Miles & More is the world's largest airline loyalty program. Her story began in 1993. Then, year after year, new partners joined her, new rewards appeared, and so on. Currently, Miles & More members include more than 40 airlines around the world and 25 million air passengers.

To register for the Miles & More program and start earning miles, all you have to do is fill out a simple form. This can be done on the official website of the program, or through the mobile application.

Also, those passengers who have registered in the bonus program of any Star Alliance member airline automatically become Miles & More participants.

Which airlines participate in the Miles & More program?

Airlines that accept Miles and More points (allowing them to be accumulated or spent on their services) are divided into two types: fully integrated airlines and partners.

Airlines fully integrated into the program:

• All airlines belonging to the Lufthansa Group (including Eurowings and SWISS);
• LOT - Polish Airlines;
• Adria Airways;
• Condor;
• Luxair.

Program partners:

• All members ;
• Air Astana;
• Air Malta;
• Air Dolomiti
• Jet Airways.

How to earn Miles & More miles

The more miles, the more profitable it is to participate in the program. The first and most obvious way to top up your bonus balance is to fly frequently with airlines that participate in the bonus program. The rules for accruing miles differ from carrier to carrier, but on average they look like this:

• A fixed number of miles are awarded for flights within Europe;
• For flights around the world, a number of miles is awarded equal to the actual distance between the airport of departure and the airport of arrival;
• For international flights, miles are awarded with a certain coefficient - usually from 0.25x (for the cheapest tickets) to 2x (for business and first class).

That is, a passenger flying in economy class on the cheapest ticket is awarded only a number of points for the flight that is only a quarter of the actual distance in miles, while a passenger who chooses a flight in first or business class can have a number of miles credited to their bonus balance twice the distance actually covered.

There are different types of miles: award, status, HON Circle and bonus.

We provide details and up-to-date information on how miles are credited to a particular carrier in detailed reviews of airlines participating in the bonus program. This information can also be found on the official Miles & More website or in the mobile application bonus program.

Let's also note other ways to get miles:

• Book a room at a program partner hotel;
• Rent a car from a rental company that is a partner of the program;
• Make a purchase at a partner store.

The latter method is more relevant for Europe, or more precisely for Germany, since most partner stores are located at German airports.

You can also earn miles using certain banking products (credit cards) and telecommunications services.

In Russia, you can earn miles using three credit cards:

• Austrian Airlines card (issuer – Raiffeisenbank);
• Miles & More cards (issuers: Russian Standard Bank and Citibank).

Russian Standard Bank also offers debit cards with the ability to accumulate program points.

Note! Members of the bonus program who do not have a special status have miles valid for 36 months. However, if you sign up for a Miles & More credit card, your miles will not expire.

Miles and More member statuses

For those who really fly a lot, the Miles and More program provides three special statuses:

• FREQUENT TRAVELER (issued for accumulated 35 thousand status miles or 30 scheduled flights during the year);
• Senator (for 100 thousand status miles per year);
• HON CIRCLE MEMBER (member of a venerable circle) (for 600 thousand miles over two years).

We also provide a description of the main privileges, depending on the status of the program participant:

Those who maintain their status for several years in a row additionally receive status stars. Here's what it is:

How to spend Miles & More miles

Having saved enough a large number of bonus points, it’s time to think about what to spend them on now? At first glance, participants and partners of the Miles and More program offer a fairly large number of different services on which you can spend your accumulated miles, but in fact, as in most bonus programs, most of them are simply useless to clients.

• upgrading your flight class;
• reimbursement of part of the cost of the air ticket.

If you have a lot of miles, but you don’t plan to fly, then you can look at the section with promotions of partners - there are a lot of Russian companies there:

• taxi services;
• food delivery services, cafes and restaurants;
• hardware stores;
• grocery stores;
• medical centers.

Each of them has its own conditions for exchanging points - in some cases you can get a discount using Miles & More miles, in others you can compensate for part of the cost of a purchase or service, and in others you can purchase a gift certificate.

Is it worth participating in Miles & More?

We would recommend signing up for the program if you buy a ticket on a participating airline. Registration is simple, it definitely won’t be unnecessary. Here, as in any bonus program, it’s nice when some kind of bonus accumulates. But in order to save up for a truly worthy reward, you will have to save for a very long time.

As for additional services, such as co-branded credit and debit cards, then we would not recommend starting them. After all, in this case, you tie yourself to a limited circle of air carriers, while there are much more profitable offers on the market, with a similar system for accumulating miles or points, but bonuses can be spent on flights of any airline.

A separate advantage of Miles & More is its convenient mobile application, which allows you to clearly and conveniently track your bonus balance and be the first to know about promotions and special offers companies.

For passengers who frequently use the services of the Lufthansa carrier, the company has created a specialized bonus program. Participation in it allows you to accumulate so-called miles for flights, which can then be exchanged for incentives, service improvements and gifts. The Miles and More program from Lufthansa does not involve any additional expenses; the bonus participant simply uses the Lufthansa air carrier services that he needs and receives additional privileges. Miles and More has been holding the title of the largest bonus program for passengers in Europe for several years.

The Miles and More program is inextricably linked with the world's oldest airline alliance, the Star Alliance. The German air carrier Lufthansa is a member of the alliance, therefore, along with others, it implements the Miles and More bonus program.

We recommend starting your acquaintance by visiting the official website of the program in Russian. There, any future or current airline customer can register for the bonus program, spending only a few minutes. A package of services has been created to reward passengers who regularly fly on aircraft of the entire alliance in general and Lufthansa in particular.

Once upon a time, the bonus program included only flights; accordingly, miles were accumulated exclusively for tickets purchased for flights.

Today, Miles and More also covers hotel booking, shopping, accommodation, car rental, and even writing reviews of certain services.

The Miles and More website regularly announces promotional offers that allow you to earn many more miles than usual. However, even without using promotions, accumulating miles through the program is quite easy. To do this, you just need to book and pay for the services.

Miles are inextricably linked to the money a passenger spends. However, the coefficients used when converting euros into miles are different, depending on the status assigned to the program participant.

To register in the program, enter the basic data into a special form on the official website: full name, date of birth, place of residence, contact phone number, then select a login and password to enter your account.

At the second registration step, the system will ask you to select the destinations about which you would like to receive notifications. For example, a client is interested in promotions related to European flights of Lufthansa - there is an opportunity to choose the priority of information.

That's it: you can now earn miles with the airline and its partners.

What is Miles and More cardholder status?

Miles & More is a bonus program that assigns certain statuses to all its members. All of them are designed to motivate clients to travel as often as possible - the higher the status, the more miles and gifts you can get.

After registration, the client has a personal account, but does not yet have a specialized card. To receive it, you must make at least one purchase from Miles and More partners and then credit the award mile to your client account.

To upgrade to the Frequent Traveler level, you must earn 35,000 miles or more in one calendar year. After reaching this status, the program participant will no longer accumulate bonus miles, but status miles. At the same time, he will, as before, be able to spend the bonuses received previously at his own discretion.

Additional privileges for Frequent Traveler status holders:

• unlimited validity of miles;
• additional promotions for premium (50% more) and status (25% more) miles;
• third priority on the waiting list, check-in for flights at the business class counter;
• additional luggage space;
• access to the business lounge;
• exclusive telephone number for consultation on the provision of services;
• golf bag as part of the available free baggage.

Having accumulated 100,000 status miles in one year, the promotion participant receives a new status – Senator. In addition to those mentioned above, he also receives some additional bonuses, for example, 2 vouchers for upgraded class flights. Also available are bookings up to 48 hours in advance, second priority on the waiting list, check-in at the first class counter, 20 extra kilos of free baggage, advance miles credit, prizes for companions and more.

The highest status in the program is considered to be HON Circle: it can be obtained by accumulating 600,000 or more miles in two calendar years.

The HON CIRCLE MEMBER status provides all the privileges provided by the program. The member immediately receives 6 upgrade vouchers, highest priority on the waiting list, access to first class lounges and a first class terminal, transfer and car rental services with a driver, and a personal assistant on long-haul flights. Additionally, the spouse of the HON CIRCLE cardholder receives Senator status, regardless of the number of points.

How to earn miles with Miles and More

The Miles & More program regularly expands its list of partners. Today, users of the bonus program accumulate miles using the services of the airline and several hundred of its partners in a variety of areas.

Typically, the available ways to earn miles are related to travel, but there are exceptions to the rule. It is convenient to accumulate miles by staying in the program’s partner hotels, ordering additional services during flight travel on airplanes (carrying excess baggage, transporting animals, accompanying children traveling without parents, ordering in-flight meals), using mobile communications abroad, renting cars, ordering transfers. In addition, for people who want to earn miles using bank cards, Lufthansa offers to issue a plastic card with a bonus program.

In Russia, Citibank, Sberbank, Alfa-Bank and some other financial organizations cooperate with the air carrier. A mile card is used as a standard as a credit or payment card; in addition, the user is awarded miles for paying for any goods and services.

You can choose a partner company to accumulate miles. All options are grouped into the following categories: air travel, hotels, car rental, credit cards, telecommunications, electronics, shopping, charity.

How to spend earned miles

Lufthansa allows you to use miles not only to order its services, but also to make purchases from its partners. Nevertheless, these days the most popular areas for writing off bonuses among program participants remain booking airline tickets and upgrading service class. To find out about all the possibilities, go to your personal account on the website.

Free flights

Program participants actually have access to purchasing tickets using miles; it is no different from standard online booking of a seat on an airplane. Only instead of the payment card number, the client enters the mileage number, from which the “funds” are debited.

You can accrue miles for past transactions if no more than six months have passed since the payment was made. In this case, it is advisable to have boarding passes, receipts and other documents confirming the provision of a certain service.

Conclusion

Miles and More is a convenient loyalty program for those who travel with the Star Alliance and Lufthansa in particular. It allows you to receive gifts, improved service and even free flights.

To participate in the program, you will need to complete a short registration and pay for at least one purchase from any partner, for example, in the More miles online store. After this, the client is assigned basic status and can enjoy all the benefits of the service.

If you apply for a specialized card (some Russian banks issue them), you can also receive miles for purchases in your country - miles are credited to your account for every transaction made. With a mile card, the catalog of goods for which you can receive bonuses increases significantly. In practice, each mile equals 20-30 rubles.

Miles & More brand: Video

Lufthansa's frequent flyer loyalty program Miles and More is the largest in Europe. It includes more than 40 airline partners. Of these, 28 airlines are members aviation alliance Star Alliance. In 2011, Miles and More had 20 million members.

You can earn miles as early as 2 years of age. However, you need to remember that all accounts are strictly individual. Even members of the same family will not help to unite and have one card. You can become a member of the Miles and More program by registering on the website or during check-in at the Lufthansa counter.

After filling out all the necessary information about yourself, you will receive a temporary program participant card in paper form. A PIN code for such a card is not issued. You can log into the program on the website by entering the username and password that you specified during registration. If at least 1 mile has not been credited to your account within 6 months, the temporary card will be cancelled.

Immediately after miles have been credited to your account (no matter how many), you will be sent a plastic Miles and More membership card along with a PIN code.

What are the Miles and More cardholder statuses?

Miles and More members can not only earn awards, but also enjoy various privileges at airports around the world and during flights. Having accumulated a certain number of so-called status miles (more about them below), you can travel with greater comfort. Lufthansa has comfortable lounges of various classes at many airports around the world. The holder of a status card can enjoy benefits at check-in (separate counters), benefits when transporting luggage (including sports equipment), receive even more free miles (executive bonus) or take them in advance, etc. The higher the status, the more privileges. We will not describe the privileges for each status; this information can be found on the airline’s website.

The Executive bonus is a 25% bonus offered by select airline partners to Frequent Traveller, Senator and HON Circle members. All information about the possibility of enrolling Executive Bonus can be obtained on your personal page.

There are three types of Miles and More status:

FREQUENT TRAVELER. To obtain this status, you must accumulate 35,000 status miles (namely, status miles, not award miles) within one calendar year. That is, if you issued a card on October 15, 2012, then status miles will be canceled on December 31, 2012. Read below on how to get status miles. FREQUENT TRAVELER status is valid for two years.

SENATOR. You can achieve Senator status by accumulating 100,000 miles in one calendar year. The status is valid for two years.

HON Circle. The highest status can be achieved by accumulating 600,000 HON Circle miles within two calendar years.

A few months before the status expires, the cardholder receives a letter by email (and HON Circle members receive a letter to their home address), which will, among other things, indicate the number of miles required to extend the status.

What are the miles?

Status miles

Status miles are required to obtain Frequent Traveler or Senator status. They are credited when traveling with Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines Group, bmi, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional, Luxair, SWISS and other Star Alliance partners. Once you have accumulated 35,000 status miles, you will be awarded Frequent Traveler status. Once you accumulate 100,000 status miles, you will receive Senator status. The validity period of the status is 2 years. If within one year you have not reached the required number of miles to obtain status, your status miles will expire. Moreover, miles are written off on December 31 of each year, that is, regardless of when the account was opened.

The validity period of status miles is unlimited.

Award miles

Award miles are those miles that can be exchanged for an award (free air travel, etc.). They are awarded for flights on Star Alliance member airlines and other partner airlines, for the services of partner companies in car rental, hotel stays, for the use of co-branded cards, participation in various promotions, etc. Do not confuse status and award miles! You can only buy anything with premiums!

A co-branding card is a joint card between a bank and a partner, which allows you to receive discounts and bonuses on the partner’s goods and services when using the card. In this case, for transactions with a co-branded card you receive a certain number of award miles to your account.

Miles HON Circle

HON Circle is the highest level of membership in the Miles and More loyalty program. To obtain NON Circle status, you must accumulate 600,000 miles. This can be done within 2 years from the date of registration of the card. NON Circle miles can be earned on flights with Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional, Lufthansa Private Jet, Luxair and SWISS. In addition, NON Circle miles will be awarded for travel on AIRail trains in Germany and Airtrain trains in Switzerland (up to a maximum of 100,000 miles).

How to earn miles with Miles and More?

Air travel

The Miles and More program works with 43 airlines around the world. You can earn miles when you fly on all 43 airlines. Some airlines provide award miles, some status and bonus miles, and somewhere you can also get HON Circle miles and multiply your savings with the Executive bonus program.

For example, Singapore Airlines gives both award and status miles. Jet Airways only offers premium ones, and LOT Polish Airlines, in addition to all this, gives you the opportunity to accumulate HON Circle miles and take advantage of the Executive Bonus.

You can find out more about what miles and privileges you can get when purchasing an air ticket for a flight with this company.

Accommodation in hotels

The Miles and More program covers more than 23,000 hotels worldwide. Choose the one that suits you and get an average of 500 miles per stay. Some hotels provide even more bonuses. For example, for every dollar or euro spent on hotel premises, 1 mile is credited to your card.

Car rent

Lufthansa cooperates with leading car leasing companies around the world. Need a car for rent? Check out our list of Miles and More partner companies and earn even more miles!

Credit cards

By signing up for a Citibank credit card from Miles and More, you can earn money by simply paying for purchases and services. You get 1 mile for every 30 rubles spent on the card. In addition, so-called “welcome” miles will be credited to your account when you issue a credit card.

Other

With Miles and More you can earn free miles anywhere and however you want, for example:

• talking on a mobile phone while roaming, if you use the services of the Beeline mobile operator.
• shopping at DutyFree and select airports around the world
• shopping in shopping centers Chic Outlet Shopping

The entire list of stores, airports and other program partners can be seen on the airline’s website. Don't forget to keep an eye out for special offers from Miles and More partners: miles are often doubled.

The possibilities for earning miles have expanded! The Mnogo.ru club has launched a joint long-term project with the Miles and More program. Now club and program members have the opportunity to exchange accumulated bonuses for award miles. 10 bonuses = 1 mile. Now you can also earn miles by making purchases from club partners or collecting bonuses with the Mnogo.ru card.

How to spend miles?

Air travel

We have already said that Lufthansa cooperates with 43 airlines, but you can purchase award tickets with miles on flights of 38 airlines. Full list given .

Fly Smart is a nice addition to the program bonus system Miles and More. By booking air tickets two weeks to two business days before departure, you pay much less miles (up to 42% of the ticket price). This works for the following airlines: Adria Airways, Austrian Airlines Group, Brussels Airlines, Condor, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS.

An award ticket can be issued not to you, but, for example, to your friends. Only in this case, your personal presence is required during registration.

The cost of an award air ticket for a child from 2 to 11 years old will be 75% of the number of required award miles to pay for the air ticket.

In general, the number of miles indicated on the website to pay for an air ticket is calculated based on a round trip. If you are flying one way, you will need 50% of award miles.

It is possible to return a ticket or change the date subject to payment of a fine of 50 euros.

For passengers with elevated status, there are privileges, for example, the ability to book an award ticket for a third party via the Internet, and even with a 50% discount.

You can calculate the cost of your trip in miles using the miles calculator. Just enter the airport of departure and destination and the booking class - the service will give you all the necessary information.

Upgrade

You don't have to purchase a ticket with award miles, but upgrade your service class. Three are generally recognized: first, business and economic. First class passengers will enjoy the most high level comfort: an exquisite menu and alcoholic drinks on board, the most comfortable and wide seats, a separate check-in desk, etc. Business class also provides an increased level of comfort on board the aircraft and while waiting for the flight. In both cases there are privileges for boarding and disembarking.

You can upgrade your service class on flights of the following airlines with numbers JP, AC, CA, NH, NZ, OZ, OS, DE, CO, OU, LO, LH, LG, LX, SK, SN, SQ, JJ, TP, TG, TK, US and UA: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines Group, Brussels Airlines, Condor, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair, SWISS, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAM, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, Turkish Airlines, US Airways and United.

Miles are not credited for flying on an award ticket, but if you use the accumulated miles to upgrade your service class, you will receive award miles for the ticket at the fare you paid.

Hotels and car rental

You can also spend your miles on hotel stays. It's a pity that their choice is quite poor. You can pay with miles when you rent a car.

Other

Award miles may be useful to you in some stores. For example, in DutyFree Domodedovo (330 miles = 1 euro), in Munich airport stores (Burberry, Hugo Boss, Max Mara, etc.). Shopping on board is a reality with Lufthansa Inflight Shopping. Travel goods, cosmetics and perfumes, toys, gifts, jewelry and much more from world-famous brands are presented in the Inflight Shopping magazine. At the end of the flight, miles will be deducted automatically. You can arrange online shopping and pay with miles directly from home on the website www.worldshop.eu. You can find a complete list of ways to spend your miles.

Charity

It happens that you don’t know where to spend your earned miles. There are no trips in the near future or far fewer miles than required to purchase an award ticket. Or maybe you are not interested in any offer from Miles and More partners. To ensure your miles don't go to waste, Lufthansa offers to spend them on charitable causes. For example, by sending them to the Help Alliance fund, which finances the construction of orphanages, schools and hospitals in third world countries. Or by donating miles to Living Lakes for our planet's water resources.

Miles validity period

Like most airline miles, Lufthansa miles do not expire. They “live” for 3 years from the moment of enrollment. Holders of status cards do not have to worry about their miles - they will not expire while the status is valid.

There is an exit! Miles & More allows Lufthansa Miles & More credit card holders to make their savings indefinite. To do this, you need to get a card and make purchases with it at least once a month.

What to do if you don't have enough miles?

The airline Lufthansa offers to buy missing miles. This is very convenient when, for example, a premium ticket is just a little short of purchase. Unfortunately, not all airlines provide such services, which gives rise to the development of a “shadow mile market”, which we have already discussed. With Lufthansa you can even give miles as a gift.

However, according to the program rules, it is impossible to transfer your miles to another person

If miles are not credited

This happens quite often. To avoid problems and disappointment, ALWAYS keep the original. boarding pass and a copy of the itinerary receipt! Store receipts, hotel bills, and car rental bills should also be kept until you are sure the miles have been credited. In general, miles are credited to your account within 10 days. There is no need to worry at this time. After this period, follow the link and fill out the form. You can do this within six months from the date of the transaction.

UPDATE: The article has been updated to reflect the changed prices.

Welcome to a new series of articles that many readers have asked me to pay attention to. This series will be called Best ways to use miles…

These articles will be a mirror image of another series How to access... If there we are talking about which miles are the most profitable to use to purchase an award ticket for a specific product of a specific airline, then here we will discuss various options for using miles of a specific loyalty program.

I hope that one series of articles will organically complement the other.

So we'll start with one of the world's most popular and most controversial loyalty programs.

Miles&More

Miles&More is a loyalty program for several European airlines: Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, LOT, Adria and Croatia Airlines. In addition to these airlines, which are the “founders” of the program, and other carriers included in the Star Alliance, the program’s partners are Condor, Eurowings, Luxair, Air Astana, Air Malta.

Judging by the number of passengers registered with Miles&More, it is the most popular loyalty program in the world.

Miles&More can be viewed in different ways. On the one hand, there are thousands (&more) ways to accumulate miles in this program, including - which is important for Russians - co-branded cards.

On the other hand, inexperienced users, having accumulated a fair amount of miles, find themselves stunned when they see how the astronomical fuel surcharges levied on award tickets make the use of those same miles impractical.

The truth, as often happens, is somewhere in the middle. Miles&More has some interesting use cases, but before you make this program the main one in your portfolio, you need to clearly understand its limitations.

So, let's first briefly discuss the general conditions regarding award tickets, and then see for what purposes Miles&More miles are best suited.

Tariffs and conditions for Miles&More award tickets

A full description of the terms of the program is beyond the scope of this article, but here are the main points.

This is what the price table for award tickets looks like, regardless of whether we are talking about the Lufthansa Group or alliance partners.

The prices in the table are for round trip flights. A one-way flight costs exactly half as much. Moreover, Miles&More uses price rounding to the nearest thousand in favor of the passenger. For example, a flight from Europe to Central America in business class will not cost 127,000 / 2 = 63,500 miles, but only 63,000 miles. Generously!

Before booking a round trip flight that costs an odd number of miles, try splitting it into two one-way flights to save 1,000 miles.

The table above has some nuances.

Flights within one country are subject to special rates. Domestic. So, for example, a flight within the USA / within Switzerland is calculated according to the tariff Domestic, and not according to the tariff North America - North America/Europe - Europe.

Rates 3 regions apply if your route crosses a third region. Moreover, we are not talking about a transfer that you have planned for maximization purposes, but even about forced transit. For example, a flight from the USA to Southeast Asia via Europe will be calculated not according to the main table, but according to the table 3 regions.

Miles&More limits the number of flight segments. It depends on how many regions the award ticket includes:

• 1 region: 2 one-way segments, 4 round-trip segments
• 2 regions: 3 one-way segments, 6 round-trip segments
• 3 regions: 4 one-way segments, 8 round-trip segments

You can book flights online with almost all partner airlines. Exceptions: Air India, Cathay Pacific, Air Astana.

So, now that we have clarified the main points on which award tickets function, let's actually discuss the best options for using miles.

Lufthansa First Class

Classics of the genre! This is the most profitable use of Miles&More miles. Many people think that it is the only one. As we will see later, this is not the case at all. But if you take into account not mathematics, but the use of miles for inspiring purposes on a special occasion, then this is really almost the only option :)

Why is this the best investment for Miles&More miles?

• Miles&More is the only program that makes Lufthansa first class tickets available earlier than 2 weeks before departure
• High fuel surcharges are worth it first of all when purchasing such expensive flights
• I haven't mentioned it yet, but Lufthansa first class is pretty awful.

How much does it cost to fly Lufthansa first class from Europe ( one-way)?

• North America: 91,000 miles
• South America: 111,000 miles
• Middle East: 65,000 miles
• India: 91,000 miles
• South Africa: 91,000 miles
• Southeast Asia and Far East: 111,000 miles

In some other programs we see a little more low prices for similar routes, but Miles&More prices are generally adequate, especially considering the ability to plan a flight more than two weeks before the desired departure date.

Before making a decision, it is of course worth keeping in mind Miles&More fuel surcharges and the cost of accumulating these miles and affiliate program miles. However, this is rather a topic of discussion for the article “ How to gain access to Lufthansa First Class» 🙂

All of the above applies to Swiss first class; except that only Miles&More status members - Senator and HON Circle - can purchase it with miles.

Fly Smart

Fly Smart premium rates apply to flights within Europe booked no earlier than two weeks and no later than two days before departure.

Those who can make a decision in this period of time can save significantly.

A round trip flight in economy class will cost 20,000 miles, and in business class it will cost 30,000 miles.

This may represent a good value in case of expensive flights to rare destinations or during high season.

The good news is that taxes and fees can also be paid with miles. They cost 15,000 miles for both economy and business.

Fly Smart tickets can only be booked online.

Meilenschnäppchen

Every month Miles&More puts some routes on sale at reduced prices.

For example, round-trip flights in business class between Europe and the USA cost 55,000 miles instead of the traditional 112,000, and between Europe and Asia - 70,000 instead of 142,000. Solid savings! It's nice that the Meilenschnäppchen rates have not changed since the standard rates were increased a few months ago.

However, again, high fuel surcharges should be kept in mind. As a general rule, Meilenschnäppchen make sense for exotic and expensive destinations. But if the sale list includes flights with Eurowings and LOT, then the fees for them are significantly lower!

Sometimes the Meilenschnäppchen list includes intra-European destinations for economy class flights with minor fuel surcharges. Most often we are talking about LOT flights.

Apart from fuel surcharges, the problem with Meilenschnäppchen is that the travel period lies far in the future, and flights one-way not allowed. However, in certain circumstances these suggestions may make sense.

Business class LOT

If you want to avoid astronomical fuel surcharges, the solution is LOT!

The Polish airline does not charge unnecessary fees when purchasing award tickets.

So, a flight from Warsaw to Beijing on a LOT flight costs 71,000 miles + 294 PLN (68 €).

A flight on the same route through Germany on board Lufthansa costs 71,000 miles + 1198 PLN (277 €).

It's also safe to say that LOT's business class product is at least as good as Lufthansa's business class, if not better. So in this case, saving does not mean a lower quality product.

Premium class departing from Hong Kong and Brazil

This story, as old as time, applies not only to the Miles&More program. Brazil and Hong Kong are the only two countries that legally prohibit charging fuel surcharges on award tickets.

Therefore, with departures from Brazil and Hong Kong, flying with Lufthansa makes sense not only in first class, but also in business and even in premium economy.

If you want to minimize fees, choose direct flights, without transfers in Europe.

Thus, a flight from Sao Paulo to Zurich has the lowest fees if you choose Swiss.

Likewise, a direct flight from Hong Kong to Frankfurt with Lufthansa will cost you less than Austrian via Vienna, Swiss via Zurich or Lufthansa via Munich.

This rule applies to all Star Alliance partners. In the same way, you can fly inexpensively from Brazil, for example, with TAP or Turkish Airlines flights.

Another a good option using this trick is flight from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg South African Airways. In business class it costs only 56,000 miles plus about 30€ taxes.

United flights within the US

United's 15,000 miles in economy class and 20,000 in business class across the US are a great use of Miles&More miles.

According to the geographical definition, the US region does not include Hawaii... otherwise it would be too good 😉 But Alaska, yes, it does.

United has a wide range of domestic flights, including all sorts of exotic and expensive destinations.

In business class, United uses planes with a full bed on flights between New York and San Francisco/Los Angeles. 20,000 miles for a product like this is more than a fair price.

What's even better is that taxes and fees on these tickets are literally zero. Expect to pay around $10.

United flights from the USA to Hawaii

Even though Hawaii isn't considered part of the United States in the Miles&More table, United's flight rates are reasonable: 20,000 miles in economy, 35,000 miles in business.

Again, you can enjoy minimal taxes and fees of $10.

Flights between Hawaii and Australia, New Zealand and Asia

While zoning Hawaii increases the cost of flying there from the continental United States, Miles&More zoning makes it possible to travel economically between Hawaii and Australia, New Zealand, Oceania and Asia.

One-way flight between Hawaii and regions And Central Asia/Far East Costs just 20,000 miles in Economy and 35,000 miles in Business!

The only catch is that there are very few airlines serving these destinations, and finding available seats is a difficult task.

To be more specific, we are talking about flights

• United: Honolulu - Guam, Honolulu - Tokyo
• Air New Zealand: Honolulu - Auckland
• Air China: Honolulu - Beijing
• China Airlines: Honolulu - Taipei, Honolulu - Tokyo (NRT)
• ANA: Honolulu - Tokyo (HND, NRT)
• Asiana: Honolulu - Seoul

Good luck finding places!

Flights within and between Africa and the Middle East

The more exotic the destinations, the higher the prices usually are. The use of miles in such cases suggests itself!

Within the region Middle East/Caucasus/North/Central Africa we will have to turn to the services of Ethiopian and Egypt Air. Unfortunately, Southern Africa allocated to a separate region...

A one-way flight in economy costs just 17,000 miles, and 30,000 miles in business class.

This is how much it will cost for both a short flight between Addis Ababa and Zanzibar, and a longer trip between Dakar and Dubai.

Flying between Central and South America

Such trips can be sooooo expensive!

Star Alliance airlines such as Copa Airlines and Avianca will come to our aid.

Mexico is part of Central America for Miles&More, so flying from there to any destination South America costs just 17,000 miles in economy and 30,000 miles in business.

Copa and Avianca charge fuel surcharges, but they range from $100-$150.

Don't forget to compare rates with other programs like LifeMiles and ConnectMiles. On short flights within Latin America, they often offer lower prices and better availability.

Flying within Oceania

Here we take advantage of the region's vast geography Australia/New Zealand/Oceania. We take a remote point in Australia and a remote point in Oceania. We get, for example, a flight from Perth to Fiji on Air New Zealand for 17,000 miles in economy class and 30,000 miles in business.

Taxes and fees range from $50.

As is the case with exotic destinations served by just one airline, finding available seats will be a challenge...

Eurowings flights

The situation with Eurowings is a bit confusing.

For short and medium duration flights, Eurowings has its own table, as Eurowings uses its own pricing system.

For long-haul flights, standard Miles&More rates apply. In the table on the Eurowings website you will see another table that applies to departures from/arrivals to Cologne. But, as far as I understand, this is no longer relevant, since Eurowings does not have a single long-distance route left from Cologne.

Not only are the rates expressed in miles attractive, but also the moderate taxes and fees. Within Europe, expect to pay around €50 for a one-way flight, and up to €100 for long-haul flights.

Eurowings flies in exotic places- for example, Reykjavik, Marrakech, Funchal, Punta Cana.

You can book tickets as follows: on the Eurowings website by logging in using your Miles&More credentials and on the Miles&More website.

As I wrote above, if Eurowings destinations are included in the Meilenschnäppchen list, then this is a real freebie!

Bottom line

Well, I hope this list will serve as proof that Miles&More miles are a valuable currency, applicable not only for the purchase of obvious first class flights with Lufthansa itself.

Let's discuss other options and nuances in the comments!