After several revamps throughout the last years, Lufthansa Miles & More is now among the very best frequent flyer programmes in the whole airline industry, second only to the Qualiflyer Programme. Learn how you can maximise your miles and get the most from them.

For those unfamiliar with frequent flyer programmes, here is a brief explanation:

For every flight you take with one airline or its partners you collect miles which in return can be exchanged into free flights. The idea behind it is that you fly mostly with that airline. Simply speaking, the quality of a frequent flyer programme depends on how many flights you need for a free award flight.

Miles & More (as of here M&M) is the frequent flyer programme of Lufthansa German Airlines and the Austrian Airlines Group (including Lauda Air and Tyrolean).

The programme has undergone various changes since its launch in 1993, mainly resulting in lower amounts of miles needed for free flights. For residents of Germany and Austria, it comes with a special - unbeatable - mileage table, but even for overseas residents it is one of the most competitive programmes.

On flight/rewards ratio, M&M is only be beaten by the Qualiflyer Programme of Swissair and its partners. But with more than 900 destinations served worldwide by Lufthansa and its partners, the Miles & More programme can be a lot more useful than Qualiflyer.

STRONG PARTNERSHIPS

Besides its favourable mileage table, M&M's strengths are its partnerships with numerous airlines, hotels, car rentals, tour operators and shops where miles can be collected and redeemed. At the centre of this is the Star Alliance, the world's largest and most advanced alliance of fifteen international airlines.

Here is a list of all partners where miles can be collected and redeemed:

~~~ STAR ALLIANCE PARTNER AIRLINES

Air Canada (AC), Air New Zealand (NZ), All Nippon Airways (NH), Ansett Australia (AN), Austrian Airlines (OS), British Midland (BD), Lauda Air (NG), Lufthansa (LH), Mexicana (MX), Scandinavian Airlines (SK), Singapore Airlines (SQ), Thai Airways (TG), Tyrolean Airways (VO), United Airlines (UA), Varig (RG).

~~~ OTHER PARTNER AIRLINES

Adria Airways (JP)*, Air China (CA)*, Air Dolomiti (EN), Air One (AP), Augsburg Airways (IQ), Condor (DE), Croatia Airlines (OU)*, Czech Airlines (OK)*, Eurowings (EW), Luxair (LG), Qatar Airways (QR), South African Airways (SA), Spanair (JK), Team Lufthansa franchises.
(*selected routes only.)

~~~ HOTEL PARTNERS

More than twenty international upmarket hotel chains.

~~~ CAR RENTAL PARTNERS

Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt (preferred partner)

~~~ OTHER COMMERCIAL PARTNERS

Loads of internet stores, media, tour operators, financial services, etc. For details consult the Miles & More partners website: www.moremiles.com

EARNING MILES

There are two kinds of miles to be earned: Premium Miles and Status Miles. Premium miles count toward your mileage for free awards, status miles are used to gain silver and gold status as a frequent flyer, and to enjoy extra privileges.

With Miles & More, all miles collected on Lufthansa flights or flights with a Star Alliance Partner are both Premium and Status Miles, whereas miles gained from flights with other partners or from hotels, car rentals, etc. only count as Premium Miles.

Here is how many miles you earn with every flight:

Economy Class: Actual number of miles flown
Business Class: Number of miles flown x 2
First Class: Number of miles flown x 3

(The actual number of miles flown is published in the timetable, inflight magazine, and at www.lufthansa.com.)

Minimum Miles earned for shorthaul flights:

Economy Class: 1,000
Business Class: 2,000

Example for a flight with Lufthansa from London to New York in Economy:

London - Frankfurt = 1,000
Frankfurt - New York = 3,851
Total (one-way) = 4,851

Unlike with many other programmes (including BA Miles), full miles are earned in every booking class, including cheap economy specials. The only exception are flights with Singapore Airlines, where miles collection is limited to the higher fares.

For hotels stays and car rentals, the mileage credit is 500 miles, mileage credits from online shops and other partners depend on value of purchase.

There are, however, always a range of promotions to gain extra miles on certain routes or with individual hotels and car rental agencies.

Programme members with a bank account in Germany can also collect miles on the Lufthansa Visa Card, at a rate of 1 mile per 1 Euro spent.

SPENDING MILES

Premium miles can be spent for a variety of purposes other than flights, including hotel stays, car rentals, holidays, cruises in the Caribbean, newspaper subscriptions, books, wines, and exclusive travel essentials from the Lufthansa Sky Shop.

Free flights, however, remain the main goal of each mileage collector, so I will focus on flight rewards here (in order not to occupy 5 MB of webspace with this op).

~~~ MILEAGE TABLE FOR AWARD FLIGHTS EX BRITAIN

Due to the vast amount of miles redemption possibilities, I have only listed mileage awards for flights to and from the United Kingdom.

The mileage table shows the miles required for an award return flight.
Miles required for upgrades are shown for one-way flights.
Required miles are shown in thousands (25 means 25,000 miles).
Abbreviations M, C, F & U stand for:
M = Economy, C = Business, F = First, U = Upgrade
The two-letter codes (i.e. BD) refer to the airlines listed above.

Domestic Flights Britain (BD): M 25

Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands (BD): M 25 - C 35
Germany (BD, LH): M 30 - C 45 - U 10
Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain (BD, LH): M 35 - C 50
Rest of Europe (LH, NG, OS, VO): M 35 - C 50 - U 10
(Note: Upgrades only on LH, NG & OS.)

North America (LH, NG, OS): M 70 - C 105 - F 140 - U 35
North America (AC, LH, SQ, UA): M 90 - C 140 - F 180 - U 25
Los Angeles (NZ): M 70 - C 105 - F 140
Hawaii (AC, UA): M 140 - C 210 - F 180 - U 37.5
(Note: Upgrades only on LH, OS, NG & UA, no First Class on AC)

South America (LH): M 90 - C 135 - F 180 - U 40
South America (RG): M 120 - C 180 - F 240

Northern & Central Africa (LH, OS): M 50 - C 75 - F 100 - U 30

Southern Africa (LH, SA): M 70 - C 105 - F 140 - U 35
(Note: Upgrades only on LH)

Middle East (LH, QR): M 50 - C 75 - F 100 - U 30
(Note: Upgrades only on LH)

India (LH): M 70 - C 105 - F 140 - U 35
India (SQ): M 90 - C 140 - F 180

Central & East Asia (LH, NG, SQ, TG): M 90 - C 135 - F 180 - U 140
(Note: Upgrades only on LH & NG)

Australia (NG): M 105 - C 120 - U 50
Australia, New Zealand (NZ): M 140 - C 210 - F 280

As can be seen from this table, in most cases it is cheaper in terms of miles to fly with Lufthansa or Austrian Airlines than with another partner airline.

One problem is that on most routes you cannot combine two airlines on one award ticket (i.e. fly to America with United Airlines and return with Air Canada).

VERDICT # 1 - MILES COLLECTION AND REWARDS

At first glance, the Miles & More table looks unfavourable compared to BA's. It appears that BA requires less flights for a free flight. But in most cases, that is wrong. Miles & More is superior to BA Miles in a number of ways:

1. Flights can be collected in all booking classes, on BA the special fares used by most tourist are excluded from miles collection.

2. Miles collection is possible on all partner airlines and is not restricted by trade regulations (problem with BA / American Airlines partnership).

3. Higher minimum miles of 1,000 instead of 500 speed up mileage collection on short European flights and connecting flights.

4. Awards for Business and First Class come at a reasonable surplus to the miles required for Economy Class, instead of multipliers of 2 or 3.

5. Miles can be redeemed for upgrades from Economy to Business, or Business to First.

Compared to Qualiflyer, however, Miles & More slight lacks behind. Qualiflyer basically credits miles by the same rules and rates as M&M, but award flights with Qualiflyer come 10% to 35% percent cheaper in terms of miles, depending on destination and class. Qualiflyer tickets to Europe only cost 20,000 and 25,000 miles in Economy and Business Class respectively.

Lufthansa Miles & More is also the most favourable frequent flyer programme of all Star Alliance Airlines in terms of miles collection and redemption. So even if you only fly British Midland, this programme is better than BMI's own.

STATUS ATTAINMENT & PRIVILEGES

Frequent flyers can attain Frequent Traveller Status (Star Alliance Silver) or Senator Status (Star Alliance Gold).

~~~ FREQUENT TRAVELLER (FTL)

Non-German / non-Austrian residents have to fulfil the following (lower) requirements to attain and maintain FTL status:

- collect 35,000 status miles within any twelve months period, or
- fly 40 segments (Business and First count double) in a calendar year.

FTL status lasts two years, if not renewed by fulfilling the above criteria again once within the two years period.

Benefits:

- 25% miles bonus on Star Alliance flights
- access to around 200 lounges worldwide
- waiting list priority,
- First Class baggage allowance
- Business Class check-in
- miles collected after 1997 don't expire anymore
- awards can be transferred to others
- Lufthansa Visa Card Gold at lower price
- dedicated FTL telephone hotline

~~~ SENATOR

Non-German / non-Austrian residents have to fulfil the following (lower) requirements to attain and maintain Senator status:

- collect 100,000 status miles within any twelve months period, or
- fly 120 segments (Business and First count double) in a calendar year.

Senator status lasts two years, if not renewed by fulfilling the above criteria again once within the two years period.

All FTL benefits apply, plus the following:

- access to over 500 lounges worldwide
- booking guarantee, even if flight is booked out
- companion awards for half the miles
- First Class check-in
- dedicated Senator seats in front rows
- Free European upgrade every 50,000 status miles collected
- Free Intercontinental upgrade as Christmas present
- Lufthansa Visa Card Gold for free
- dedicated Senator telephone hotline

VERDICT #2 - STATUS REGULATIONS

Gold Status with Lufthansa is maybe the hardest to attain of all airlines worldwide. The benefits are basically the same as in other programmes, with one exception:

The booking guarantee for Senator members is extremely useful, especially on Lufthansa's booked out rush hour flights.

One problem is the dedicated telephone hotline. During rush hours, you may be held in a waiting line for over 15 minutes, even with Gold Status. With BA Silver Status, I have always reached their hotline their hotline in less than two minutes.

OTHER SERVICE ASPECTS

An excellent feature is the complete Miles & More website on www.lufthansa.com. Few airlines show the regulations, mileage tables and account summaries of their frequent flyer programmes so openly and comprehensively on their websites. Offers of Miles & More partners are gathered on a second website, www.moremiles.com.

The only thing missing is an online missing miles reclaim and book by miles function.

Mileage credits work automatically in 95% of cases, and manual reclaims are usually credited within four weeks (try that with KLM's Flying Dutchman !).

OVERALL VERDICT

Lufthansa Miles & More is a very modern frequent flyer programme with outstanding award possibilities, good flights/award ratio and excellent frequent flyer service.

Copyright 2001 by Hansjörg Gebel, Witten, Germany