Privilege/Miles & More question

[eurojet]

Dear all and especially Miles and More and Privilege experts:

Since on 24/10/2009, Privilige will merge into M&M, two questions, maybe someone has the anwers:

1) I will be flying on the 23/10 with Ethiad, Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi-Manila, returning the 7/11, do you know if I will still get miles (being privilige or M&M, I am member of both) of any kind?
2) I have the Privilige Amex, does anyone know what will happen with the points I accumulate on this one after 23/10?

Regards,

Eurojet

[sn26567]

For Part 2 of your question, American Express has announced that their Membership Rewards miles will be exchanged after 24/10/2009 for flights with any airline (Brussels Airlkines, British Airways, Iberia, Air France, KLM, ...), Eurostar, Thalys, hotels, city trips, etc. Examples:
Barcelona on Brussels Airlines: 24,750 miles
Prague on Lufthansa: 24,750 miles
Frankfurt on Lufthansa: 24,750 miles
London on Eurostar: 20,000 miles

[Air Key West]

SN Privilege will be fully integrated into Miles&More on 25 OCT. Logically, you should be able to earn miles with SN Privilege for all flights eligible under b.air's FFP until 24 OCT. So, you should be able to earn SN Privilege miles for your outbound journey, but probably not for the return journey, since it is not clear whether Miles&More miles can be earned from 25 OCT for EY flights (my guess is : probably not).
If you fly Etihad on a regular basis, you might want to join their FFP. See www.etihadairways.com

[AFApresident]

Another question, I am a member of United Airlines Mileageplus and Continental Onepass; as well as Privilege. On each account I have between 10-20k miles. As all will be star alliance before the end of the year, can someone tell me how I will be able to transfer all miles to the same account? Together they will offer me sufficient miles for a free intercontinental flight, yet apart they don't give me anything at the moment.

Because I am a member of United Mileageplus and not Lufthansa Miles & More, my accounts won't be matched automatically.

[Ducatibiker]

Privilege merges with Miles & More so your miles earned on Privilege will be transferred on Miles & More ONLY. They cannot be transferred to Mileageplus. You will never be able to combine Mileageplus miles and Miles & More. As soon as Brussels Airlines becomes member of Star Alliance, you will be able to chose which program you want to credit - either Mileageplus or Miles & More.

[Air Key West]

As Ducatibiker rightly pointed out, your SN Privilege miles can only be transferred to Miles&More since SN Privilege disappears on 25 OCT and Miles&More becomes the FFP of Brussels Airlines (because LH is taking over SN).
It is always good from time to time to re-read the Terms and Conditions of the FFPs of which you are a member. You will see that it is not possible in normal circumstances to transfer miles from one FFP to another (even within an alliance).
My advice to frequent travelers is the following (for what it is worth) : if you really travel a lot, try to be loyal and to fly mainly with one airline, become a member of this airline's FFP and you should be able to reach an elite status with quite a few advantages over regular membership.
If you travel on a regular basis, but not enough to reach elite status with an airline, limit your memberships to three (one per alliance) and then the best options at the moment are the FFPs of US carriers, given that for the time being your miles will not expire as long as you have one eligible activity (varies from one FFP to another) every 18 months. Expiration of miles is one of the weak points of most FFPs of non American carriers (unless you have an elite status). So, my recommendation would be to join American Airlines' AAdvantage for all oneworld airlines, Delta's SkyMiles for Skyteam airlines and either United MileagePlus or Continental's OnePass for Star Alliance airlines. Note that all these FFPs also will offer your miles for a number of partner airlines which are not or not yet members of the alliances.
I see you are both a member of UA's and CO's FFPs. As from OCT 25, I would recommend you decide whether you will put your Star Alliance airlines miles on MileagePlus or on OnePass and eventually give up membership in one of those two FFPs.
Try to avoid scattering your miles between a large number of FFPs. Doing so, you might never get enough miles on one single FFP for a free ticket.

[AFApresident]

At the time when I joined, all 3 were in a different alliance...; so would be nice if one way or another I can now merge them.

[HighInTheSky]

Does somebody knows what will happen with the SN Privilege Amex cards (normal: red or premium grey)? *Alliance and M&M work in other country's with Visa and Mastercard, don't they?

SN said that they would keep us informed, but isn't it time now we know something?

[Air Key West]

My guess is : as long as you have not received any information to the contrary, your Amex B.Air Privilege card(s) will remain valid and miles will no longer be transferred to SN Privilege but to Miles&More as from the 25th of October. When your card expires (or maybe even before) you will be sent a new card probably called Amex B.Air Miles&More. Just a guess, good as long as you don't get any different information from SN.
SN's silence might also mean they are negotiating with different other credit card partners. In the case of Miles&More, Deutsche Bank co-branding with Mastercard would seem a logical partner. But that's just a very wild guess.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

1 question : do you know when the new Miles & More card will be sent to the "former" french Privilege members?

[HighInTheSky]

1 question : do you know when the new Miles & More card will be sent to the "former" french Privilege members?

From the FAQ on SN's website:

"You will receive your Miles & More card during the month of October 2009. As soon as you have received the card, you will be able to fully enjoy all related benefits.

If you are already a member of Miles & More, you will only receive a new card if your Privilege membership level is higher than your current Miles & More membership level. Otherwise you may continue to use your current Miles & More card."

[sn26567]

My guess is : as long as you have not received any information to the contrary, your Amex B.Air Privilege card(s) will remain valid and miles will no longer be transferred to SN Privilege but to Miles&More as from the 25th of October. When your card expires (or maybe even before) you will be sent a new card probably called Amex B.Air Miles&More. Just a guess, good as long as you don't get any different information from SN.
SN's silence might also mean they are negotiating with different other credit card partners. In the case of Miles&More, Deutsche Bank co-branding with Mastercard would seem a logical partner. But that's just a very wild guess.

SN is stopping its partnership with Amex. Since LH has a partnership with MasterCard, it is expected that SN will follow suit.

[b720]

That will not be a brilliant move, as Amex will probably give incentives to clients to retain their amex cards.. and make it possible for points to be exchaqnged into miles..

[sn26567]

That will not be a brilliant move, as Amex will probably give incentives to clients to retain their amex cards.. and make it possible for points to be exchaqnged into miles..

Indeed, but at a higher cost (in miles). As I mentioned above,

• Barcelona on Brussels Airlines: 24,750 miles
• Prague on Lufthansa: 24,750 miles
• Frankfurt on Lufthansa: 24,750 miles
• London on Eurostar: 20,000 miles

[brusselsairlinesfan]

I just received my Miles & More card! So I just wanted to stress 2 points :
- Privilege Miles still not credited on M&M
- The card is coloured with the Lufthansa scheme and logo... of course, I would have prefered the brussels airlines style and logo but...

[HighInTheSky]

I just received my Miles & More card! So I just wanted to stress 2 points :
- Privilege Miles still not credited on M&M
- The card is coloured with the Lufthansa scheme and logo... of course, I would have prefered the brussels airlines style and logo but...

The crediting of the miles will be done as from the night of 25th to 26th of October, mind you that it may take an extra 4 to 6 weeks.

Allow me to ask where you live?
Belgium residents will recieve a card with SN logo + SN offers and promotions , Swiss residents with LX logo + LX offers and promotions, Austrian residents with OS logo + OS offers and promotions, Polish residents with LOT logo + LOT offers and promotions. Residents of Germany or other countries where there is no home carrier that is working with M&M, will recieve a card with the LH logo+ offers and promotions from LH.

As from end 2010 or early 2011 this will change, and you will be able to choose wich card (logo and branding ) you will recieve. So this means that if you, for example live in Dakar, you will recieve a LH card and all mailings from LH with their offers and promotions. Now if you would fly more with SN, and you are interested in their offers and promotions, you will be able to switch cards, as from somewhere 2010-2011.

I hope this answers your questions

[brusselsairlinesfan]

I would like to thank you very much for your precious information...

Btw, I am a french "true brussels airlines fan" and I live in Paris!

So I just can't wait now for introducing a demand regarding my brussels airlines/Miles&more card and for receiving all offers and promotions from SN...

Also I hope that brussels airlines will soon sen own metal to Paris, increase frequencies on the BRU-CDG leg and enable us to access their european network via BRU!

[sn26567]

Residents of Germany or other countries where there is no home carrier that is working with M&M, will recieve a card with the LH logo+ offers and promotions from LH.

This seems very unfair. A Privilege member should automatically receive a card with the SN logo, no matter where he lives. By doing this LH is trying to get new business at the expense of SN, which is only a 45% subsidiary.

[BrightCedars]

Amex is a big source of miles for me and I can tell you that if I have to switch cards to keep collecting miles, I will not hesitate. Amex are the ones in a bad position here.

[HighInTheSky]

Amex is a big source of miles for me and I can tell you that if I have to switch cards to keep collecting miles, I will not hesitate. Amex are the ones in a bad position here.

Same goes for me...

I called them yesterday and asked what was happening, and the lady told me that until 25/10 miles will be credited to Privilege, and from then on to Miles&More.

And someone from the M&M department at SN told me they are still in talks with Amex and with Mastercard and Visa.