Using airline miles to book Lufthansa flights will provide endless travel possibilities while allowing customers to travel with one of the globe's top airlines at reasonable prices. This guide provides step-by-step instructions along with strategic advice for mile booking of Lufthansa flights, starting from picking the best loyalty program to securing premium redemptions.
Miles & More stands as the European leader in frequent flyer programs owned by Lufthansa. Since its establishment in 1993, the program allows members to collect and spend miles which are valid across their extensive airline partners' network that incorporates all members of Star Alliance. Members earn miles by flying with the airline and staying at hotels, renting vehicles, and using credit cards associated with the program.
Several methods exist to earn Lufthansa miles except for those in the United States, since Lufthansa lacks credit-card transfer partners and its co-branded Lufthansa credit card yields few miles compared to similar options. Most American travelers receive more benefits when they credit their Star Alliance flights to United Airlines, which operates within the country.
Flight is the most convenient way to obtain Lufthansa miles. This is the easiest method to accumulate miles through the airline. By flying Lufthansa together with any of its partner airlines you will build up your mileage, which works through both the Miles & More program and Star Alliance.
Customers can gain miles through their use of the Miles & More World Elite Mastercard issued by Barclaycard. This Lufthansa Mastercard delivers two miles for every dollar Lufthansa purchases while generating one mile from each dollar on other transactions, yet eliminates all international transaction fees. The Miles & More World Elite Mastercard welcomes new applicants through a competitive sign-up bonus after they achieve the opening requirement.
Lufthansa allows you to build up miles through website bookings of hotels and rental cars, but take note that elite perks are not available to customers who book their travel this way.
Note: Different flight routes with specific aircraft types determine which of these options become available to passengers. The short-distance operations of Lufthansa's first class feature only economy service while restricting half of the passenger capacity to empty middle seats.
Award ticket booking on Lufthansa operates through a straightforward process, even if U.S. passengers usually reserve flights with other programs than Lufthansa miles.
People find the expense of obtaining Lufthansa first-class reservations worth it when they finally find available award seating. The availability of first-class award seats from Lufthansa becomes perceptible less than two weeks before actual departure. The past requirement of waiting 14 days until takeoff for booking awards no longer applies because the booking timeframes now stretch from three to four days before departure. First-class award flights for Lufthansa should be searched only within a few days before departure, since they are not released until very late.
Travellers from the United States must generally avoid using Lufthansa miles because their redemptions for domestic flights prove unbeneficial. The rarity of earning Lufthansa miles prevents most American travelers from obtaining them except through spending money on credit cards and flight bookings under the Lufthansa Miles & More program.
Flight rewards stand as the top use of your rewards, no matter what airline you are affiliated with; however, you need not use miles for flight awards. Any use of Lufthansa miles other than their flight awards becomes pointless, considering the extreme challenge for earning these rewards. Lufthansa award members who truly want to use their miles can make purchases through the Worldshop or donate the points, or use them to offset their CO2 emissions and upgrade flight classes, and book hotels or car rentals.
Vacant first-class seats on Lufthansa are challenging to locate, whereas both economy- and business-class award seats prove simple to identify. You should check Lufthansa award flights through United's fare calendar since this tool provides monthly flight availability. You can begin searching for Lufthansa seats for all classes starting 360 days in advance, and the first-class seats become available between 14 and 2 days beforehand. The point.me website provides excellent service because it conductively evaluations of multiple partner networks to track down the hard-to-find Lufthansa first-class awards. The system requires you to add your travel information, followed by a search that generates the necessary details.
Lufthansa has three tier levels:
Ans: Fly with Lufthansa or book hotels or rental cars, along with using their credit cards for travel purchases, to accumulate miles.
Ans: Lufthansa provides its customers with an online platform to exchange earned miles. The website of each airline partner to Lufthansa enables you to book reward flights on this airline.
Ans: Your Lufthansa Miles & More reward flight cost depends on the flight distance and route in combination with promotions and fare class options so point.me assists members in optimizing their reward redemption to get more value from earned miles.
Ans: The United website enables members to use their miles for Lufthansa flights via a service that allows booking with miles.
Ans: SkyMiles does not offer Lufthansa flight booking as a redeemable option.
Ans: It is not possible to move Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the Lufthansa airline.
Ans: The expiration period for Lufthansa miles extends to 36 months from the date of earning.
Ans: You can accomplish online transfers or gifts of your Lufthansa miles to another person.