Reader Question: Lufthansa HON Circle Defects, Considers VIP Service Alternative

Today, we have a Reader Question from a Lufthansa HON Circle member who has had enough of Lufthansa and is now looking at other options, including the additional booking of the airport VIP services to avoid the terminal.

Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.

Lufthansa HON Circle member have the option to use the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt irrespective of their class of service traveling which has become the main pull for obtaining the status as Frankfurt Airport is truly horrendous to deal with these days.

I got an email from Mario in Germany who is a long term Lufthansa HON but he’s no longer interested in flying Lufthansa as he’s considering a new travel strategy:

Hi Sebastian,

I would appreciate some input from your side if my current travel pattern still makes sense or if I should better move in another direction.

I’ve been Lufthansa HON since 2013 and always stuck to fly LH/LX but it simply doesn’t make sense to me anymore. The service is quite terrible, onboard F&B lackluster and the fares ex Germany way too high.

I also fly frequently to Thailand as we have a property in Samui, and there is no LH flight to Bangkok ex FRA anymore.

Recently I’ve considered to just book better and often times less expensive airlines but I don’t want to go back to utilize the main terminal 1/2 in Frankfurt as I consider it one of the worse airports in the western world. I just don’t want to deal with it, and have no problem spending 500 Euro for each departure on the VIP service if necessary. Even with that fee, I probably still come out on top.

If you have any further ideas, I’d love to hear them. Thanks a lot in advance!

It’s nothing new, of course, that customers are disappointed with Lufthansa. The service has been mediocre for decades, and if you’re a customer from Germany, then you also have to deal with high pricing, just as Brits deal with high BA prices, except that Singapore Airlines charges extremely high fares from Singapore.

At the end of the day it’s a question of where do you really need to go and what options are at your disposal. From Frankfurt you have the luxury to fly to almost any destination either with Lufthansa or that particular countries national airline. It’s very rare that the flag carrier of a particular country doesn’t serve Frankfurt.

I’m of the opinion that loyalty to one particular airline is dead. You should always book best product, best price and let status be of secondary importance. There is no reason to constantly endure mediocre products and service just because of a loyalty program.

The airport’s VIP Service helps with this if someone really doesn’t want to use the hassle of the main terminal anymore and doesn’t mind paying.

Here is my previous coverage of the VIP services at Frankfurt Airport:

Frankfurt Airport VIP Services Lounge Has Been Renovated & Is Back For (Pricey) Individual Bookings

The price for one person departing is 500 Euro, including tax. Each additional passenger under the same reservation would be another 280 Euro. But that means you’re a free agent and can book whatever you want.

You can choose any airline you want, and just facilitate the VIP service entrance. I agree that even with a 500 Euro fee for this service, the total price would likely be much cheaper than booking a Lufthansa ticket (talking long haul, of course).

If you can qualify for an Amex Centurion Card, you can get 4x VIP Service bookings free of charge. Of course there is also a 5,000 EUR annual fee for the Centurion, so that alone won’t mitigate the price.

Conclusion

A reader wants to stop utilizing Lufthansa from Frankfurt even though he’s still a HON Circle Member. He’s now considering other airlines with lower fares and better service.

The reader’s route to Thailand (Samui) is, of course, better to go directly from Frankfurt to Bangkok on THAI and then connect on Bangkok Airways to Samui.

He could also fly via Zurich to Singapore and then take a flight to Samui from there. Depends on whether he wants to fly Business or First, keeping in mind that THAI no longer offers First Class ex Frankfurt, which is rather annoying.

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