With the upcoming transition for SAS from Star Alliance to SkyTeam, there are opportunities to keep your status with Star Alliance by status matching your current EuroBonus status to other programs. One of the best options is the Miles & More status match offered by Lufthansa.

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As a EuroBonus Gold or Diamond member, you can receive Senator status until Nov 30, 2024. To extend the status, you’ll have to complete 6 flight segments with Lufthansa Group airlines or co-issuing Miles & More airline partners:

Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Lufthansa City, Luxair and SWISS.

If you complete the challenge requirement, your status extensions to 02/26 will be assessed for all status match challenge participants after 30.11.24 and granted where challenge requirements have been met. There is no tracking of challenge requirements in the mobile app.

How to Find a Cheap Segment Run

I had a very short time frame to complete my segment run (due to other travel plans), so I decided to book all 6 flight segments in one go. I ended up booking a 1-night trip to Florence, flying CPH-FRA-MUC-FLR there and FLR-FRA-MUC-CPH back, with a combination of Lufthansa and Air Dolomiti. The total cost for this flight was around €350, which felt like a very reasonable cost (plus the cost of a 1-night hotel in Florence) to secure my Star Alliance Gold status for over 1 year.

I used a combination of Google Flights and ITA Matrix to find my segment run.

1. Google Flights Map

I used Google Flights map view to get an overview of the cheapest destinations with Star Alliance available from Copenhagen during the time frame I could fly. However, one downside with Google Flights is that there is no way to search for at least 2 stops specifically. For this I had to use a different tool.

2. ITA Matrix

Once I had a list of potential destinations, I used ITA Matrix to find the cheapest dates and destinations for a journey, including 2 stops on each way, only with the airlines allowed by the status match.

In ITA Matrix, the key part is to add the following Routing Codes, which translates to “one or more flights with the eligible airlines” followed by “X X” which means two stops at any airport.

O:EN,OS,SN,OU,4Y,EW,LO,LH,CL,LG,LX+ X X

3. Google Flights Booking

ITA Matrix is a great tool for finding flights, but it doesn’t provide any way to book them. Also, in my case, attempting to find the flights directly on Lufthansa’s website did not work either, as it only showed me options up to 1 stop (no routes with 2 stops). So, once I knew the flights I wanted to book, I returned to Google Flights, entered the route and date, and scrolled through the list until I found the exact flights. Then, I could click the “Book with Lufthansa” button to take me directly to Lufthansa’s website for the 2-stop itinerary.

Note that if you’re booking the cheapest “Economy Light” fares, even as a Senator with Miles & More, you will not receive any checked luggage and will be unable to choose your seats (not even during check-in).

Outbound Journey

My first flight out of Copenhagen to Frankfurt started with a slight delay. However, I wasn’t too worried since I had a fairly long layover in Frankfurt.

However, when we landed in Frankfurt and I turned on my phone, I received a notification that my next Munich flight had been canceled! Luckily, I was able to quickly rebook an earlier flight through the Lufthansa app, which worked surprisingly well.

After a short pit stop at the Senator lounge in Frankfurt, I eventually made my way over to board the flight to Munich. I remember thinking the boarding time was very early (1 hour before the flight). Eventually, priority boarding was called, and I realized there were, in fact, two jet bridges. At this point, I realized the short flight from Frankfurt to Munich turned out to be on a Boeing 787-9 with the brand new Lufthansa Allegris cabin interior.

This was a very short flight, but my first impression was good. The seats were comfortable, and each seat came with a nice IFE screen (and a USB charging port). I was also hoping to take a look at the business cabin, but I was unable to do so because the de-boarding process turned out to be very hectic because of a medical emergency that occurred just as we were touching down in Munich.

The day’s final leg was on Air Dolomiti from Munich to Florence. I had a long layover in Munich, so I made my way over to the satellite terminal since that’s where my gate was. However, shortly after arriving at the Senator lounge, the gate changed, so I had to make my way back to the main terminal to wait there instead. The Senator lounge in the satellite terminal was much nicer, though, so I should have just stayed there until closer to boarding time.

The day ended with a nearly 2-hour delay over to Florence.

Return Journey

The outbound journey had a few hiccups, but the return journey would be even more hectic. Given all the delays and drama that had occurred the previous day, I wasn’t particularly optimistic about my return journey since both my layovers in Frankfurt and Munich were only 55 minutes, giving very little room for delays.

Looking at the history in FlightRadar24 of the first flight with Air Dolomiti, I could see that they were practically always at least 1 hour delayed, with many flights being 2 hours delayed. My chances of making my first connection weren’t looking very good.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be true, as my first flight did get delayed, and we touched down in Frankfurt just as my next flight left the gate. The Lufthansa app shortly picked up the fact that I had missed my next flight and automatically rebooked me in two days! I wasn’t particularly keen on spending the next two days in Frankfurt, so I quickly went to the Senator Lounge in Frankfurt to ask if they had any other options for me.

This was apparently easier said than done since it seemed all flights to Copenhagen were either full or overbooked (including all the options involving overnight stays in, for example, Zurich or Brussels). After a long wait and many phone calls, the lounge agent finally managed to get me on the overbooked evening flight from Frankfurt directly back to Copenhagen. It is in these situations that you are very happy to have frequent flyer status.

Of course, I realized that this meant I would miss one of my six segments. However, at this point, I was just happy if I’d be able to make it back home in the next two days.

How Many Segments Did I Get?

I waited a couple of days until all my flights and miles showed up in the Miles & More app. As expected, I received miles for only the 5 flights I had actually flown (not the 6 that I had originally booked).

Luckily Miles & More allows you to claim miles according to your original routing. However, I was unsure if this would apply to segment counts as well, and in this case if they would count towards the status match.

I called the Senator hotline and asked what would happen with my status match challenge. The agent I spoke with explained that she could already see 6 segments on my Miles & More account, so I’ll be credited the segments based on my original routing. Now, unfortunately, I have no guarantee that will actually happen, so I guess I’ll just have to wait and see in November 🤞

My Tips for a Miles & More Segment Run

  1. Check your layover times and try to give yourself at least 1.5-2 hours. I would avoid booking any really short connections under 1 hour unless it is the last flight of the day.
  2. From my experience, I would really avoid Air Dolomiti as these flights seem to always be delayed, especially the ones departing in the afternoon or evening. I don’t know if this is true for all of their routes, but at least that was the case for Florence.
  3. If you recently registered for the status match, do not book any travel until your Senator status appears in your Miles & More account (this can take a couple of days).

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