will see the aircraft for the last time before the 31st.

Final Fokker Flights….

Vienna-Basel on December 27 (OS473/OS474)

Vienna-Belgrade on December 30 (OS773/OS774)

Vienna-Brussels on December 17 (OS351/OS352)

Vienna-Bucharest on December 29 (OS789/OS790)

Vienna-Chisinau on December 29 (OS655/OS656)

Vienna-Geneva on December 25 (OS575/OS576)

Vienna-Lyon on December 17 (OS403/OS404)

Vienna-Munich on December 31 (OS111/OS112)

Vienna-Skopje on December 21 (OS775 on 12/21 & OS776 on 12/22)

Vienna-Sofia on December 28 (OS793/OS794)

Vienna-Warsaw on December 27 (OS625/OS626)

AND

The final ever Austrian Fokker 100 flights will operate between Vienna and Pristina on December 31, operating as OS777 from Vienna, and OS 778 from Pristina.

H/T:  AirlineRoute.net

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AUSTRIAN Updates Hong Kong Frequency & Tweaks Newark Aircraft Assignments

AUSTRIAN Updates Hong Kong Frequency & Tweaks Newark Aircraft Assignments

A few days ago, Austrian updated their timetable to reflect frequency changes to Hong Kong and aircraft changes on flights to Newark.

The changes are slated to take effect for the Winter 2018/19 schedule so they’re still subject to additional adjustments, but as it stands today here’s what will be happening:

Beginning October 28, Vienna – Hong Kong will increase from 3x/week to 4x/week.

Beginning October 28,  flights between Vienna and Newark will be flown by their 777 and 767 aircraft.     The 4 weekly flights between VIE and EWR will be split between the 2 aircraft types.   Specific days for each type have not been assigned as yet.

 


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