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As expected (or feared?), Lufthansa has won the battle for the acquisition of TAP Air Portugal and is now aiming for a swift integration of TAP into the Lufthansa Group.

Based on the experiences with ITA, Lufthansa will certainly also try to merge their Miles&Go program into Miles & More.

As Miles&Go has some elements that make it attractive, especially for Brazil travellers – Brazil is TAP’s main market – such elements will surely be lost under Miles & More management.

In any case, one must assume that times for Miles&Go members are unlikely to get any better, and members should probably start slowly preparing for the right exit strategy…

Many programs have introduced subscriptions in recent years that make more or less sense, i.e., that amortise more or less quickly.

The various versions of Accor’s ALL program have always been on the “more” side. However, until November 20, they are practically mandatory if one can plan an Accor stay by January 22.

In this case, for new registrations with ALL Accor+ Voyager or ALL Accor+ ibis, the annual fee is fully refunded in the form of ALL points after the first stay. In other words, you can enjoy an additional 15% discount on room rates and at least the silver level in the ALL program for free for a year.

As always with such offers, however, one must remember to reevaluate the subscription in a year!

In the old world, Finnair offered itself as a clever alternative for flights to the Far East and tailored its Finnair Plus program accordingly.

Due to the loss of the ability to use Russian airspace – one of the EU sanctions to avoid financially supporting Russia’s war machine – Finnair has significantly reduced its Asian network and is now focusing more on the Southern route, both in collaboration with its partner Qatar Airways and with its new flights via Bangkok to Melbourne. At the same time, the company is continuously expanding its flights to North America and Europe.

For Finnair Plus members who may no longer see the same value in the program as before with the attractive reward prices to the Far East, at least there is the consolation that with the introduction of the Avios currency, points can now be transferred to other programs using Avios as currency for free.

However, Finnair is not alone with these problems, as shown by a new promotion from its partner Japan Airlines: Their JMB Mileage members in Japan receive (after registration by January 31) double miles on all flights from Tokyo to Helsinki until July 31, with no limit on the number of flights.

Canadian leisure airline Air Transat has launched a program for the first time, Staria. This is certainly good news for this often underestimated airline with a solid product, which can often serve as an alternative, especially on transatlantic routes. In France alone, for example, Air Transat serves seven destinations.

In addition to (revenue-based) points, which can be combined with up to seven other members, you can also collect stars for certain missions, which can be exchanged for additional small rewards.

Collected award points can only be used as Cash & Points for partial payments of Air Transat tickets. The crux of the matter: Like many other programs these days, Air Transat does not disclose in advance what calculation is used here. While the earning side is transparent – particularly the fact that you don’t earn points on fees and surcharges, even though this can account for half the cost of a long-haul flight! – it’s not of good use without the same transparency on the redemption side.

So maybe Staria is the most generous program in the world, or maybe it isn’t. To find that out, one would have to be willing to take the risk and engage with the program.

Best Western Hotels and WorldHotels have been working together for years, but both also operated their own programs.

This will change on January 5, when WorldHotels will be the only brand still in use. Thus, Best Western Rewards will also be combined with the WorldHotels Rewards program under its name and the program will be refreshed at the same time.

Best Western promises that no value will be lost, notably regarding the status and accrued points. More details are scheduled for November 16.

Since Best Western Rewards had quite an interesting value in the mid-scale segment, one can only hope that this will be maintained in the medium term!

Just before the deadline, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have overcome the final hurdle to their merger – the integration of their Frequent Flyer programs, Skypass and Asiana Club.

Korean Air has prevailed before the Korea Fair Trade Commission with its demand that miles collected with non-air partners in the Asiana Club will only be transferred to Skypass at a ratio of 1-to-0.82.

But Asiana Club members have ten (!) years to decide when they want to transfer their miles. Until then, they can redeem miles at any time at the currently valid reward values – but of course only on Korean Air/Asiana flights, as the collaboration with all Star Alliance partners (and presumably the handful of other partners) will be discontinued in mid-December.

However, if this network is sufficient for you, such a strategy can protect members against future price increases. The likelihood is high that by 2036, you will no longer be able to get a round-trip Business Class flight between Korea and Europe or North America for 105,000 miles…

At the same time, Korean Air is being forced to gradually increase the combined award capacity over the next few years.

As announced, Alaska Airlines will introduce the option in its Atmos Rewards program on January 01 to choose whether to earn flight miles based on the previous distance basis, a revenue basis, or a segment basis (500 miles).

This choice will then automatically apply to partner airlines as well, where instead of the revenue basis, a mileage basis with cabin factors will be used. Those are then also increased in Business Class, so you collect 250% of the flown miles. For many international members, this is likely the best option.

As of October 01, the program introduced another interesting initiative: annually changing Atmos Communities. After registering in one of the offered communities, you will receive bonus miles and bonus status points for flights to selected destinations, up to a maximum of 10,000 bonus points for ten flights. The first member to reach the ten destinations in a community will receive a bonus of 100,000 miles.

For the period until the end of 2027, six communities are available (with one reserved for members in Alaska and Hawaii). The “Global Local” community, for example, includes ten hubs of oneworld partners, and as a member, you additionally receive a bonus of 10% of the status points on flights between the USA and these destinations, including on oneworld partners.

A current offer from Qantas makes so much sense that you should plan hotel stays for the coming year by October 28 at the latest.

By that date, Frequent Flyer members will earn 7 points per AUD spent on hotel bookings through the Qantas Hotels site, which taps into Expedia‘s inventory, or about 10 points per USD. If you set the minimum value of the points at 1 US cent each, this equates to a 10% saving – which is more than you get in most hotel programs.

This offer is valid for stays until October 28, 2027.

And if you are in Australia over the next few months, an offer from the other major Australian program is probably even more interesting and justifies adding a local holiday trip to such a journey.

For bookings of a package through Virgin Australia Holidays with a minimum value of AUD 1,000, you will receive a bonus of 40,000 points in their Velocity program, in addition to the regular credit of at least 3 points per AUD.

The offer is so attractive that it is only open for bookings for one week, until October 18. The booked trips must be completed by June 26, 2027.

Various hotel programs have gone the route in the past year of transforming from recognition programs into rewards programs.

Langham, however, will go the other way on January 12: from then on, its Brilliant by Langham program will be converted to a full recognition program, and rewards will no longer be offered.

While you can still earn points until January 11, all points not used by January 12 will be irrevocably forfeited.