New York Stories #10 – Say ‘No’ to using miles for merchandise

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• barney says:

  31 Jul31 July 06:47

  They don’t expire as long as you have a M&M credit card.

  • Rob says:

    31 Jul31 July 07:38

    True, but surprisingly few Germans have or even want a credit card.

• AndyGWP says:

  31 Jul31 July 07:47

  Tenuous question re: showers (as you mentioned them 🙂 )

  What’s the deal? Are towels and shower gel provided for these kinds of amenities, or are you expected to have them in your hand luggage?!

  • flibbly says:

    31 Jul31 July 08:34

    I can’t make any guarantees about these particular showers, but in general airport lounges accessed via FF status or flying class provide all the towels, shampoo etc that you need, although at a small minority of them you may have to request items other than towels at the “shower reception desk” before you go into your cubicle.

  • Rob says:

    31 Jul31 July 09:16

    All provided. Often with expensive luxury toiletries in some First lounges.

• Flyingbee says:

  31 Jul31 July 11:23

  The Worldshop is a useful option when you have LH expiring miles. I’m based in France so have no option to have a credit card to stop miles expiring, and no status because I only do enough flying to maintain BA status.
  I had a stack of miles expiring earlier this year and personal circumstances meant I couldn’t redeem for flights at the time. Given the poor exchange rate it was painful buying stuff from the shop, but on the other hand better than losing the miles and I was able to get an iPad which lessened the pain somewhat!

  • Czechoslovakia says:

    31 Jul31 July 14:34

    Surprising there is no M&M c/c in France? I have one issued in the (much smaller) Czech Republic issued by UniCredit

• RogerWilco says:

  31 Jul31 July 11:25

  There are some exceptions though – especially if the miles would expire otherwise.

  Point in case: Lufthansa’s SoHo programme, PartnerPlusBenefits (Similar to BA’s On Business) I had a pot of points with them, but since LH gutted their FFP (and partly PPB) I haven’t sat on any of their planes, so no chance for using the points for the only reasonble way, upgrades.

  The points were about to expire, so my options were a) to let them expire b) use them for flights I didn’t need and pay crazy YQ or c) buy some merchandise. I ended up with some photography stuff

• Czechoslovakia says:

  31 Jul31 July 14:42

  They have the same “store” in the standard Business Lounges at Frankfurt, too. Whilst I agree they translate to “poor” value, I generally only fly economy LH/LX, and consider using M&M points for a euro upgrade even “poorer” value, esp. given status I usually have the seat next to me free anyway. One thing to look out for, is the regular “sales” and “offer-of-the-month” in the worldshop.eu website. Reasonable value to be had then, if you don’t have where to burn the miles anyway. Most of the LH branded luggage is Samsonite or Travelite, and actually quite good. Saving my miles for that Alu Rimowa I`ve always wanted, but could not justify paying for out of my own pocket. Bit like flying First – the perceived value is greater than you`d actually stump up for.

  • Rob says:

    31 Jul31 July 21:05

    Remember you can redeem 1875 Lufty miles for a £5 Heathrow Rewards voucher. This is 0.27p but at least you have the whole of Heathrow to choose from!

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