Don't have Flying status? Are you a Miles&More FTL? here's how to become a senator in less than 5 minutes
The Lufthansa Senator is a difficult status to achieve in the field, you need as many as 2000 Miles&More Q and the 50% of [...]
Lufthansa Senator is a difficult status to achieve in the field, as many as 2000 Miles&More Qs are needed, and the 50% of these must be obtained by flying on Lufthansa group machines, LOT o for the past few weeks ITA Airways.
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The gap between the difficulty of getting to be a senator within the Miles&More program is huge compared to what is required to fly in ITA Airways' Volare loyalty program for comparable benefits.
To get an idea, to get to be Senator you need, 10 intercontinental round-trip tickets from Rome in business class. Of course if you stopover at the group hubs even 7 a/r might suffice (always in biz), but we are talking about a really frequent traveler and especially with the additional constraint of doing at least 50% of the points on LH rail.
In contrast, the Premium Volare level, which is absolutely comparable in benefits to the Senator, can be easily achieved with one intercontinental ticket in full-fare business class or two in a cheaper fare, this is because at the level of multipliers no world frequent flyer is so generous.
Premium Flying = Senator Miles&More
With yesterday's announcement where LH/AZ have announced what's new for frequent flyers and common travelers, it was confirmed that throughout the promiscuity period, those with the Volare Premium Card will be treated as Senators.
A "lucky" hit incredible for Italian frequent travelers, because even the Frequent Traveller Miles&More level is more arduous to obtain than the Premium Fly, but those with FTL cards do not have Star Alliance Gold privileges, which is the case for premium flyers who today have Skyteam Elite plus and tomorrow will be precisely Gold Star Alliance.
No credit card gives Miles&More status (but there's a loophole)
In Italy we have the beautiful Mastercard Gold Miles&More which has one very important advantage, that of never letting Miles&More points expire. That's great because miles earned in German frequent flyer expire if you don't have the status, whereas Simply by making one transaction a month with this Mastercard the points are in the safe. No card in Italy, but not even in Germany or LH's other domestic markets, gives status or has accelerators to shorten the path to elite Miles&More status.
In contrast, however, residents of Italy can use this transition period to put a Senator-equivalent card in their pocket by simply becoming ITA Airways Platinum American Express Card Holders and the reason is simple-new starters, as well as a rich haul of Volare points, they also put in their pockets the Premium card, which as mentioned is equivalent to Senator status.
Are you FTL Miles&More? apply for the card and immediately you will be treated as a Senator, get points and be able to travel better on board both ITA and all LH carriers.
Three +1 reasons to apply for ITA Airways Platinum American Express Card
- With Premium status you are entitled to free extra baggage, choice of seats on board, lounge access and all other benefits provided with ITA Airways
- Premium level from March 30 will be recognized as a Senator card
- By gaining status you will get the elite card and also be able to take advantage of all the status match campaigns coming in the next few months from ITA's "competition"
Sure we are not talking about a real Status Match between the two programs, but on balance the treatment will be just that, and so as long as the Marriage between the Italian company and the German group will not be defined you can have pampering and favorable treatment on both companies.
In conclusion
If you want to be treated as a senator become Holding this Card is definitely the quickest and most painless way to do so, this is one of those rare cases where German travelers will envy us Italians since they, an opportunity like this, dream of it.
