My flying has been decreasing since 2023, which was the year I earned more points than any other year flying, even before Covid. I do love the Flighty app. it gives me such a good record of all my flights and nice summaries each year, so I can track what I’ve been up to. For example, in 2024 my most flown aircraft was an A350, and in all my time flying I’ve lost 74 hours of life in delays!
In 2025 I enjoyed my Senator status with Lufthansa, whilst my BA Gold status ended, and I was dropped down to Silver. I still had my top-level status with SAS, but that will expire soon as well. My intention in 2025 was to keep my Senator status, but it wasn’t to be. I just wasn’t flying enough to keep that level of status. Hopefully they do a soft drop down and I’ll go to frequent flyer level, which will, with Lufthansa, at least includes access to the business class lounges and the usual perks of priority check-in and boarding etc. The Senator status is the equivalent to Star Alliance gold, which gives you all the best perks. The next level down, Lufthansa frequent-flier status, which is Star Alliance silver. In Star Alliance rules they state you don’t automatically get lounge access at silver level. That’s something that’s quite different to One World where their second-grade tier does give you business class lounge access. However, Lufthansa does seem to have ignored this rule and have decided to allow its passengers access to the business class lounge with frequent flyer status.
In 2026 I am hoping to regain my Senator status with some well-planned flying trips. Before the year even began, I was already booked in for my annual trip to Barcelona for a trade show I go to. Of course, flying with Star Alliance means that it’s 2 legs out and 2 back. I know I could very easily fly direct with a number of airlines, both big and budget, but that wouldn’t help my points. The trip I actually booked in the end helped with another problem of the horrendous hotel prices in Barcelona as well. So, the year would start with 4 business class short-haul legs and that should give me 160 points to get started. With Lufthansa I only need 2000 points to get Senator status, the catch being half of those points need to be earned on Lufthansa Group airlines. This first particular trip to Barcelona was out on Swiss and back on Lufthansa, both of which count towards my Lufthansa points. (Swiss is part of Lufthansa Group Airlines).
What's next?
I definitely want to go and visit my friends in the Middle East again, so that’s one excuse for a trip. And I’m hoping that I might get some work out there as well, ideally at a separate time so I can have 2 separate trips out there. If I can find a way to afford business class then, with Lufthansa or Swiss, that will earn me 480 points per trip. With those 2 trips, that will get me just under half of what I will need for the year. Throw in the points from Barcelona and I am both past halfway and I have my Lufthansa only points I need, meaning I’m free to fly with other Star Alliance airlines.
The Lufthansa point system is very simple, in business class you get 40 points per leg for short-haul and 200 points per leg in long-haul. Given that going to Dubai from London means a short-haul leg into Germany or Switzerland, followed by a longer leg over to Dubai, that makes it a very good points earner. So all I need in 2026 is 4 return trips in business class to get my Senator status renewed. At the time of writing I was already planning the visit to my friends in Dubai for early in the New Year and hopefully a business trip later in May June time. I have a client who’s thinking about a trip or two for them this year, so I’m hoping that I might get to fly to Asia again. If I go back to America as well, then that’s 2 more flight and that’ll be my Senator status in the bag for the year.
The plan for 2026 is to get that status locked in first of all, once I’ve done that, however, I’ll be back to looking at my bucket list flights for interesting flights. One of my top bucket list flights is one that I might be able to do with Lufthansa points at the same time. I really want to fly in first class on a 747, at the front, in the nose section, below the flight deck. I know that Lufthansa first class on the 747 is not the best in the world, it’s just I want to sit in that cabin at the front. And of course, if I do so that would give me a whole pile of points towards my end of year goal. If I don’t manage it with Lufthansa, there are a couple of other airlines operating 747’s, I could look at options where I might be able to fly with one of them. I do think my favourite flying experiences has been going with Qatar through Doha, so I wouldn’t object any to options to do that again. If I have a need to fly around in the Middle East, I might use Qatar, with some of my old BA Avios points, and then treat myself to another first-class short-haul ticket, just to experience that first class lounge again.
What about this site?
I’m quite enjoying developing this site, and obviously there will be the regular trip reports as when I go on flights. And as you’ve gathered from above, I’ll be doing quite a few more flights this year hopefully than last year. I’ve also started writing a more detailed guide for those that are new to frequent flying, trying to summarise everything I’ve learned about the frequent flying world. I’ve also launched an Instagram page which links back to the site, just to set share some of the flying photos I’ve managed to pick up over all my trips. Have a look here if you want to see more photos and get links to posts.
Hopefully you’ll continue to enjoy this site as it grows and develops, and I’ll keep you interested by trying to find new and interesting flights to tell you about.
Bottom line
The flying mission for 2026 is to earn back my Senator status with Lufthansa. This should mean 4 return trips in business class, long-haul. Plus, the trip I’ve already got booked in on short-haul to Barcelona to complete the deal. The catch may come if the budget gets tighter later in the year and I have to fly premium economy. In that case I might be able to find an extra trip from somewhere. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. After renewing my Senator status is guaranteed, I’ll start looking for some more interesting and different flights to take and hopefully to give you all something fun to read about.
