Lufthansa First Class is becoming increasingly harder to book if you aren’t using their own Miles & More frequent flyer program (which often has more award availability). Thankfully, there’s still a few good ways to book this wonderful First Class experience.

fly Lufthansa First Class for 50k miles

Book Lufthansa First Class for 50k Miles

Asiana Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance network which means you can redeem Asiana Club miles for travel on Lufthansa. Asiana Club only requires 50k miles for a one-way First Class ticket between Europe and North America. Some things to note:

• fuel surcharges must be paid
• you can have 3 segments on a one-way booking
• Lufthansa only releases First Class award seats to partner airlines at most two weeks prior to departure
• you must call Asiana and make the booking over the phone (sometimes they allow holds for a few days)
• you can mix other Star Alliance airlines on the same ticket and have connections of up to 23h59m for no additional miles

Booking Lufthansa First Class with Asiana Club

You’ll need to find Lufthansa First Class award availability before calling Asiana Club. You’ll want to search close to departure and usually you’ll find the award space on Aeroplan, United, or other Star Alliance partners – make a note of the flight details.

You can add on connecting flights before and after your First Class flight – as long as there’s only 3 flights and the connections are under 23h59m, it should price properly. This means that you could fly something like Athens – Frankfurt – San Francisco – Seattle, with the long-haul in First Class, for just 50k miles.

You’ll need to find availability on all of your flights and then call Asiana Club to book, by providing each flight separately.

How to Earn Asiana Club Miles

You can earn Asiana Airlines Asiana Club miles through the typical activities – like flying Star Alliance, etc.

The only transfer partner to Asiana Club is Marriott Bonvoy: 3 Marriott points equal 1 Asiana Club mile, with a 25% transfer bonus for every 60k Marriott points transferred. Therefore:

• 60k Marriott Bonvoy points = 25k Asiana Club miles

Sadly there’s no other good way to transfer in miles into Asiana Club. Marriott transfers aren’t instant, and in my experience take around a week to transfer to Asiana Airlines. The good news is that Asiana will sometimes let you hold a booking for a few days, but the bad news is that Lufthansa only releases First Class awards really close to departure. Your best bet is to pre-transfer points and hope award space opens up – you’ll want to have lots of backup options if it doesn’t.

enjoy the Lufthansa First Class experience

All in All

Flying First to Europe is very limited because the number of airlines offering First Class keeps declining – and on top of that, the airlines that are offering First Class frequently change up routes and aircraft, so it can be hard to keep track and book a First Class ticket.

If you’re flexible, you can definitely book a First Class ticket to Europe – but this is the key, flexibility. You have to constantly check award availability and you’ll likely need to book close to departure as that’s when seats are usually released. Keep in mind the First Class cabin is relatively small so lots of award seats aren’t going to be released – and if the cabin is close to full, award space might not become available.

Booking a First Class ticket for 50k miles to Europe is an incredible deal – just keep in mind the rules of Asiana Club mentioned above and that you’ll likely need to have miles well prior to departure in your Asiana Club account. The good news is that Asiana agents are quite competent so there should be no issues booking your desired flights over the phone as long as you’re within the rules of the program.

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Miles & More Overview

The frequent flyer program is mainly used by Lufthansa Group passengers as it offers the most benefits when flying on these airlines, especially when you have frequent flyer status. Even the entry-level Frequent Traveller (Star Alliance Silver) status allows you to access Lufthansa Business Lounges when flying in Economy Class. While most benefits to status members apply on Lufthansa Group flights, there are the usual Star Alliance Silver and Gold benefits that are available on all Star Alliance flights (like Priority Check-in and Boarding, for example).

Miles & More miles are harder to earn than most miles – the main reason is that there is no way to transfer in miles into Miles & More from any transferable bank points program or even Marriott Bonvoy. Transfers from Marriott were possible way back in the day, but have since been suspended.

The best way to earn miles is by flying in Premium Economy Class, Business Class, and First Class on Star Alliance airlines. The cheapest Economy tickets earn between 0% – 25% of the miles flown and First Class tickets can earn up to 300% + your elite status bonus. You can also earn miles through hotel stays, car rentals, and a variety of other partners.

The quickest way to receive a significant amount of miles is through the Barclays US Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite Mastercard – which frequently offers a sign-up bonus of around 50,000 – 60,000 miles upon qualifying activities.

SWISS International Air Lines, a Miles & More airline

Award Redemptions

Miles & More does still publish an official award chart, unlike some other airlines, so you’re able to see how much a flight costs in miles based on availability. The rates are quite reasonable and in some cases offer a better value than other Star Alliance programs (for example, Business Class to/from North America to/from Europe is less expensive in miles when booking through Miles & More when compared to most Star Alliance programs). The major disadvantage is that the program does charge fuel surcharges when flying airlines within the Lufthansa Group and a few others, these can be significant – especially when departing from North America.

Miles & More allows award ticket cancellations on regular tickets for a fee of EUR50 and some award tickets can be changed for free while others for the same EUR50 fee. Promotional and discounted award tickets usually cannot be cancelled. In addition to all of that, the program does have great routing rules which allow stopovers and open-jaws on round-trip tickets. Basic one-way and round-trip tickets can be booked online, but more complex tickets must be booked over the phone.

Miles & More Mileage Bargains

The highlight of the program are the Mileage Bargains – a list which is updated monthly and features discounted award tickets by half. The origins and destinations of the promotional tickets change frequently and not surprisingly, these tickets come with a lot of restrictions:

• no cancellations
• changes generally not allowed (but in some cases could be depending on the situation)
• all taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges are the same as on a regular ticket; only the mileage requirement is discounted
• the offer has limited availability (just because there will be an award seat doesn’t mean it will be available as a mileage bargain)
• round-trip booking is required
• mileage bargains can only be booked online
• minimum stay requirements apply
• booking period applies
• travel period applies

Let’s take a look at a specific offer right now:

• departing select cities in the USA on Lufthansa
• arriving select cities in Europe on Lufthansa
• Business Class for 55,000 miles round-trip (instead of 112,000 miles)
• booking period: 01 December 2022 – 31 December 2022
• travel period: 15 March 2023 – 30 April 2023

Mileage bargains are offered on major, fully-integrated M&M airlines (Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS, etc.), and based on the offer above it would be valid as follows:

• you must depart a city under the promotion in the USA on Lufthansa
• you must arrive in a city under the promotion in Europe on Lufthansa (so you could connect in Frankfurt or Munich)
• the mileage requirement is half of the normal award
• you must book in a certain period
• you must travel in a certain period

Every mileage bargain offer has different destinations, operating airlines, booking classes, booking periods, and travel periods. First Class is not offered as a mileage bargain.

Mileage Bargain Examples

The list of Mileage Bargains frequently changes and currently some of the offers available right now include:

• DEN/DTW/LAX/SFO/SEA/STL to Paris in Economy Class for 30k miles round-trip
• ATL/DTW/LAX/SEA to Paris in Premium Economy Class for 40k miles round-trip
• ATL/ORD/DTW to Paris in Business Class for 55k miles round-trip

As you can see, the list of the departure airports is quite limited and doesn’t include all of the airports Lufthansa operates flights to in the USA.

This month, other cities in Europe that are also available for a mileage bargain award include places like Athens, Barcelona, Geneva, Helsinki, London, Oslo, and many more. Each city pair (origin and destination) has different offers – for example, you might be able to fly from New York to Athens only in Premium Economy under a mileage bargain while another bargain could be available out of Boston to Athens, but only in Business Class.

Miles & More is Lufthansa’s program

All in All

Mileage Bargain award tickets are promotional, discounted award tickets which are offered by Lufthansa’s frequent flyer program and frequently change based on a variety of factors. You can book round-trip award tickets at half of the cost in miles, but the full cost in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges. While surcharges can be expensive in some cases, there are good deals to be found – taxes and fees on an award ticket always depend on where you’re flying from, to, and where you are transiting.

Miles are a bit harder to acquire than other miles, but in some cases they are more valuable for awards like Mileage Bargains or even booking Lufthansa First Class in advance (while other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs can only book it a maximum of two weeks before a flight). There are other gems to be found as well, especially when you’re a member and fly with the Lufthansa Group.

The post Miles & More Mileage Bargains (Business Class to Europe 55k Miles) appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

While Lufthansa First Class may not be the world’s best flying experience, it is one that is easily attainable using miles and points – that is, if you are booking close to departure as Lufthansa only releases award seats to partner airlines in First Class max two weeks prior to departure. Should you wish to redeem in advance, you can do so using Lufthansa’s Miles & More frequent flyer program, pending availability.

There are other First Class flights to/from Europe such as those on Air France, British Airways, SWISS International Air Lines, etc., however either there’s no good way to book it using miles (AF or LX) or the First Class product is not of amazing quality (BA).

fly Lufthansa First Class using miles

Lufthansa First Class using Miles & Points

• seats are released to partner airlines max two weeks prior to departure
• east coast and Mexico City have the most First Class availability
• depending on the frequent flyer program you are using, you may have to pay fuel surcharges
• you can redeem Miles & More miles without the two-weeks-before-departure restriction if there is award availability (and there is often more for Lufthansa’s own members)
• you can add on connections in Europe and the U.S. if there is award availability, subject to the rules of the program you are using to book the ticket
• award tickets don’t change the experience in any way (still the same First Class lounge access, ground benefits, and in-flight experience)

Lufthansa First Class Routes

Lufthansa frequently changes where they fly aircraft with First Class to, and there is often more First Class service to the U.S. in the summer months rather than the winter months. Lufthansa’s only aircraft featuring a First Class cabin currently include:

• Airbus A340-600 (A346)
• Airbus A380-800 (A388)
• Boeing 747-8i (B748)

Lufthansa has several Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s on order and some might feature a First Class cabin in the future. The Boeing 777-9 will eventually be Lufthansa’s flagship aircraft and should also feature First Class.

Lufthansa First Class is currently available on the following North American routes:

• Frankfurt <-> Chicago (ORD)
• Frankfurt <-> Los Angeles (LAX)
• Frankfurt <-> Mexico City (MEX)
• Frankfurt <-> Miami (MIA)
• Frankfurt <-> San Francisco (SFO)
• Frankfurt <-> Washington D.C. (IAD)
• Munich <-> Boston (BOS)
• Munich <-> Miami (MIA)
• Munich <-> New York (JFK)

Redeeming Miles for Lufthansa First Class

Lufthansa is a Star Alliance member airline, which means you can redeem any Star Alliance miles for a First Class flight on Lufthansa, if there is award availability, at the following rates to/from Frankfurt/Munich (one-way):

• Air Canada Aeroplan: between 90k – 100k+ points (depends on the distance flown)
• Asiana Airlines Asiana Club: 50k miles
• Avianca LifeMiles: 87k miles
• Lufthansa Group Miles & More: 91k miles
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: 121k miles
• United Airlines MileagePlus: around 120k miles (could vary since United’s pricing is dynamic)

Note that this isn’t the full list of programs/airlines which you can use to redeem miles from – just the best programs to use. As you can see above, redeeming Asiana Airlines miles for a one-way flight at just 50k miles is a phenomenal value; the catch is that you can only transfer from Marriott Bonvoy to Asiana Club and the transfers take up to a week, and sometimes even longer.

fly Lufthansa First Class using miles

All in All

Lufthansa First Class is an excellent way to fly to/from Europe – from the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt and First Class Lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, the private tarmac car transfer to your aircraft, to the incredible in-flight experience featuring world-class dining and a comfortable seat which turns into a fully flat bed, this is one of the greatest ways to fly.

Redeeming miles for Lufthansa First Class can be difficult, but not impossible. Usually Lufthansa will release award seats just a few days before departure, depending on how full the cabin is – if there are a few unsold seats left, the airline will probably release at least one as an award; if the cabin is almost full, chances are the given flight won’t open up for mileage redemption. If you need to fly somewhere and don’t want to risk First Class not opening up, you could always book another flight itinerary and then later last minute change to Lufthansa First Class, should it open up.

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