Lufthansa Group has grown a ton lately. The group purchased a number of European airways whereas increasing the Lufthansa route community from its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich Airport (MUC) hubs. One factor chances are you’ll not find out about Lufthansa is that a number of airways round Europe use its Miles & Extra loyalty program, a few of which are not a part of Star Alliance.
Moreover, Miles & Extra has some fascinating candy spots that make it value taking a more in-depth take a look at for those who’re based mostly in Europe. Plus, U.S.-based flyers that ceaselessly fly to Europe on Lufthansa or one other Lufthansa Group airline could discover extra use in incomes Miles & Extra miles than miles with United Airways or one other Star Alliance accomplice.
You are in the fitting place if you’re curious concerning the Miles & Extra program. Right here, we’ll clarify the whole lot it’s worthwhile to know, beginning with elite standing and accomplice airways and shifting on to incomes and redeeming miles.
Associated: On board the primary Lufthansa Allegris flight — was the brand new cabin well worth the wait?
An outline of Lufthansa’s Miles & Extra program
Lufthansa Group owns Miles & Extra, nevertheless it’s used as the first loyalty program for a lot of totally different airways all through Europe. The airways that use Miles & Extra as their major loyalty program are:
- Air Dolomiti
- Austrian Airways
- Brussels Airways
- Croatia Airways
- Uncover Airways
- Eurowings
- LOT Polish Airways
- Lufthansa
- Lufthansa Metropolis
- Luxair
- Swiss
Many of those airways are both completely owned by Lufthansa Group or have beforehand been partially or wholly owned by the group. Nevertheless, some airways — specifically LOT Polish Airways and Croatia Airways — have by no means been affiliated with Lufthansa Group however nonetheless choose to make use of Miles & Extra as a loyalty program.
As most of those airways are members of Star Alliance, you will not be shocked to be taught you’ll be able to earn and redeem miles on the Star Alliance airways:
- Aegean Airways
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airways
- Austrian Airways
- Avianca
- Brussels Airways
- Copa Airways
- Croatia Airways
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airways
- EVA Airways
- LOT Polish Airways
- Lufthansa
- Shenzhen Airways
- Singapore Airways
- South African Airways
- Swiss
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airways
- United Airways
Each day Publication
Reward your inbox with the TPG Each day publication
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
This system additionally companions with a handful of different airways, together with:
- Air Astana
- Air Malta
- Cathay Pacific
- LATAM
- Vistara
Be aware that there could also be restrictions concerning the flights on which you’ll be able to earn or redeem miles inside these partnerships. Evaluate the airline’s accomplice web page on the Miles & Extra web site earlier than you propose your travels so what to anticipate.
Miles & Extra elite standing tiers
Like most airline loyalty applications, Miles & Extra presents quite a lot of elite standing tiers that supply elevated mileage earnings and advantages like lounge entry, upgrades and fast-track safety. There are three standing tiers: Frequent Traveller, Senator and HON Circle.
Incomes Miles & Extra elite standing
If you wish to earn Miles & Extra elite standing, you have to earn each factors and qualifying factors. You may earn factors on carriers that use Miles & Extra as their loyalty program, in addition to on Star Alliance companions. Qualifying factors and HON Circle factors can solely be earned on the next airways: Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, Uncover Airways, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Luxair and Swiss.
Moreover, HON Circle factors are solely earned on business- and first-class flights.
Listed here are the next level thresholds wanted to attain standing:
- Frequent Traveller standing: 650 factors and 325 qualifying factors in a calendar yr
- Senator standing: 2,000 factors and 1,000 qualifying factors in a calendar yr
- HON Circle standing: 6,000 HON Circle factors in a calendar yr
You may solely earn factors, qualifying factors and HON Circle factors for elite standing by way of flying, versus another applications that help you earn standing from bank card spending. Nevertheless, a restricted variety of factors, qualifying factors and Hon Circle factors could be earned on journeys with Austrian AIRail, Lufthansa Categorical Rail and Swiss Air Rail (with a most of round 1 / 4 of the factors wanted for every standing degree).
You earn factors, qualifying factors and HON Circle factors based mostly on two components: journey class and whether or not your flight is taken into account intercontinental or continental. All factors are awarded as follows:
| Economic system class | Premium financial system class | Enterprise class | Firstclass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flights inside Europe (together with Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) | 20 | 20 | 40 | 40 |
| Intercontinental flights (all different locations) | 60 | 80 | 200 | 300 |
Incomes Lufthansa standing is not simple, however every standing tier comes with fascinating advantages. High-tier HON Circle standing comes with among the most premium perks of all airline statuses. This is a take a look at every tier’s respective advantages:
Frequent Traveller
- Enterprise-class check-in with Miles & Extra airline companions.
- Entry to the First Class Terminal (solely with a first-class ticket on Lufthansa and/or Swiss flights).
- One further checked bag in financial system, two further luggage in premium financial system and enterprise class, and three further luggage in top notch.
- Entry to Lufthansa Enterprise lounges when flying on Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance carriers.
- Earn as much as 50% extra redeemable miles: You may earn 25% bonus miles on flights operated by Uncover Airways, Eurowings, Luxair and different Miles & Extra airline companions, and a 50% bonus with choose carriers together with Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Swiss and United Airways.
- Miles will not expire so long as your standing stays.
- Devoted telephone assist.
These advantages are surprisingly wealthy for low-tier elite standing. Keep in mind you can solely entry Lufthansa Enterprise lounges, not Star Alliance accomplice lounges like United Golf equipment or the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges. It’s because Frequent Traveller contains Star Alliance Silver advantages, not Star Alliance Gold.
Associated: Remade and transformed: First take a look at Lufthansa’s shiny new lounge at Newark Liberty
Senator
- The entire advantages of Frequent Traveller.
- Senator and Star Alliance Gold lounge entry.
- First-class check-in.
- Precedence safety.
- Precedence boarding.
- Two improve eVouchers every year that you should utilize for a one-class improve. You need to use one eVoucher for an improve inside a single area or two vouchers for an intercontinental one-class improve. For instance, upgrading from premium financial system to enterprise on a transatlantic flight requires two eVouchers.
- 48-hour reserving assure earlier than departure within the highest reserving class.
- Companion Award: This allows you to add a companion to all award tickets at a 50% mileage low cost. This is applicable when flying award tickets on Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, Uncover Airways, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Luxair and Swiss.
- Free seat choice.
HON Circle
HON Circle is the cream of the crop for Miles & Extra standing. It contains all Senator standing advantages already talked about and entry to the well-known First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport on all Miles & Extra flights whatever the class of service. It is a big perk because the terminal is a devoted area for first-class and HON Circle vacationers, with upgraded lounges and extra. Plus, members will get the next perks:
- Limousine switch on flights operated by Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss.
- Obtain 4 improve vouchers, which can be utilized in the identical method that Senator members can use certificates.
- 24-hour reserving assure earlier than departure within the highest reserving class.
- Elevated award availability as much as 14 days previous to departure.
- Two or three luggage in financial system class (relying on the route), three luggage in premium financial system and enterprise class, and 4 luggage in top notch.
Associated: The holy grail of award tickets: Flying Lufthansa top notch on the Boeing 747-8
Incomes miles with Miles & Extra
Miles & Extra miles are considerably tougher to earn than different airline miles. Although the loyalty program does not have switch companions, that does not imply they’re not possible to earn — listed below are all the perfect methods.
Earn by flying on Miles & Extra and Star Alliance carriers
You may earn Miles & Extra miles by flying on Miles & Extra and Star Alliance airways. Tickets booked with a Miles & Extra member airline — like Lufthansa or Swiss — will earn miles based mostly on fare value. Should you’re touring on a Star Alliance accomplice flight not ticketed by a Miles & Extra airline, you will earn miles based mostly on the next calculations:
- Miles on continental flights: You may earn a flat price in keeping with the reserving class.
- Miles on intercontinental flights: You may earn based mostly on the reserving class and distance flown.
Incomes charges can differ from service to service and rely on how the ticket was booked. Examine every service’s incomes price for essentially the most up-to-date data.
Spend on a Miles & Extra bank card
Within the U.S., Lufthansa and Miles & Extra supply a cobranded bank card issued by Barclays known as the Miles & Extra® World Elite Mastercard. The cardboard is providing a present welcome bonus of 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 within the first three months of account opening. You need to use this card to earn 2 miles per greenback spent with Miles & Extra airline companions and 1 mile per greenback spent on all different purchases.
Further card perks embrace two Lufthansa Enterprise lounge passes and a complimentary annual companion ticket for every account anniversary.
This card has an $89 annual charge and generally is a good possibility for incomes Miles & Extra miles.
The knowledge for the Miles & Extra World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Ebook lodge rooms and rental vehicles
You can too earn Miles & Extra miles if you e book lodge rooms with the Miles & Extra lodge reserving platform. For instance, you will earn 500 miles per qualifying keep at choose Hyatt resorts. Simply be aware that you simply typically will not be capable to earn lodge factors or use lodge elite standing advantages on these bookings because you’re reserving by way of an on-line journey company. Nevertheless, many boutique and impartial resorts are listed on the Miles & Extra portal, so it might be worthwhile to make use of it to e book resorts that you simply would not in any other case earn factors with.
You can too e book rental vehicles by way of the portal however could not be capable to use automobile rental standing advantages or earn rental automobile standing. As at all times, think about whether or not incomes Miles & Extra miles outweighs these attainable exclusions.
One factor to remember: All the time cross-check lodge and rental automobile costs when utilizing the Miles & Extra lodge portal. Whereas the costs are often akin to reserving instantly, generally the costs can differ.
Redeeming miles with Miles & Extra
We typically advocate redeeming your Miles & Extra miles for award journey. Whilst you can redeem for merchandise, lodge stays and present playing cards, this is not really useful as you will get a a lot decrease redemption worth than for flights.
Redeeming Miles & Extra miles for award flights
Miles & Extra employs a regular award chart, that means that flights do not fluctuate in value. Award flights are priced based mostly on zone and sophistication of service, and you’ll e book any Star Alliance flight with award area. As for pricing, award flights are surprisingly cheap. For instance, transatlantic flights are 30,000 miles in financial system, 40,000 in premium financial system class, 56,000 in enterprise class and 91,000 in top notch. The business-class price particularly is great.
You may view the entire Miles & Extra award chart on the loyalty program’s web site (PDF hyperlink); be aware that the award chart reveals round-trip costs.
Do be aware that Miles & Extra provides gas surcharges for many tickets — in apply, that is about $850 per round-trip ticket for intercontinental flights in top notch. The one exceptions are Air Canada flights inside North America and United Airways flights inside North America, South America and Oceania; these awards incur minimal taxes and costs.
Redeeming miles for flights is straightforward, with one giant caveat. Head to the Miles & Extra web site and navigate to the “Spend miles for flights” web page. Scroll to the middle of the display, enter your flight particulars and click on the blue “Search flights” button. Then, your flight choices will seem on the middle of the display; click on on the flight you need to e book and comply with the on-screen prompts to e book.
Nevertheless, there’s a maddening restriction on the flexibility to look award flights: You could have at the least 7,000 miles in your account earlier than you’ll be able to even seek for award availability, not to mention e book it.
One of the best makes use of of Miles & Extra miles
Redeeming Miles & Extra miles is one factor, however discovering an important redemption is one other. The award chart may be very cheap and a few actual candy spots could be discovered. This is a take a look at a couple of of our private favorites for U.S.-based vacationers:
- Lufthansa top notch: Miles & Extra presents an honest redemption worth for transatlantic tickets in Lufthansa top notch following the latest LifeMiles devaluation. Nevertheless, Lufthansa solely opens first-class award area to its companions a most of two weeks earlier than departure (and often solely three days earlier than the departure date), however this is not the case for Miles & Extra. You may entry Lufthansa’s first-class award area months beforehand, so planning holidays on one of many world’s greatest first-class merchandise is simpler.
- Economic system flights to Hawaii: You may e book United financial system flights from wherever in the USA to Hawaii for simply 20,000 miles every method in financial system class, which is a superb deal, particularly if you’re originating on the East Coast.
- North America to Oceania in enterprise class: Flights from the U.S. to Australia, New Zealand and the remainder of Oceania value simply 71,000 miles one-way.
- North America to Southeast Asia in enterprise class: Likewise, flights from North America to Southeast Asia value simply 71,000 miles one-way in enterprise class. You may must pay gas surcharges on these tickets, however you’ll be able to fly superior business-class merchandise on carriers like Air Canada, All Nippon Airways and EVA Airways for a fraction of a income ticket.
Associated: Is United Polaris enterprise class value it to Singapore?
Backside line
Lufthansa Group’s Miles & Extra program is among the many most rewarding loyalty applications. HON Circle and Senator standing supply standout advantages, and its redemption charges for premium-cabin awards are among the greatest. Nevertheless, its miles are additionally one of many hardest currencies to earn, particularly for these of us based mostly within the U.S.
